A-Gong's Table: Vegan Recipes from a Taiwanese Home (A Chez Jorge Cookbook)

(Paperback)

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Description

A rendering of food through the memories of family and of home- over ninety plant-based recipes from George Lee, the creator of Chez Jorge, with Laurent Hsia's images of Taiwan. George Lee grew up with his A-Gong (grandfather) in the quiet refuge of Tamsui, Taiwan. He took part in the myriad Taiwanese food traditions his A-Gong nurtured, until he was seventeen, when his A-Gong passed. In observation of the death, he and his family undertook a set of Buddhist funeral customs and abstained from eating meat. For a hundred days, they ate at the monastery and the nuns there taught him to cook. Years later, he revisits the lessons and pieces them into the story of his family's cooking. Some recipes he shares here are directly from childhood- Han-ts -ba, an everyday breakfast congee floating with fist-sized chunks of golden sweet potatoes, or the quintessential preserve Tsh i-p o, crunchy strips of sun-dried daikon radish that salt the air for a few days in January. Others tread the boundaries between old and new- such as S o-l o-pn_x0304_g, a meatless rendition of the hand-cut pork bits his mom braised in soy sauce and ladled over rice. While writing this book, George wandered all over Taiwan with his friend Laurent Hsia, who took photos along the way. Together, they sought out the foods and places tied to their memories growing up. Like the grandpa who slung a bag of apples along the zebra crossing to exit the morning market, or the old couple on the bus in black and white, sitting side by side and peering forward, the two found themselves . . . always afoot, traveling. A-Gong's Table follows the rhythm of their footsteps- a pulse that takes you quietly through the book and through Taiwan, from morning to night.

Reviews

For a young author, this enticing storycentered on his stern yet beloved grandfatheris anastonishingly accomplished exploration of flavors, ingredients, and traditions.Katy Hui-wen Hung (), co-author of A Culinary History of Taipei: Beyond Pork and Ponlai

Never before has a cookbookmade me cry with the tender poetry of its pages, where each recipe is a miracle of shadow and light, salt and sunbath, essence and depth. With profound grace and attunement, A-Gongs Table alchemizes memory, history, language, and the body in order to unearth the abundant offering of nourishment and beautyin every detail, invoking our longing for the gentle sweet aftertaste that lingers at the back of the tongue and bringing us home.Jennifer S. Cheng, author of House A

George Lee's book, A-Gong's Table, iswritten with incredible heart, knowledge, and generosity. He invites you into his family's Taiwanese kitchen and soon, you, too, are dreaming about sweet fermented rice, salt-preserved vegetables, and flaky toon pancakes.Amanda Hesser, Founder and Executive Chair of Food52, Schoolhouse, and Dansk

Author Bio

George Lee is a cook and writer based in Taipei, and raised in Tamsui, Taiwan. He shares his food and stories on his blog Chez Jorge.