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by Yia Vang (Author)
NONFICTION BOOK AWARDS WINNER 2025 -- Bronze Award
"What sets this memoir apart is its masterful interweaving of the personal and the political. Vang doesn't just share recipes; she reveals how food becomes a lifeline for displaced communities. Her mother's kitchen wisdom-emphasizing simplicity, seasonality, and connection to the earth-stands in stark contrast to the processed abundance of American supermarkets. Through this lens, we witness how Hmong refugees navigated their new world while holding on to their cultural essence." -Nonfiction Book Awards
Yia grew up with a traditional mother who wanted her to marry, raise a family, tend a garden, and cook Hmong food. Yia wanted freedom. The two had little in common, except their opposition to each other.
In a seemingly ordinary moment in Mom's kitchen, Yia had a sudden awakening. She watched her mother move from pot to pot with the instinctive grace of a symphony conductor, knowing exactly how to bring out the best in every ingredient. As these moments repeated, they grew closer. Mom began to reveal her life, and with each meal prepared and memory shared, Yia's roots started to take shape in the family history she never knew.
In this epic mother-daughter love story, their parallel lives merge as each becomes the nutrient the other needs to navigate life's trials and guide one another back home. When Yia truly looked at her mother, she finally saw her for who she was: daughter, wife, mother, warrior, survivor, woman, Hmong.
"A profound journey of re-embodiment, of being freshly-rooted into the fabric of this time and place...An evocative, poignant, touching story."
-Edward Espe Brown, author of The Tassajara Bread Book
"A moving and satiating memoir rich with food, family, tradition, and most undeniably, love. This book will make you hungry and feed you all at once."
-Nicole Treska, author of Wonderland: A Tale of Hustling Hard and Breaking Even
"Yia Vang's memoir reminds us of how much we can learn about our families, and our cultures, through cooking. Reading it, you often feel like you're right in the kitchen, which is where I always want to be! You'll walk away with a better understanding of not just Hmong cuisine but of how food can shape a whole family."
-Wylie Dufresne, James Beard Award Winner and author of wd 50: The Cookbook
This is perfect for lovers of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and Crying in the H Mart. Mother-daughter relationships are rough country, but this author's discovery of her mother's extraordinary story in midlife offers nothing but hope. Connection is always possible.
-Beth Wareham, author of Hair Club Burning and The Power of No
