Jia! The Food of Swatow and the Teochew Diaspora (Digital Download)

Note: Hardcover copies are sold out, sorry! If you're interested in a hypothetical future printing, please let me know here and I'll keep you posted if/when that happens :)

Part cookbook, part travel journal, Jia! presents the food of the Teoswa people in stories and recipes. The cuisines of modern-day Swatow and Teochew, two neighboring cities in southern China, together known as “Teoswa,” are explored alongside the diasporic cuisines of Teoswa communities in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States.

At its core, Teoswa cuisine emphasizes sourcing excellent ingredients and letting their natural flavors shine and harmonize in thoughtful combinations. Given its ocean-hugging location, seafood is understandably a cornerstone of the Teoswa diet, but Teoswa’s beef meatballs, braised fowl, rice noodles, and inventive uses of vegetables are also famous across China. Over the past centuries, waves of Teoswa people arrived in Southeast Asia, bringing their recipes with them. As Teoswa foods evolved to suit local tastes and ingredients, many of them also became iconic national dishes in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

In this book, I share my own Teoswa family story within this larger historical context. I've adapted recipes, both traditional and modern, for an American home kitchen.

Chapters include: 1) Snacks and Appetizers; 2) Rice & Noodles; 3) Seafood; 4) Meat; 5) Vegetables; and 6) Drinks & Sweets.