CHOP FRY WATCH LEARN

About this book

Named one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2024, one of NPR’s “Books We Loved” in 2024, and a SaveurBest Narrative Food Book of the year — and chosen as a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.

Chop Fry Watch Learn offers a lively history of Chinese cuisine through the extraordinary life of Fu Pei-mei, the woman who introduced Chinese cooking to the world.

In 1949, a young housewife moved from China to Taiwan and taught herself to cook, eventually becoming a celebrated cookbook author and TV instructor for more than forty years. Decades later in the United States, historian Michelle T. King rediscovered Fu’s recipes in her mother’s well-used cookbooks and found more than instructions for meals — she uncovered a vivid portrait of a generation of home cooks adapting to sweeping postwar changes.

Blending personal family stories with oral histories, King shows how Fu’s career reflects a modern reinvention of Chinese food, shaped by global shifts: more women entering the workforce, the rise of mass media, the arrival of new kitchen tools, and the changing diplomatic landscape between China and Taiwan. Fu became the definitive culinary authority, a standard by which all others were judged.

Her influence lives on, as her books remain treasured cultural heirlooms for Chinese communities worldwide. Rich with voices from across generations, Chop Fry Watch Learn is a warm and insightful journey into the kitchens where tradition meets innovation, and where food becomes a vessel for memory, identity, and history.

ISBN: 9781324021285

Source: Publisher information / editor’s summary (compiled by Ferry Books)