Books

For folks addicted to reading and to Chinese restaurants, it is difficult to imagine a more satisfying book than The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. (Hold on for an explanation of that name.)

Alternately breezy and cerebral, the book serves as an appetizer platter, a bowl of sweet and sour soup, an array of main dishes, tea and dessert simultaneously.

Although Ms. Lee takes her quest for understanding beyond the United States, for those who consume their Chinese food within the 50 states of America, it is mind-boggling to learn that 40,000 restaurants are serving such fare, more than all the McDonald's, KFCs and Burger Kings combined.

Ms. Lee has not visited all 40,000, nor all the Chinese restaurants overseas. Sometimes, though, the vastness of her research suggests she has done so.

Ms. Lee is well-equipped for the research. As an ABC (American-born Chinese), she grew up eating authentic cuisine in her mother's Upper West Side kitchen. She speaks Mandarin Chinese, holds an economics-applied mathematics degree from Harvard University and has studied at Beijing University. She is a New York Times reporter.

Her chapters cover, among other subjects, the origin and production of fortune cookies, the soy sauce mystique, the strange invention of chop suey, the mechanics of Chinese restaurant takeout and the search for the finest food served by any Chinese restaurant in the world. (The answer is on page 248.)

Flashes of insight punctuate the text. Searching for the origin of the fortune cookie served in seemingly every Chinese restaurant throughout the United States, Ms. Lee realizes to her surprise that in China nobody produces or consumes fortune cookies.

Some of Ms. Lee's insights involve her own heritage and psyche: "This book began as a quest to understand Chinese food. But three years, six continents, 23 countries and 42 states later, I realize it was actually a personal journey to understand myself."

Ms. Lee put herself in peril while visiting dangerous places, investigating sensitive subjects such as mistreatment of Chinese immigrants employed in restaurants. And she comes to potentially searing personal realizations.

The largest risk for others, the consumers of the book, might be this: a constant craving for Chinese food. I could not stop thinking about my next Chinese meal as I turned the pages. Then again, I often crave Chinese food when not reading a book about it.

Oh yes, as promised, about the number 8 between "Jennifer" and "Lee." In the Chinese lexicon, it connotes prosperity. May she prosper from this book.

Steve Weinberg's latest book, Taking on the Trust, was just released by Norton.

Adventures in the World of Chinese Food

Jennifer 8. Lee

(Twelve, $24.99)

ARCHIVES: Search for more stories on this and other topics | Search Tips

SUBSCRIBE: Get The Dallas Morning News delivered to your home