Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries by Annette Bay Pimentel (review)

When millionaire Stephen Mather decided, early in the twentieth century, that America’s national parks needed a government service office to coordinate their upkeep, he invited a party of movers and shakers on a camping tour to view, appreciate, and hopefully advocate for the parks’ glories. Mather was savvy enough to know that nature might be more palatable to his privileged guests if they could count on familiar luxuries, so he hired Tie Sing, an American-born Chinese cook, to supply gourmet meals en route. This was not Tie Sing’s first gig, and he pulled out all the stops, arranging for loads of carefully packed and preserved victuals to be carried by mule train, while he and his assistant cooked, washed dishes and linens, and kept the guests amazed at their gustatory good fortune. Mules and nature are not always reliable partners in any venture, and more than once Tie Sing was forced to improvise when ingredients were lost. However, the guests were happy, the National Park Service was established, and the rest is history. This is a lively account of a piece of history most youngsters won’t have considered. Lo’s watercolor illustrations convey the pampered roughing it Mather’s party enjoyed, and sensitive viewers will also note the distance between Tie Sing and the guests, most of whom amiably appreciated his service, while keeping themselves apart from the Chinese hired help. Endpaper maps trace the route through the California parks, and a four-page Q&A section gives more particulars about Tie Sing, the Mather party, and American-Chinese relations in the early 1900s. Source notes and a selected bibliography are included.