Recreating the Chinese American Home through Cookbook Writing

Cookbooks are valuable historical sources, offering fascinating insights into both the private and public spheres and help us understand the connection between them. . During the first eight decades of the twentieth century, more than 280 cookbooks on Chinese food were published in the United States. Chinese Americans, especially Chinese American women, used cookbook writing as a vehicle to search for and create a place -- in both the American economy and culture -- that they could call home. For them, the writing of cookbooks represented not just a gastronomical activity but also a cultural and social endeavor. It helped them to construct, express, and reaffirm their identity as Chinese American.