A review by katiez624
A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

3.0

Memoirs about Asian food is a niche that I am constantly in search of, so I had high hopes for this book. Although there is plenty in the book about preparing food (both Singaporean and American), the structure of the book was very disjointed. She took an entire year off, flying back and forth from Singapore to NYC every other week, jumping from making Teochow food with her relatives to baking bread in her apartment to learning from her mother-in-law in Hawaii. She devotes a tremendous amount of time and energy solely to learning how to make food, all while being unemployed (in NYC!).

The contrast between her inability to cook any Singaporean food paired with her love of baking and embarking on a professional baking challenge seemed too vast to be believable. I enjoyed reading about her family history, but I didn't feel like it was used to weave the cooking lessons together very well. She mentions countless times that most people don't make these dishes because they are so accessible and easy to buy. These dishes are, for the most part, fairly complex and labor-intensive. Overall, I, as the reader, did not feel inclined to try my hand at these recipes.

Overall, the descriptions of the food and cooking process were fun to read, but the disconnectedness of the story really left me wanting more.