Another Tiger On The Shelves And In The Kitchen

Born in the year of the Tiger (a rebellious sign), Cheryl Tan left Singapore at age 18 to attend Northwestern University. Years later, as a 30-something living in New York City, she was suddenly gripped with a sense of loss at the knowledge that after almost sixteen years in the United States, she was, indeed, “Ang Moh” (a Chinese term that implies “Westernized”). Tan did not know how to make the food of her people, and any Singaporean will tell you that they don’t eat to live—they live to eat. In the tiny Southeast Asian country that straddles the equator, food is both a national obsession and their way of bonding. In the kitchen, they tell stories.

In A Tiger in the Kitchen,Cheryl Tan invites readers to join her on a quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore as a way to connect food and family with her sense of home. As Tan begins cooking with her family, she learns not just about food, but about her family history and her heritage. She finds that home is rooted in the kitchen and the foods of her Singaporean girlhood. A Tiger in the Kitchen is a charming story about being a Chinese-American and a food exile, and finding a place for one’s heritage in a modern life.

A Tiger in the Kitchen:  Asian Spaghetti and Meatballs from Mark Joyella on Vimeo.