Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America

(Paperback)

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Simple, earthy, fiery, and fresh, Hmong food is an exciting but still little-known South Asian cuisine. In traditional Hmong culture, dishes are created and replicated not by exact measurements but by taste and experimentationfor every Hmong recipe, there are as many variations as there are Hmong cooksand often served to large, communal groups. Sami Scripter and Sheng Yang have gathered more than 100 recipes, illustrated them with color photos of completed dishes, and provided descriptions of unusual ingredients and cooking techniques.

Reviews

"The authors have opened the kitchen window into Hmong life with a fascinating book containing fresh, inspiring recipes."Star Tribune

"Beyond recipes, this cookbook offers valuable insight into a culture that makes up Minnesotas largest Asian population."MinnPost.com

"A glorious book."A Closer Look at Flyover Land

"This is a comprehensive cookbook on an emerging cuisine. Hmong food may be the last unexplored frontier in Southeast Asian cooking."Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Cooking from the Heart is an excellent first look at this simple cuisine and complex culture."Asian Pages

"Summer is the perfect time to try Hmong cuisine. With Cooking from the Heart and a visit to the Hmong vendors at your local market, youll be on your way to a wonderful tasting experience."Edible Twin Cities

"Gracefully, intelligently written, Cooking from the Heart documents the way traditional Hmong dishes are made in America and also includes new recipes that feature both Asian and American regional ingredients."Isthmus

"Cooking from the Heart is noteworthy not just because it is the most comprehensive repository of these traditional Hmong recipes, its also a history, complete with personal stories and poetry. There is a melancholy to the Hmong immigrant experience in America born of a longing for a home that no longer exists, and these passages express this beautifully."Sacramento News & Review

"Cooking From the Heart presents Hmong cooking as a tradition of earthy, simple food with big flavors, and if youre the slightest bit curious about this cuisine, its a must have."Mystery House

"A landmark work that chronicles the Hmong experience."The Fresno Bee

"The recipes are liberally sprinkled with cultural information and illuminating prose."Villager

"It is filled with a wealth of information, easy to understand recipes, and provides a way to truly appreciate traditional Hmong food."Twin Cities Daily Planet

"The next time I have to cook for a crowd, this is denitely one book Ill reach for."Heavy Table

Author Bio

Sami Scripter, a retired educator, lives in Portland, Oregon.

Born in Laos, Sheng Yang now lives in Sacramento, California, where she works as a medical assistant.