How to Cook a Dragon

February 15, 2009
Syndicated food columnist Furiya once again explores her American identity and her Japanese heritage but this time from the perspective of a woman, not the little girl who gave us the insightful and funny childhood food memoir "Bento Box in the Heartland". Furiya, who abandoned her life in America to join her boyfriend in China, recounts the challenges she faced from naive expectations that her Asian background would provide common ground with the locals, to feelings of isolation, loneliness, and difficulties that come with language barriers. She also touches on food as the tie that binds her life experiences but not quite as well as she did in her previous book. Furiya does a fine job of revealing her conflicted feelings about living abroad, being a dutiful daughter, and developing her identity, but the work is uneven in sustaining interest, and certainly more details about daily life in China particularly having to do with food would have contributed to a richer and fuller story. A dozen or so recipes accompany each chapter. Recommended for large public libraries.Christine Holmes, San Jose State Univ. Lib., CA

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