by Mary Kate Tate and Nate Tate is more than just a collection of recipes. It is a story of a highly inspired brother and sister team exploring China through sites and tastes. The book combines not only recipes and and travel adventures from the duo, but a history of China as well.
The Mandarin- speaking brother and sister team travel over 9,700 miles throughout China with a camera, two backpacks and a tarp. They spend their time discovering Chinese culture and cuisine. They first began a travel blog www.feedingthedragon.com that has now exploded into a visual documentation of culture and cuisine.
The books chapters are arranged by the teams itinerary. Nine of the books chapters are titled by city which included, Beijing, Shanghai, Fujian, Hong Kong, Macau, Yunnan, Tibet, Sichuan,and Xinjiang. The final chapter is for the foodies wanting to learn the basics of cooking authentic Chinese cuisine. It includes how to make rice, Mandarin pancakes, dumpling wrappers and more.The book also offers online resources if you are interested in learning about Chinese culture and online ingredient retailers for those that do not have access to an Asian grocery.
As, each chapter unfolds when not only learn more about the brother and sister team and their explorations, but of the history of that region of China. Then we get to not take a look at the recipes, but truly learn about them. There is always a tidbit of information about each recipe. It will change the way you look at Chinese food. I myself what to run out and buy a wok and try most of the 100 recipes included in this journal. I say journal because this is not a “cookbook” but a cultural exploration of food. Every dish has a story, as does every place, and reading the history of the region makes it a complete experience.
If you have someone in your life that loves traveling, food and history this is the book for you. I know I have someone in my life that probably can’t wait to get their hands on this book!
About The Authors:
Nate Tate was one of the first Texas college students to study at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University. A self-professed Chinese food obsessive, he has talked his way into restaurant kitchens across China to learn straight from the cooks in his quest to maser Chinese cooking. Nate has toured 17 of China’s 22 provinces, and while living in Beijing, he worked as a restaurant designer.
Mary Kate Tate first became interested in China as a high school student. She later studied Mandarin and Chinese history at the University of Texas at Austin and at Nanjing Normal University in China. She has worked as a teacher in China’s Hebei Province and as a writer in Beijing. She and Nate co-founded a creative agency based in New York.