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| 4/8/2009 | Email this article • Print this article | Cooking from the Heart: the Hmong Kitchen in America
By Amy Doeu
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| Sheng Yang and
Sami Scripter (www.hmongcooking.com) |
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| Cooking Tools and Supplies(www.hmongcooking.com) |
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This May the Hmong Community will experience another first. The University of Minnesota Press is scheduled to publish the first Hmong cookbook, Cooking from the Heart: the Hmong Kitchen in America. Authors Sheng Yang and Sami Scripter talked about the writing process of the book with HMONG TIMES. Scripter shared that the book, "is the result of the friendship between two families - the Yangs and the Scripters."
Yang recalls, "I grew up cooking in my family. I learned as much as I could from both sides of my family (my parents and my in-laws), friends, and relatives."
In 1981 the Yang family moved to Portland, Oregon and lived near the Scripter family. Sheng was 12 years old at the time. Sami worked at the elementary school that Sheng attended.
"Today we can not remember exactly how we became so close, but we do remember Yang and her siblings Emily and Carl were in classes together with Scripter and her husband, Don's, children who often studied and played together. Soon the two families were gardening together in the Scripter's little garden plot. The two families often celebrated holidays and birthdays together. "This way, we learned about one another's cooking and eating traditions," Scripter said. Later Yang lived for a year with the Scripters in an attempt to learn English quickly. They often cooked together and shared their traditions. Yang taught Scripter the art of cooking rice and papaya salad. Other dishes included chicken and bean sprout salad. Scripter shared raspberry jam and pie.
The close ties have continued even through several moves. Scripter said, "Across all of the miles and through all of the years, we have remained friends. Whenever we are together we always cook and share meals."
Cooking and food is one of the best ways to share and preserve culture. Scripter said, "About six years ago we got serious about writing a Hmong cookbook. After we had roughed out a couple of chapters and began writing a project proposal we mounted a Web site about the book. It was very simple. It described what we planned to do and asked people to ask questions and share their recipes with us via email." Sheng added, "The most difficult part of the project is how we could get the book published. We were not sure if we would be able to attract a publisher. We just moved ahead without knowing that." Scripter continued, "We were stunned when we got a message from Pieter Martin, an editor at the University of Minnesota Press, expressing interest in our book! We finished writing the proposal and submitted it to the Press. They accepted our proposal and we spent the last five years writing the book."
To visit their website go to www.hmongcooking.com.
They added, "Our goal was to accurately document how Hmong people cooked in this country, and to show how the food relates to the Hmong culture and traditions. We chose not to 'Americanize' Hmong food, but rather to present it the way it is - simple, fiery and tasty. We felt our target audience was young Hmong people who long to taste food 'like their mothers made.' However, we are finding out that many people who are not Hmong are interested in leaning how to make kua txob, larb, khaub poob, and other dishes."
The hardest part was taking recipes that are normally done to taste and putting solid figures and measurements behind them. This job fell to Yang. They also traveled and visited other Hmong families, "We wanted our book to be comprehensive and not just document how one family cooked, but be a record of Hmong cooking across America. Our sources are a cross-section of Hmong Americans. Of course we read everything we could find written about the Hmong culture; especially what was authored by Hmong people. But, the recipes came from the kitchens of ordinary people."
The book includes information about Hmong culture, full color photographs or some dishes and Hmong and English recipe titles. Also included are recipes to feed a large group.
"We wrote our book to honor Hmong culture and to make available a positive, honest, and exciting representation of Hmong Americans for everyone to read. We wanted to share Hmong cooking recipes and traditions with others. We wanted to preserve a part of Hmong heritage that has been important to us, and to give something to all future Hmong."
Sami Scripter and Sheng Yang, authors of Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America will be in the Twin Cities from May 21 - 23 to share their experiences and sign their books. They will also be in San Francisco, CA on June 11.
Meet the Authors, talk and book signing
Thursday, May 21 - 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Hmong Cultural Center
995 University Ave. W., Suite 214
Sunrise Market Building
(Parking available in back of building)
St. Paul, MN 55104
651-917-9937
Food samples and refreshments will be served. The Hmong Cultural Center's Dancers and Qeej players will also perform. Books will be available for purchase.
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Meet the Authors Book Signing
Saturday, May 23 - 10:30 AM
Mill City Farmer's Market
Chicago Ave. and 2nd St. South
(between the Guthrie Theater and Mill City Museum)
In downtown Minneapolis
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Author Talk and Book Signing
Saturday, May 23 - 2:00 PM
HarMar Barns and Noble
2100 North Snelling Ave.
Roseville, MN 55113
(651) 639-9256
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Author Talk & Book Signing
Thursday, June 11 - 6:00 pm
Book Passage Bookstore
In the San Francisco Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 835-1020
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St. Paul, MN
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