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A review by annaptobias
A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
1.0
In theory, I should be the biggest fan of this book. It hits all the topics that I enjoy: food, immigrant life, reconnecting to family history. When Cheryl Lu-lien Tang wrote about being an overachieving student in Singapore who then had to move to the US to study and missing certain foods, it reminded me of my own experience since I had to go through a similar situation.
That being said, I don't think this book was ready for prime time. As other reviewers have noted, the chapters are somewhat disorganized and disjointed. Ms. Tan introduces her plan to return to Singapore to learn her paternal grandmother's recipes. Which she does. But along the way, she talks about her bread-baking blog collaborative project... which I suppose makes sense as she's trying to tell us how good she is in the kitchen, but I felt that it muddled the central focus of the book.
It's also curious how Ms. Tan wants to learn how to cook the authentic dishes passed down through her family, but there were several instances where she admitted that she didn't want to touch the food, namely the pork belly and duck. It felt like she only wanted the cute, sanitized experience but when she has to deal with the yucky parts, she would rather pass. It didn't convince me that the author really wanted to cook; she only wanted to eat good food. (Originally posted on LT, 9-Sep 2011)
That being said, I don't think this book was ready for prime time. As other reviewers have noted, the chapters are somewhat disorganized and disjointed. Ms. Tan introduces her plan to return to Singapore to learn her paternal grandmother's recipes. Which she does. But along the way, she talks about her bread-baking blog collaborative project... which I suppose makes sense as she's trying to tell us how good she is in the kitchen, but I felt that it muddled the central focus of the book.
It's also curious how Ms. Tan wants to learn how to cook the authentic dishes passed down through her family, but there were several instances where she admitted that she didn't want to touch the food, namely the pork belly and duck. It felt like she only wanted the cute, sanitized experience but when she has to deal with the yucky parts, she would rather pass. It didn't convince me that the author really wanted to cook; she only wanted to eat good food. (Originally posted on LT, 9-Sep 2011)