Press/Media Coverage of The Hakka Cookbook

June 7, 2024. The Chinese translation of The Hakka Cookbook, Chinese Soul Food from around the World has been released in Taiwan. SMC Books and Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center, Hakka Affairs Council jointly published the book. 

March 2, 2022. The Medieval Influencer Who Convinced the World to Drink Tea–Not Eat It by Miranda Brown. Leicha (Herbaceous Pounded Tea from Malaysia). Atlas Obscura

2022. Have You Eaten Yet? by Cheuk C. Kwan. Douglas & McIntyre, Canada. page 69.

April 19, 2018 . The Hakka cuisine in Hong Kong that brings diners to tears, and why restaurants serving it may be on borrowed time by Jenny Wang in South China Morning Post.

April 2, 2018. Braised Eggplant, Pork, and Mushrooms. New York Times online “Cooking.”

March 2018. Salt-baked Chicken with Red Chile-Bean Sauce, Fresh Ginger-Onion Sauce, and Sand Ginger Sauce in Dill Magazine, pages 116 to 121.

2017. Sweet and Tangy Bitter Melon Pickles in The Illustrated Wok.

April 1, 2017. Stir-fried Pork and Pineapple in New York Times Our Ten Most Popular Recipes Right Now.

February 20, 2017. Lorraine Witte, The Chinese Lady on youtube. Steeped Chicken Breasts.

November 2016. Vermilion Roots. November tidbits: Let’s talk about cookbooks!

February 10, 2016. The Jigsaw Kitchen. Pork Belly with Preserved Mustard Greens Mui Choy Kau Yoke.

April 2015. The Cleaver Quarterly, Issue 4. Dandelion Cuisine, Linda Lau Anusasananan on the art of writing recipes. Illustrations by Alan Chong Lau, page 73. Available in print only or click Dandelion Cuisine.

April 2015. San Francisco. Regional cuisine goes way beyond Canton by Luke Tsai, page 49 and Local Wisdom page 56.

January 12, 2015. World Recipes Expo Milano 2015. Pounded Tea (lei cha).

September 21, 2014. The Star Online. A love for traditional Hakka ‘lei cha,’ by Louisa Lim.

July 24, 2014. Global Times. Sweet and sour cooking classes by Li Ying. This is an English online version of Global Times from Beijing. In the article, the writer quotes teachers and authors about teaching Chinese cuisine. Scroll to near end of article to find my photo and quotes.

2014 Number 92. The Art of Eating. Short List, page 46. In this magazine that calls itself the Authority on Food, Wine, and Taste, the editor listed The Hakka Cookbook on his Short List of books. Only available in print.

May 7, 2014. FoodGal.com  Steaming on Mother’s Day by Carolyn Jung.

April 14, 2014. Tasting Table Kitchen Bookshelf.The Hakka Cookbook appears in the Globe-trotting category.

January 31, 2014. The Jerusalem Post Magazine. Good luck foods for the Chinese New Year by Faye Levy and Yakir Levy.

September 23, 2013. AsianWeek. Learn to Cook Chinese Soul Food with Linda Lau Anusasananan by AsianWeek Staff.

August 19, 2013. The Better Part. Soul Food of the Chinese Nomads by Cupertino TV Productions. Author interview on youtube

August 14, 2013. The Daily Journal. Food: ‘The heart of every culture’ by Bill Silverfarb, page 1 and 18.

August 6, 2013. LeMauricien.com. Book Review: A taste of Hakka cuisine by Philip Li Ching Hum. “The book will prove most useful in an age of fast food and mushrooming shopping malls as the new generation tends to bury the recipes of our forebears. This is a wealth of recipes to be treasured by our youth today;  the language of Hakka is lost in some countries but we must preserve its cuisine.”

July, 2013. Flavour. The Hakka’s Travelling Kitchen by Julie Wong, page 60 to 68. Review: The Hakka Cookbook, Chinese Soul Food from around the World by Ooi May Sin, page 84. “By the end of the book, you’ll get a global view of Hakka food and what it represents, and the conviction that every Hakka should own a volume of this book.”

June 24, 2013. SpecialFork. The Hakka Cookbook: Linda Finds her Roots by Sandy Hu. “You don’t have to have a specific interest in Hakka food to enjoy this book. The stories are fascinating and the recipes are appealing…Whether you stick to the easy recipes or are more ambitious, Linda is with you throughout, giving detailed instructions to ensure the recipes really work for you.”

May 19, 2013. New York Times. The Nomad’s Kitchen by Mark Bittman, page 54. “These (dishes) feel closer to the honest, straightforward cuisine of a group of nomads than anything I ever ate in what used to be called Chinese-American restaurants. And they translate well to home kitchens everywhere.”

April 11, 2013. Asian Week. On the Scene: California News by Angela Pang.

April 2013. CBA News. The Hakka Cookbook, page 10.

March 25, 2013. Cooking with Amy. Hakka Cuisine. “Even if you have other Chinese cookbooks, it’s worth getting to know Hakka cuisine, because it’s mostly home style cooking, ideal to try in your own kitchen.”

March 13, 2013. Tasting Table. Kitchen Bookshelf, Read it and Eat.

Spring 2013. Flavor and Fortune, Vol. 20 (1) p. 20. On our bookshelves. “This volume is a remarkable cookbook, poignant and perfect.”

March 5, 2013. Book Dragon. The Hakka Cookbook Review by Terry Hong. “Distinctive cooking, little-known history, heartfelt family memoir, and quite the global movable feast. Might I just add: mmm mmm good!”

March 4, 2013 Hungry in Halifax. Hakka in Halifax. “The recipes are written clearly and with warmth, and everything I’ve made so far has been delicious! “

February 23, 2013 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Best Chinese Cuisine Cookbook in World. (pg. 114)

February 11, 2013. Books To Cooks blog. Happy Lunar New Year.

February 10, 2013. Menupause. The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from around the World, review by Ellen Sue Spicer-Jacobson. “Reaching back into her childhood and beyond, writing with passion and precision, opening the door wide to an unfamiliar kitchen and making it inviting are all positive attributes of this beautifully illustrated and designed food book with its mouth-watering shades of orange colors on the cover and inside. Even if you never made one recipe, the story that the author weaves throughout the book makes it worth the price.”

February 8, 2013. Publishers Weekly. Cooking by the Numbers by Mark Rotella. “The Hakka Cookbook… attracted attention from mainstream magazines such as Saveur.”

February  2013. Bookslut. Tending the House Gods… by Charlotte Freeman. “deeply informative about how real people live and cook…beautifully designed with recipes that are easy to comprehend and that work.”

February 2013. Sunset Magazine. Build your own bowl by Amy Machnak, page 84 to 87.

February 2013. Goodreads.com The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from around the World. “My mom addresses what it means to be Hakka not only through her own history, but by traveling to where the Hakka diaspora spread including India, Jamaica and Peru. She follows the food and the stories that brought it there. It’s a great book,” writes Chalida.

January 30, 2013. Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Homey Food, Hearty Flavor and Traditional Hakka chicken recipes ideal for simple single-bowl meals by Joan Namkoong, pages D-1, D-8.

January 29, 2013. Huffington Post Blog. How to Record your Culinary History (before it is too late).

January 29, 2013. Specialfork. The Secret to Moist Chicken Breasts by Linda Lau Anusasananan.

January 24, 2013. Maya in the Morning. Roots uncovered by Maya Leland. “I was in for a roots experience. I learned what it means to be Hakka. It explained so much about my family and why we are the way we are. Under all our different experiences is that tough, resilient Hakka spirit that comes from our hardy ancestors.”

January 19, 2013. Yum.fi. The Hakka Cookbook. “Mixing in fact, the author’s own journey and, of course, experiences and dishes from around the world, the author mixes information together with the textual dexterity equivalent of a master chef, adding fine flavourings, textures and colour to make an incredibly powerful dish (book).”

January 18, 2013. Zester Daily Soapbox. Don’t Take Your Culinary Heritage for Granted by Linda Lau Anusasananan.

January 2, 2013. International Examiner. Q&A: “Hakka Cookbook” Author Linda Lau Anusasananan on Soul Food and Health.

Winter 2012-2013. Friends of Asian Art Association Newsletter, page 13. The Hakka Cookbook, Chinese Soul Food from around the World.

December 2012. Martha Stewart Living, page 104. Review: Lucinda’s Picks by Lucinda Scala Quinn. “Given my limited shelf space, I only keep books that answer three important questions: Did the recipes work? Is the food delicious? And did I learn something? Of the dozens of new books I’ve read and cooked from this year, these are my favorites, from popular chefs, wonderful storytellers, and a few important newcomers. The thing they have in common is their appreciation for the great mosaic of cultures around us. I can’t think of a better gift to receive.”

December 2012. Saveur, page 22. Season’s Readings, Our take on some of the best cookbooks of 2012. The Hakka Cookbook Review by Lillian Chou.

December 24, 2012. The Daily Journal. Chinese Soul Food.

December 17, 2012. Viet World Kitchen. Soy-Glazed Black Pepper Chicken Recipe (The Hakka Cookbook) by Andrea Nguyen. “This book begs you to spend time with it.”

December 15, 2012. KCRW Good Food Best Cookbooks of 2012: Jerusalem, Burma, Faviken. Hakka Cookbook interview starts at 45 minutes. Companion blog features recipe from book, Fah’s Stuffed Tofu.

December 13, 2012. Gourmand International World Cookbooks Awards 2012. The Hakka Cookbook, Chinese Soul Food from Around the World is a finalist and on the shortlist for the Chinese cuisine category for Gourmand International World Cookbooks Awards 2012.

December 4, 2012. The Globe and Mail. 2012’s best cookbooks, from the farm to the sugar shack by Chris Nuttall-Smith. “A great cookbook is far more than a collection of recipes and pictures. It’s a guide and a passport, an adventure for the senses and a promise–these recipes work, they’re delicious, you have to try them–from author to reader….Anusasananan captures all of it, including the most authoritative and hunger-inducing reportage about Toronto’s Hakka community that I’ve read.”

December 4, 2012. Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards 2012. The Hakka Cookbook, Chinese Soul Food from Around the World, is the winner in the USA in the category for Best Chinese Cuisine Book.

November 24, 2012. Wall Street Journal. Off Duty. Bits & Bites, News You Can Eat. by Charlotte Druckman. “The result is more than a collection of recipes; it is a chronicle of the effects of diaspora and assimilation as reflected on the plate.”

November 23, 2012. San Francisco Chronicle. Weight offerings for holiday gifts by Amanda Gold.

November 9, 2012. Honolulu Magazine, Biting Commentary: The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from around the World by Martha Cheng.

November 14, 2012. What’s for dinner: Shrimp with Fried Garlic and Chile by Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

November 11, 2012. High on the Hakka in Tasting Table San Francisco by Jonathan Kauffman. “Fascinating . . . The book contains recipes for classics, … that tell stories of movement and adaptation. With Anusasananan’s book in one hand and a hot wok in the other, we too can taste what it means to be Hakka.”

November 5, 2012. Finding the tastiest choices for food book gifts by Michele Kayal, Associated Press. “Captures the flavors and stories of an often overlooked Chinese diaspora… Offers new insights to even the savviest fan of Chinese food.“

November, 2012. Western Living. Q & A with Cookbook Author, Linda Lau Anusasananan. By Nicole Ilich.

Novermber, 2012. Western Living. Recipe: Chicken and Goji Berry Soup.

November 1, 2012. Food Book Review: The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from around the World. A youtube book review.

October 25, 2012. Hakka in the Home: An autumn side dish from one of our fave cookbooks by Caitlin Donohue in San Francisco Bay Guardian. “I’ve read few cookbooks as interesting as The Hakka Cookbook…”

October 23, 2012. Cantonese country cousin by Caitlin Donohue in San Francisco Bay Guardian.

October 18, 2012. Zester Daily Review: Hakka Cookbook Details China’s Soul Food by Carolyn Phillips. “All of the Hakka classics are here for the first time in an English cookbook, as well as local specialties from the diaspora that flung Hakka descendants to the far corners of the world. It’s a rich tapestry of stories, savory flavors and rich broths.”

October 17, 2012. Mile-high Birthday Bash in Food for Thought, KPLU 88.5 FM by Dick Stein. “The Hakka Cookbook by Linda Lau Anusasananan. This going to be a good one. I’ve already made one of the recipes from it — the garlic noodles with shrimp and vegetables and it was grrrreat.”

October 12, 2012. “The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese soul food” by Amanda Gold in San Francisco Chronicle.

October 7, 2012. Interview with Ann and Peter Haigh on On the Menu. My interview is in the last third of the segment.

October 4, 2012. Hakka-style Halibut by Carolyn Jung in Food Gal. “For Chinese-Americans like myself, we’re all the better for its publication, too, because it includes so many recipes for dishes that we grew up with and still crave to this day.”

September 28, 2012. WCBS, KABC, SSI Blue Lifestyle Minute with Anthony Dias Blue.

September 22, 2012, 12:30 pm. Radio interview on Dining Around with Joel Riddell NewsTalk910 am KKSF.  Interview begins in the second half of hour three on 9/22/12.

September, 2012. World Wine Watch Newsletter. Click on Wine and Food Book Reviews for September 2012, see #9. “Quality/Price Rating: 90.”

July 6, 2012  Hakka cookbook explores the cuisine of China’s nomads by Jennifer Bain in Toronto Star.