We asked Sona Shah, the Culture and Arts Education Manager at the Asian American Resource Center here in Austin, what are some of her favorite Asian American authored books? Here is her short list of books.

If you See Me, Don’s Say Hi by Neel Patel
This is a collection of seven short stories that showcases common stereotypes and slowly erode those ideas. These stories primarily feature first-generation Indian Americans and subvert the idea that Asian Americans will idly sit by when challenges arise. It explores the two faces of the same coin in many of the stories; small town vs big city, traditions vs modern rituals. Buy the book here.

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang
When Lucy and Sam’s Ba passes away and the mining town that they live in starts to threaten their lives, they flee to find a resting place for their father’s ashes. Their journey brings up family secrets and sibling rivalry as well as buffalo bones and tiger tracks, yet they also find a possible future for themselves. Buy the book here.

Superman Smashed the Klan by Gene Luen Yang
This graphic novel takes place in 1946. Teenagers Roberta and Tommy Lee just moved with their parents from Chinatown to the center of Metropolis, home to the famous hero, Superman. Then one night, the family awakens to find their house surrounded by the Klan of the Fiery Kross! Superman leaps into action, but his exposure to a mysterious green rock has left him weak. Can Roberta and Tommy help him smash the Klan? Buy the book here.

 

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
This illustrated memoir explores the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family. Bui documents the story of her family’s escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves. Buy the book here.

Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares by Aarti Namdev Shahani
The Shahanis came to Queens—from India, by way of Casablanca—in the 1980s. They were undocumented for a few unsteady years and then, with the arrival of their green cards, they thought they’d made it. This memoir is the story of how they did, and didn’t; the unforeseen obstacles that propelled them into years of disillusionment and heartbreak; and the strength of a family determined to stay together. Buy the book here.

I recently started watching HBO’s Lovecraft Country and there’s a moment in the first episode where the main characters walk into a restaurant that they thought was Black-owned and were met with white people trying to cause physical harm to them as they pushed them out of town. At this moment, I turned to my boyfriend with a puzzled look.

“Why are they doing that? They clearly just wanted some food.”

“Because they are Black.”

“That’s it?! Just because they are Black?”

“Yes, that was what it was like in America back then.”

As a wave of shock hit my brain, I realized that I still had some work to do. I grew up in Singapore and while prejudice still exists over there, everything I learned about Black American history was from a textbook, and there wasn’t very much written about it in those textbooks. In the back of my brain, I knew that the Black diaspora in America is riddled with these types of experiences, but seeing that scene showed what was lacking in my formal education. 

Those characters were looking for refuge in a restaurant that they knew would serve them. They sought comfort in food made and served by one of their own. Food is often used as a way for everyone to sit at the table, and for me, it can be about understanding and experiencing a different culture. But food has also almost always been political. People eat what is affordable to their socioeconomic status, and that often can mean large differences in what food is available to them. This can often lead to racial stereotyping based on food. 

This is why I tend to explore food and recipes that aren’t in my own culture so often. With that, here are some Black-authored cookbooks that have featured spots in my kitchen. 

The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food: A Cookbook by Marcus Samuelsson

Marcus Samuelsson is a favorite amongst Festival staff, as he was a part of the 2016 Texas Book Festival with his restaurant cookbook, The Red Rooster Cookbook: The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem. This new cookbook goes through so much food history as well as stunning recipes that highlight new Black chefs and their creations. I am a big fan of the Steak Afrique with Yassa sauce as well as the injera recipe, which I never thought I would make until I got this book. Follow Marcus Samuelsson: @marcuscooks

Black Girl Baking by Jerrelle Guy

While I am a relatively great cook, I am just an alright baker. I just have very little patience with the precision of baking since I grew up in a “throw some of this in and try it” upbringing. This does not stop me from buying several baking cookbooks each year and one of them has recently been Black Girl Baking. I find the flavor combinations in here just fascinating it and it has made me pull out my kitchen aid more often than normal. Also, the index includes gluten-free recipes, dairy-free recipes, and vegan recipes, which I really appreciate. I love the Lemongrass Meringue with Gingerbread Crust and Lumpia Bananas Foster, but one day I will make the Maque Choux Strada.  Follow Jerrelle Guy: @chocolateforbasil

Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails by Shannon Mustipher

I love everything about tiki cocktails, including amassing several tiki mugs. I often think that I missed the time period in which tiki was all the fashion and I have deep envy when I look at photographs of those days. It also feels like everything bright and fun that I am missing in quarantine, which is why this book is my perfect cocktail companion right now. I’ve been in a Caipirinha kick recently, but I also really love the Royal Dock Cooler. One day I will make the No Woman No Cry, but I just need to get the right bitters for it. Follow Shannon Mustipher: @shannonmustipher

Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking: A Cookbook by Toni Tipton-Martin

This book is 1 part Black American food culture and history and 1 part recipes. Toni Tipton-Martin’s previous title, The Jemima Code, was a 2015 TBF title and this cookbook is a natural follow up. Jubilee features food and recipes that feel like a hug to your taste palate. I often make her version of sorrel (hibiscus) tea and as an avid lover of meat pies, her curried meat pie is absolutely spectacular. Follow Toni Tipton-Martin: @tonitiptonmartin

In Pursuit of Flavor by Edna Lewis

It would be Black authored cookbook blasphemy if I did not include a book by Edna Lewis, the renowned chef that helped define Southern cooking and seasonal food. Miss Lewis’s recipes are the epitome of cooking with love and have an abundance of flavor, as advertised in the title. I’m a big fan of this version of Potato and Leek Soup and Beef Tenderloin with Bearnaise Sauce as well as the Apple Brown Betty. It also has a great section about canning and preserving food, which is something that I am learning a lot about these days to stretch my food. Here is info about the Edna Lewis Foundation.

 

Cooking has often been my way to reset. I get a sense of control and am able to sit down to a meal with my loved ones and get out of my work mode. These days, cooking has changed for me a bit. I need to cook every meal and many times I am exhausted by the necessity of this chore. The thought of cooking dinner after figuring out both breakfast and lunch becomes overwhelming and somehow sad. It’s like the last bit of my mind is Sisyphus rolling a boulder up a hill but about food, and I love food. 

Through this difficult reality we are currently facing, I have dived straight into books. That seems to be my quiet place these days, where my brain just has to absorb the text and enjoy its time away from thinking and planning and stressing. And since cooking is more about survival than taste or culinary flair during quarantine, I have found that reading about food has been the escape I needed more than anything else. My brain relaxes more when I can dream up all the things I want to make when I don’t have to watch my budget and can source all those items correctly instead of getting my supermarket substitute ingredients. 

Currently, I have been diving into several Asian food books, partially because that is my wheelhouse when it comes to cooking but also because I miss my family. Asian food is the primary food we eat together. I like to read children’s books with recipes with my younger family members to try to get them excited about trying different foods. Along with a few children’s books with Asian recipes, some other suggestions can be found the last time I wrote about this topic, I have also found some wonderful graphic novels with recipes. I’ve been on a bit of a graphic novel kick recently and these books have been a welcome addition to my collection. 

Kid’s Books with Recipes

Thupka for All by Praba Ram

This sweet book has a lovely sense of compassion and togetherness that I have been longing for these days. Tsering, a blind boy, is making his way home to eat his grandmother’s thupka (noodle soup). Along the way, he meets several people, who join him on this journey, each bringing a dish. It looks like the evening is set for a wonderful meal with friends and family until the lights go out. Can Tsering help his grandmother cook thupka and save the day? I’ll leave you this cliffhanger, but know that at the end of your reading you probably will want to call someone you love and reminisce about a lovely meal together, I know I did. 

Mei-Mei’s Lucky Birthday Noodles by Shan-Shan Chen

This is such a cute story about celebrating culture. Mei-Mei is adopted from China and her parents celebrate her birthday every year by preparing her birthday noodles. She explains that her parents cook these noodles because long noodles signify a long life in Chinese heritage. She is excited to share her birthday noodles with her friends and family. The recipe in the back of this book is so simple that kids would love both making this dish as well as eating it with giant smiles on their faces. 

Dumpling Soup by Jama Kim Rattigan

I am pretty obsessed with dumplings. I love that they can have different fillings and that so many cultures have their own versions. Dumpling Soup is about eating dumplings in a mixed family in Hawaii. Marisa is very excited to be old enough to help make dumplings for New Year’s Day. Her whole family comes together on New Year’s Day and her grandmother and aunties make dumplings in different shapes. When Marisa struggles to make her dumplings look right, she gets frustrated but slowly those feelings disappear when she realizes that her broken dumplings make the soup taste delicious. Everyone who reads this book should definitely try their hands and making dumplings. They are surprisingly easy to make and lots of fun for the whole family.

Graphic Novels with Recipes

Cook Korean! by Robin Ha (@robinhaart)

When I was a kid my school would hold an international food festival and you could always find me at the Korean booth spending all my tickets on bulgogi. When I ran out of tickets I would likely get free portions since my brother’s best friend’s mother manned that bulgogi. This graphic novel has tons of history about types of Korean food and pantry ingredients that are pivotal to making those dishes. The pictures help share technique and make this unorthodox cookbook really pop. It has some recipes that I didn’t think I would ever try to replicate, but now I am second-guessing those thoughts. I plan on trying my hand at sundubu jjigae (soft tofu soup) and kimchi buchimgae (kimchi pancake). If I am feeling particularly ambitious, I’ll attempt making budaejjigae (army stew). Good thing I have the largest tub of gochujang (Korean red chili paste) in my fridge. 

Let’s Make Ramen by Hugo Amano

Some of you might be thinking, “Ramen? I have some 25¢ instant packets in my pantry, why stress about ramen?” Well, for one, freshly made ramen is actually incredibly complex and it can take years for ramen cooks to perfect their bowls. Several years ago I read The Ramen King and I by Andy Raskin, which heavily features Momofuku Ando, the creator of those instant ramen packets. I found the story fascinating, but it still felt like it was missing the thoughtfulness of preparing ramen from scratch. Let’s Make Ramen has been the answer to several ramen related questions. It goes through the rich history of ramen and how it became popular to the different types of broth and what toppings pair with the broths and even ramen etiquette (the major rule I will tell you is never, EVER leave your chopsticks in the bowl sticking out, this goes for all Asian food). It is fascinating how much goes into creating one dish, but the results will make you forget all about that 25¢ packet.  

Meal by Blue Delliquanti and Soleil Ho (@bluedelliquanti @soleil_ho)

I really enjoyed this graphic novel for all the different ways it asks you to expand your compassion and your palate. Meal is about a young aspiring chef named Yarrow and her desire to work in a new restaurant that features different bugs in every dish. When Yarrow is given the assignment to make a taco featuring insects by the restaurant chef Chanda, who she somehow insulted, she realized that she needs to make her food personal. After seeking out her ingredients from a seller who breeds grasshoppers for consumption, she shares her taco with Chanda. Yarrow explains that as a child she would often collect cicadas with her grandmother in the countrysides of Japan to later eat and her passion for cooking with insects is not a fad, but a part of her desire to share her heritage. Chanda explains that she has a similar history with her mother in Cambodia, who survived the Khmer Rouge partially by eating tarantulas. Several countries around the world eat insects, except for most of Europe, and their food culture heavily influenced America’s food culture. While the ambitious bug-centric recipes in the back might be difficult to source, the story does make me want to expand my view on food and what is deemed by some as daring ingredients. 

 

 

I was looking at pictures the other day and I realized how much my face has changed over the years. I don’t think I look like a completely different person, but when I was really young I think my features look somehow more Asian. Over time I think it has morphed a bit more into my father’s side features, I very much look like my father and grandfather with a more sturdy, somehow more Polish face now, but when I was young I somehow was a carbon copy of my mother. Weirdly enough, I also have two completely different feet, with my left having the traits of my father’s foot and my right foot is my mother’s duplicate. I somehow have higher arches on my right foot and my toes go in descending order, the opposite of my flatter left foot with a taller second toe than the big toe. While I have both Asian and Polish American traits within me, I literally have a foot on each side of my cultural DNA.

This has been a major factor in why it has been such a difficult journey figuring out who I am within my cultural identity. I’ve struggled with not feeling like I fit into either category that I belong to, and while I know there are other people out there just like me, every story is different and mine includes a large amount of moving. I finally came to the conclusion that I actually wanted to go to boarding school starting my sophomore year of high school, and making that decision on my own with the support of my parents was a crucial moment in my life.

I made a very tough decision right in the middle of my teenage years and was able to grow from that moment into a more clear personal identity. I think this is a significant reason why I like reading coming of age stories with an Asian American voice. I can relate to navigating multiple cultures that vary in social views on everything from what you wear to when you can start dating. It was the reflection in books I craved and it still feels personal.

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott

I find this graphic novel incredible poignant today. With Asian American’s being racially targeted for the coronavirus, reading this book made me feel incredibly proud to be an Asian American. They Call Us Enemy was written about George Takei’s time in an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. It showcases how these Americans banned together during a time that the American government thought they were enemies and how they survived after everything they worked for was seized. It resonates deeply with how people of different races are viewed in America and is a great reminder of what Asian Americans have had to struggle with and work against.

Buy it here.

Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani

This is a wonderful graphic novel that follows teen Priyanka as she tries to piece together her heritage and who her father is when her mother does not want to talk about it. She finds her mother’s pashmina stuffed in a suitcase and when she puts it around her shoulders, she is transported to a dreamlike India, where things are beautiful. When her mom finally agrees that she can go visit her aunt in India, she sees that while there is beauty, there also is poverty and it is also different than what she imagined. This was something that I grappled with a lot in my time in Singapore and traveling around Asia. Tourism gives off the idea that the continent is “exotic”, but the reality is a lot more complex.  

Buy it here.

Kampung Boy by Lat

I grew up with this and all of the other Lat graphic novels. They are cherished by my family because they go into detail about what it is like living with Peranakan relatives (Peranakan or Baba Nyonya refers to the mixed culture created by Hainanese immigrants to Malaysia).  Kampungs are traditional villages that are often on stilts and my mother grew up in a more rural Singapore where kampungs were still around. This explores how kampung life is like and the unique eccentricities that Peranakans have with their mixture of cultures.

Buy it here.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

I love this book so much because I can relate to it from moving so much. It tells the story of Shirin, a girl who has moved so much that she has guarded herself with emotional walls incredibly high. This takes place a year after 9/11 and she has become a target of bullies in her past high schools because she wears a hijab. Her older brother, on the other hand, is viewed as the cute foreign teenager that girls love, much like my older brother in high school. When a boy is actually interested in talking to her, she is terrified and finds it challenging to let her guard down. 

Buy it here.

Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi

I find this book incredibly dreamy and lovely. I am not a huge fan of romantic books but this book feels like a different kind of Notting Hill, which is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. Pablo Neruda Rind is a college dropout who is trying to figure out what he wants to with his life. He currently works at a bodega, which gives his Korean mom some frustrations. His Indian father is more forgiving, but then again he was the one who named him after Pablo Neruda. One day while working his shift at the bodega, Leanna Smart, a very famous pop singer and actress, enters and they strike up a conversation. He is both fascinated and confused about how their worlds have collided. I won’t spoil what happens next, but I will tell you that I got to meet Mary H.K. Choi at the 2019 Texas Teen Book Festival and made a complete fool of myself talking to her, much like Pab interacting with Leanna for the first time. 

Buy it here.

Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier 

I read this book when I was a teenager and I don’t think I have ever felt like I related to a character more than Dimple Lala. Dimple has spent her entire life resisting her parent’s traditions as she much prefers to assimilate into American society. When she turns seventeen, her parents try to introduce her to a suitable boy, an Indian American who is an NYU student. She rejects the idea wholeheartedly until she finds him at a club and realizes he is much more complex than she had imagined. While parents might find Dimple too rebellious in this book, she experiments with drinking and smoking pot and she lies to her parents at different points in the book, Dimple feels like a real person with flaws and all. I highly suggest this book to anyone who feels a little bit confused about their identity. 

Buy it here.