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From the News Media
 Writes
Jemimah Steinfeld on September 27: "[Sasha] Gong was part of
the sent-down youth movement at the time, which saw thousands of
children taken away from their parents and sent to work in the
countryside. Writing the book was "a cathartic experience -- a
way to go back to a recent, difficult period," she said...Gong
admits the irony of writing a cookbook about a period that had
little food. But even though it was a time of austerity, her
generation learned how to cherish food and create delicious,
healthy dishes." Jemimah Steinfeld,
CNN.
 National
Public Radio's Rachel Martin cooked three dishes from
The Cultural Revolution Cookbook with Sasha and Scott
in honor of Chinese New Year and reported about it on "Weekend
Edition" on Sunday, January 22. "A new book combines the
memories and culinary skills of one Chinese political dissident
who lived through the country's Cultural Revolution. Since food
was rationed, Sasha Gong learned to cook with whatever she could
find. 'There's something about humanity,' she says. 'It's hard
to suppress.'" Listen to the broadcast
here or read the (somewhat shorter) text version here:
NPR Weekend Edition. It was NPR's "most e-mailed story" the
next day.
 Jim
Stevenson of the Voice of America interviewed Sasha about the
cookbook. He writes, "China's Cultural Revolution is
remembered as a time of hardship for many on the mainland, who
were sent to the countryside by Mao Zedong to live alongside
China's peasants and farmers. It is not a time in Chinese
history readily associated with food, and cooking. Yet, people
at that time had to be very creative given the few culinary
resources available." Listen to the interview, which aired
on
Daybreak Asia.
 Even
the official China Daily published a report on
The Cultural Revolution Cookbook.
Quoting Sasha, reporter Kelly Chung Dawson wrote,
"When
Scott first suggested the idea of a book based on 'cultural
revolution'-era recipes, I said, 'Are you nuts?' People didn't
have enough to eat during that time," Gong says. "But the more I
thought about it, the more I realized that if we could
incorporate the stories of Chinese history in the book, it would
be fun and very educational." You can read the story on the
ChinaDailyUSA website.
 "We
have come a long way since Chinese food meant Chun King’s canned
bean spouts, chow mein noodles brown sauce, and Chun King’s
cookbook that featured chop suey for 50 people," writes
Raymond Lum of the Harvard Yenching Library - an aficianado of
Chinese food - in a thoughtful review of the cookbook for
ChinaInsight, an English-language newspaper focusing exclusively
on connections between the U.S. and China. "Even the
cooking-impaired will enjoy this book because it puts a personal
face on the experiences of the 'sent down' youth that is largely
lacking in academic histories of the Cultural Revolution and
because the book is visually enthralling. It is also a
significant addition to our understanding and appreciation of
China’s culinary legacy, which is always in a stage of
development and discovery." Raymond Lum in
ChinaInsight.
 Andrew
Donaldson, writing in the Times of Johannesburg, South
Africa, calls
The
Cultural Revolution Cookbook "a
runaway success, acclaimed by foodies and historians alike, who
have praised it for its warmth, compassion and insight."
Times Live.
 "新出版的《文革菜譜》
(The
Cultural Revolution Cookbook) 一書的作者之一Gong
Sasha, 來自中國廣州，現居美國。文革時她下放到廣東農村 . . .
從當地人那裡學來很多簡單又健康的菜式，她一一記錄下來。這本書也成為對時代的反諷." "Sasha Gong, one
of the authors of
The
Cultural Revolution Cookbook, a newly
published book of recipes from the Cultural Revolution, is
originally from Guangzhou, China and is currently residing in
the United States. During the Cultural Revolution she was "sent
down" to the Guangdong countryside, and . . . learned a lot of
simple and healthy dishes from the local farmers, which she has
recorded in a book that chronicles the irony of the times."
The
Wen Wei Po (文汇报), quoting Time
Magazine.
 Scott
was interviewed about the cookbook by Markus Hippi on Britain's
Monocle 24 Radio's "The Menu," a "weekly one-hour show about
eating and drinking, introducing you to the players you need to
know, from food growers to restaurateurs and chefs." The
interview aired on January 27. You can listen to the six-minute
clip here.
 “我们能表现创造力的机会不多，所以做饭变成很重要的事情。你想，一共给你三样东西，要你做十道菜你总得想出办法，会想出很多花招来把东西弄得很好吃."
"We had few opportunities to demonstrate creativity, so
cooking became a very important endeavor. If they gave you three
ingredients and asked you to make ten dishes with them, you had
to come up with a lot of tricks to make them taste good."
Chow Yian Ping (周雁冰) quoting Sasha Gong in an article called "A
Nothing-to-Eat Cookbook" ("一本没有东西吃的食谱") in Singapore's
Lianhe Zaobao (联合早报).
 The
authors tell the significance behind four of their favorite
recipes: Shallow-Fried Potato Shreds, Scrambled Eggs with
Tomatoes, Honey-Braised Duck and Tofu with Scallions and Sesame
Dressing. Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore, in
TimeOut Beijing.
 "「文革食譜」分門別類，有蔬菜篇、雞鴨篇、豬牛羊篇、海鮮篇、米飯麵食篇、湯品、甜點篇，以英文寫成，所有食材、調味料均可在美國
Safeway 一般超市買到，讓洋人對做中國菜不再視如畏途."
"'The
Cultural Revolution Cookbook' includes recipes for
vegetables, poultry, pork and lamb, seafood, rice, pasta, soup
and dessert. It's written in English, and all the ingredients
and seasonings can be bought in an average American Safeway
supermarket. This allows Westerners to make Chinese food without
fear." Amanda
H. Chen (許惠敏) in the
World Journal (世界日報).
 Anyone
for Danish? Mads Schmidt, a writer for radio86.com, which
focuses on China, posted an online review of the cookbook. He
writes: "Yes, we recommend it! The book is great and is
definitely recommended by Radio86. Not only does it teach a
thing or two about China’s turbulent past, it is also a really
good cookbook. The recipes are understandable even for a novice
and are interesting enough for anyone interested in Chinese
cuisine. Our copy at the office certainly won’t be left on the
shelf after this review has been written. It will be used again
and again to produce lovely and historic lunches and dinners, as
well as just learning a few tips and tricks in the kitchen." The
English translation is
here. Mads
Schmidt in
Radio86.com.
 "The
Cultural Revolution Cookbook
is a landmark publication whose easy-to-prepare dishes include
classics like dry-fried green beans, duckling steamed with
ginger and beef braised with star anise. While the cookbook
documents with an unflinching eye an unimaginably difficult
time, its...recipes also reflect the indomitable spirit and
ingenuity of everyday cooks - among them, Gong and her family -
making do with very little." Daven Wu, in
Destinasian Magazine.
 Sasha
tells how the cookbook got its start, and shares memories of the
Cultural Revolution in an interview with Rachel Will: She says
the book features "more home cooking than restaurant cooking
or fancy food . . . in our cookbook we made sure that you can
find everything at an American supermarket . . . The cooking is
not fancy or difficult, it’s just easy and I want people to
enjoy cooking." Rachel Will in
US-China Today, the online magazine of the University of
Southern California's US-China Institute. Paul Yokota's
Portuguese-language take on Rachel's interview appeared on the
Asia Comentada (Asia Commented) website.
 Connie
Anderson heard the NPR broadcast and decided to give a few of
the recipes a try "since I pretty much had everything in my
pantry except the pork belly or pork shoulder. As you will note,
there are very few ingredients, and all are easily obtainable."
Her family's favorite was Braised Pork in Soy Sauce: "The
pork belly really caramelized in the sauce and was wonderful."
Connie Anderson, in Alabama's
Andalusia Star News.
 "These
recipes, from a "cheerless decade," are actually well suited to
today' s harried cooks who are looking for quick, healthy food.
The limited ingredients and simple techniques make for easy
cooking, and all of them have been tried and tempered to get the
most flavor out of the least ingredients." Claudia
Kousoulas, Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C., in
CHoWLine.
 Read
Danish? The Danish newspaper Weekendavisen reviewed
The Cultural Revolution Cookbook on January 6, 2012 and
quoted Sasha Gong: "It's one thing to understand history
through books. But you get a deeper understanding of history by
actually tasting the food people ate in the past...Our focus has
been on memories of coping despite enormous difficulty."
Peter Harmsen in
Weekendavisen.
From the
Blogosphere
 NPR
also has a food blog - "The Salt" - and reporter Eliza Barclay serves
up lots of stories behind what's on our plates. In "Chow Under
Mao," she writes: "Part narrative, part history, part recipe
compendium, the book is an ode to the spirit of creativity in
lean times. . . Few recipes in Gong and Seligman's book have
more than six ingredients, and they are easy to prepare."
Eliza Barclay in
The Salt.
 International
careers expert Stacie Nevadomski Berdan, author of
Get Ahead by Going Abroad and
Go Global, wrote in the Huffington Post food
blog about an adventure in Chinese cooking involving her two
daughters, a few flat-bottomed pots and pans and
The Cultural Revolution Cookbook. She writes:
"These colorful additions of historical context sparked
conversation as we sat down to a traditional Chinese table set
with chopsticks and a bowl of rice for each, and the dishes
served family style. Although I admit we focused on the
delicious dishes at hand -- every one of them a tasty treat --
we also discussed China then and now. It was rich family
experience on many fronts." Stacie Nevadomski Berdan in
Huff Post Food.
 Elise
Bauer, one of the most respected and followed food bloggers on
the web today, tests all the recipes she posts and has adapted
our Steamed Ginger and Mushroom Chicken recipe into a delightful
soup.
"...The combination of the ginger, chicken, mushrooms, soy sauce
and a touch of salt and sugar is just lovely," she writes.
See her version on her
Simply Recipes
blog.
 "This...is
the starting point for the recipes in this book – a limited
number of readily-available ingredients, simple substitutions,
and straightforward instructions – and in this the authors have
been highly successful. Anyone intimidated by the idea of
cooking (much less cooking something as exotic as Chinese food)
will find this cookbook invitingly simple...In summary, from
professional chefs (who will likely make tweaks as they go) to
the average or aspiring home cook (who follows recipes to the
letter), this book has a lot of food for thought as well as for
cooking and enjoying with family and friends. I would not
hesitate to recommend it, whether it’s for your own use in the
home kitchen, as a gift for a fellow or aspiring cook, or for
someone who has an interest in the Cultural Revolution period of
modern Chinese history." Food Blogger
Liza Baker, in
Tangstein's Blog: Healthy Chinese Home Cooking.
 "The
book offers recipes aplenty including, dredged fish with ginger
and scallions, shallow-fried potato threads, and spicy white
radish salad, plus personal anecdotes, facts, and reproductions
of socialist realist propaganda posters that – from a healthy
distance of geography and time – are positively charming."
Chinese food blogger Stephen Jack, in
Eating China.
 Beijing-based
blogger Myra Brien writes: "I have always been intimidated
to cook Chinese food, even though it's authentic dishes are
usually simple to prepare...anyway, I was very excited to see
this book available. Not only is it a cookbook full of delicious
recipes, author Sasha Gong includes her personal account about
what it was like to grow up in China during the Cultural
Revolution. The book is also full of other interesting bits
about what was happening in China during the time, it's like a
culinary history lesson." Myra Brien in
Interactive Expat.
 A.
V. Crofts, a University of Washington professor interested in
the intersection of food, identity and storytelling, writes in
her blog that
The Cultural Revolution Cookbook
"reveals the powerful tether that food -- even in its most
simple forms -- can provide those of any society experiencing
nightmarish upheaval. They become an act of survival, not just
as pure sustenance, but a preservation of identity and
normalcy." A. V. Crofts in
Sneeze! Pepper for the Beast.
 Food
writer Molly O’Neill, who interviewed Sasha for her blog,
writes: "Food memoirs such as these are more than stories,
they’re literature, an experience, shared transformation. They
capture something of their subject matter — its raw,
physicality, the daily transcendence of a meal well-cooked, the
combat sense of its front lines, the tenderness and whole
heartedness of it." Molly O’Neill in
Cook 'N' Scribble.
 Philadelphia-based
blogger Curtis Roberts, whose favorite Christmas book this past year
was The Cultural Revolution Cookbook, writes: "Sasha Gong .
. .has in this handsome, beautifully written and sensibly priced
book, transformed proverbial lemons into lemonade as she tells
the story of learning by necessity to live, cook and eat simply
in the countryside, growing, preparing and sharing pure, good
and traditional food. I have been cooking from the excellent,
delicious recipes in this book non-stop."
Acravan.
And in a follow-up post, he featured
four recipes from the book, together with his own commentary
on them.
 Joan
Robinett Wilson, a blogger with an eye for a good recipe, caught
the NPR broadcast, swore she could smell the Braised Pork in Soy
Sauce through the radio, and then tried her hand at it,
quintupling the recipe for her large family. She found it
"very simple and easy to make and very tasty." Joan
Robinett Wilson, in
Architect Mom: Drafting a Life.
 To
usher in the Year of the Dragon, blogger Susan Orlins, no
stranger to China and things Chinese, has excerpted four "easy,
healthy, delicious and especially welcome" Chinese New
Year-appropriate recipes from the cookbook in her
Home Goes Strong blog.
 "Overall,
The Cultural Revolution Cookbook reminded me that Chinese
cooking can be simple, inexpensive, unintimidating and
delicious. It does not require special trips to unfamiliar
stores for ingredients you’ve never bought before. All you
really need is fresh ingredients, simple kitchen supplies, and a
healthy dose of China nostalgia." Food Blogger Leslie
Forman, in
Beyond Chile's Single Story.
 Artist
and blogger Della Badart writes: "I love the way they break
down the meals to the simplest form. It reminds me no one needs
fancy tools to make delicious food. A warm heart, hunger and
ingredients make the meal. A little bit of attention to detail
make the food good." Della Badart at
BadArt.
 One
of Sasha's graduate school classmates, Anthropology Professor
Eriberto P. Lozada, Jr., happened to tune in to the NPR Weekend
Edition broadcast when he heard a familiar voice, followed by a
familiar theme. And he went ahead and reprinted the Braised Pork
in Soy Sauce recipe.
Fuji Lozada's Fieldnotes, 罗力波的网页。
 "It has some wonderful dishes, many of
which you won't find in your local take-out joint, 'though you
maybe surprised to find some old favorites in simpler (but
tastier) form." Food Writer Gary Allen, in
On the Table.
 “This
home-style cuisine appeals to me much more than elaborate
banquet cooking that many people associate with Chinese food.”
Ed Ahnert, in
TexAsia.
 “Being one who is
always up for a bit of culinary adventure, I was super excited
when I heard about the cookbook. Not only does it have great
recipes, but the book is also chock full of information about
China's cultural revolution and fascinating political art from
that period in Chinese history.”
Jessica Davis, in
The Eagle's Nest.
Advance Praise
 “Sasha Gong and
Scott Seligman know China in depth. Drawn from an era of simple
ingredients and tastes, the recipes are easy to execute and have
what an American would call ‘down home goodness.’ But beyond
this, the authors’ addition of contemporary history and cultural
insights makes for a unique, entertaining and informative
resource. A brilliant idea, beautifully implemented.”
-- Henry
Levine, former U.S. Consul General, Shanghai
 “Engagingly
educational and informative, this cookbook describes the home
cooking of ordinary people in China who created a culinary
sanctuary for themselves under the harsh life imposed by radical
Maoism. While the recipes transform simple ingredients into
tasty delicacies, the narratives reveal the often fascinating
relationship between food and thought. A great choice for
foodies and lovers of food culture!”
--
Yunxiang Yan, Professor of Anthropology, University of
California at Los Angeles
 “The Chinese are
famous for their love of food -- and as Seligman and Gong's
The Cultural Revolution Cookbook shows, even in the worst
of times, when ingredients were limited and life full of
political turmoil, they came up with simple and tasty dishes
that helped them survive. The book's use of propaganda posters
from the period links the recipes and the politics in a
wonderfully entertaining way.”
--
Judith Shapiro, author of
Mao's War against Nature: Politics and the Environment in
Revolutionary China
 “From Proust to Judt, we’ve learned that food is about time,
place and memory as much as nutrition. This book deftly places
its wonderful dishes in the hothouse culture of the Chinese
co-author’s youth during the Cultural Revolution. The book is by
turns touching, funny and bemusing; the food triumphs over all.”
--
Christian Murck, President, American Chamber of Commerce in
China
 “The
Cultural Revolution Cookbook is a scrumptious treat in
every way. Peppered with delectable and little-known historical
anecdotes, luscious food photography and colorful, eye-pleasing
Chinese socialist realist art, the book is a delight simply to flip
through. But at its heart of course, are the recipes. These are
not only presented with edifying background and context, but are
also concise and crystal-clear. Just as importantly, the recipes
are thoughtfully designed to accommodate the equipment and
ingredients available in the typical American kitchen.
Compliments to the chefs, Sasha Gong and Scott D Seligman, for
giving us the best thing to come out of the Cultural Revolution
since the trial of Madame Mao!”
-- Ted Plafker, author of Doing Business In China: How to
Profit in the World's Fastest Growing Market
 “Seligman and Gong manage to bring forth
from the bitter legacy of the Cultural Revolution a delightful
book of recipes that serves up not just breakfast, lunch and
dinner but also much food for thought.”
-- Curtis S. Chin, Former U.S. Ambassador
to the Asian Development Bank
 “Not a lot came out of the
Cultural Revolution that was good . . . but this cookbook is an
exception. Try one of the simple recipes – “Pork with Green and
Red Pepper Shreds” remains one of my all-time favorites – and
enjoy the wealth of artwork and anecdotes to better understand a
very different and important time in China’s recent history.
China today exhibits little on the surface of the decade of
Cultural Revolution chaos and politics, but one can hardly
understand the China of today without being aware of what
transpired during that time. Gong and Seligman serve up both
good food and history in an easily digestible format.”
-- John Frisbie, President, The US-China Business Council
 “The
Cultural Revolution Cookbook mixes amusing anecdotes, engaging stories and
sumptuous recipes to bring to life revolutionary China's
culinary history. The authors’ unique expertise in Chinese
history, society and culture make this cookbook entertaining,
informative and indispensable for any kitchen.”
--
Chris Billing, former NBC News Beijing Bureau Chief and
award-winning filmmaker
 “Gong and Seligman have
produced a delicious feast for the reader – and cook. Clear
instructions on how to make the tasty and healthy food that are
staples of Chinese diets are seasoned with anecdotes about food
and politics during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution,
and Sasha Gong’s memories of her life in China during those
tumultuous and terrible years. This is a beautifully written
book that you will savor both for its thoughtful reflections on
history and its great recipes.”
-- John L. Holden, Former President, The National Committee on
U.S.-China Relations
 “The
authors’ unique expertise on all things Chinese, coupled with
their wit, wisdom, gastronomical bonhomie and culinary
sangfroid, make this cookbook a joy to use and peruse.
I laughed, I cried, I gained 12 pounds in a week testing their
recipes!”
-- Sarah Jackson-Han, Communications
Director and English News Director Emerita, Radio Free Asia
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