How to Cook a Dragon: Living, Loving, and Eating in China

by Linda Furiya

When Linda Furiya decided to move to China with her boyfriend at the age of thirty, she hoped to find romance and ethnic kinship. Expecting common ground with locals as an Asian American, Furiya struggled with her ambition as a food writer in a nation where notions of race and gender are set in stone. During the six years she lived in Beijing and Shanghai, Furiya experienced a wide range of experiences—loneliness, isolation, friendship, and love—tied together by one common food.

Ultimately, Furiya surpassed these challenges and found inspiration from the courageous Chinese women who graced her life. The sensuous experience of preparing and eating authentic Chinese cuisine follows Furiya throughout her journey, and ultimately reveals the intimate, nurturing side of the Chinese culture and people. Part insightful memoir, part authentic cookbook, How to Cook a Dragon is a revealing look at race, love, and food in China.

Genres: Memoir, Food, China, Travel, Nonfiction, Biography, Food Writing

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2008

Reviews

[Gannonwb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tripe ! Gristle ! This book was a bone in the throat. A hair in my soup. The narrator of this memoir elicited a visceral antipathy in me. Whiney, needy, bratty and in regard to the food writing, surprisingly pedantic for someone with such little experience. I would never try any of the suggested recipes for fear that they would remind me of this unpleasant experience and unlikable author. Am I being too harsh? Well if this was her personal diary.....yes. But when you decide to make money from your lame life and observations by publishing a book, then you open yourself up to this type of rejection. Since I spent my hard earned money on this book I think I have the right to boo. The same as I would if the Red Sox were stinking up the field.

It does however validate the publishing industry's ability to turn pedestrian drivel into profitable sales. I was suckered by the jacket and the descriptions of the book. Living in both Beijing and Shanghai and having just finished Nicole Mones' The Last Chinese Chef, I had high hopes for this book. The Goodreads reviewers tried to warn me......but sometimes ya just gotta find out the hard way.

Just started reading Michael Chabon's "Yiddish Policeman's Union".....what a relief, in 15 pages, I began to smile again. Have you ever ride a turn of phrase that's so well done, you just grin to yourself, and nod your head in appreciation........

[Lora · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too much whining! For someone who wrote a book about "living, loving and eating in China," she didn't seem to appreciate any of it until after the fact. I wish there had been more rhapsodizing over the food. She doesn't make a convincing foodie. Her moaning over the unique dilemmas of her ethnicity was especially annoying, but not nearly as corrosive as the wallowing in her poor choices in her personal life.

[James Liu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uh. I tried to read this one, I really did. It's billed as a food memoir, and sure, food writing is really hard to do, but for the first 40 pages or so, nothing but her very doomed relationship with this guy WHO'S TOTALLY WRONG FOR HER and almost nothing about food.

And then when there is something about food, it reads like it came out of the airline magazines. Turns out, this author writes for United Airlines Hemispheres. Ugh. Skip it.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay ... not great. The beginning and end consisted of foreshadowing and result of the couple's trainwreck relationship, while the middle section plodded along. I wasn't expecting a laff riot, but the author never exhibited much of a sense of humor. Her husband (an American fluent in Chinese) gave up practicing with her at one point because she spoke entire sentences without any tones; the story unfolds that way, a straight line plateau without highlights or inflection.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book begins well, and is generally more nuanced than Furiya's memoir of childhood, but the narrative is uneven and sometimes choppy, especially in the second half. To my disappointment, I am not interested in trying any of the recipes; as an Asian American and practiced home cook, I don't need a recipe for fried rice or kung pao chicken! I'd give the book three stars for the first half, but the uninspiring recipe choices and the scattered later chapters compel me to give the book as a whole only two stars.

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

Recipes are interesting. However, I spent the entire book trying to figure out who I like least, the author, or her boyfriend. Very superficial is the best thing I can say about this book.

[Farzaneh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is not good! But I enjoyed the author's first-hand experience of living in China.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the author spent too much time complaining about her situation throughout the book. It was just one long complaint about everything in her life.

[Lothe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linda Furiya is understandably hesitant when her boyfriend, working in Beijing, asks her to abandon her life in the States and come to China with him. But she decides to dive in, and ends up spending the next several years of her life in Beijing and Shanghai, where she learns Mandarin, pursues her dream of being a freelance writer, and above all, eats.

And while the local cuisine is a central concern for her (each chapter ends with a recipe), Furiya lets her memoir range far beyond her most recent meal. She deals with the stress of being a Japanese-American in China, where she is continually taken for a Chinese and expected to speak Mandarin; she describes the ups and downs of leaving everything she knows to move to a foreign country; and she captures her tumultuous relationship with her boyfriend, Eric.

Furiya’s style is not impeccable. Her word choice can leave something to be desired, and her metaphors are sometimes strained. But she won me over with her vulnerability in describing her relationship; she does not spare herself when she analyzes the mistakes she made and her growing distance from the person she wanted to be.

How to Cook a Dragon says a bit about cooking, and a bit about "the sleeping dragon," China, but these things are ultimately viewed through their association with Furiya’s life. The angle works well to broaden the book’s appeal beyond just foodies or Sinophiles. This memoir is by no means perfect, but the author’s warmth and honesty shine through.

~

[Jeanette Stingley · Rating 2 out of 5]

How to Cook a Dragon by Linda Furiya is about the Japanese American author’s time she spent in China with her boyfriend Eric. She leaves behind her life in San Francisco to be with the man she loves and to finally be able to write the stories she has always wanted to write.

The story takes place in Beijing and Shanghai. It examines the life of the Chinese and how it is hard for Linda to fit into the culture of the Chinese. Many mistake her for being Chinese. She tires quickly of explaining over and over that she is Japanese. Many of the people seem disappointed when she can’t speak Mandarin when she looks so much like the locals.

Food becomes a central theme in How to Cook a Dragon. She uses food as a type of metaphor to describe her life in China. I enjoyed the recipes included at the end of every chapter. Her romantic notions of China quickly evaporate while she sees her relationship with Eric slowly fade. She left everything behind in America to be with him and he turns out to be not what she imagined him to be.

If you enjoy a memoir type book about someone’s travel abroad, you will enjoy this book. If you like to see a new country through someone’s eyes, you will enjoy this book. I found it mostly boring at times and slow to read. The first three chapters are about her relationship woes. I can understand the analysis of her thoughts while adjusting to this new culture. It may seem to be tedious at times reading the same thing over and over but in different contexts.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Linda Furiya's new China memoir will resonate with anyone who has lived abroad, followed her heart in search of love, or has an interest in China. Hoping to find solidarity with her Asian brethern in China, Furiya becomes frustrated when she has to continuously explain that she's Japanese American, not Chinese or Chinese American. Her boyfriend lives in China on a sweet expat package, so Furiya gives up her job and writing career in San Francisco to join him and see what happens in their relationship. Each chapter concludes with a recipe of a dish that is described in that chapter. Furiya's voice comes out clearly in "How to Cook a Dragon" and the reader quickly empathizes with her.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second book from Linda Furiya was not quite as good as the first. It has some of the charm of the first, mostly present in the style and flow of Ms. Furiya's writing. However, she spent WAY too much time detailing her sticking with a man who was not right for her and not enough time talking about food or China (the subjects the book advertised to be about). That being said, it was a decent read. I wanted to yell at her most of the time for being a dummy....but in the end it seems she finally figured it out. If you enjoyed her first book you may like this one as well, but if you have not read her first book ('Bento Box In the Heartland'), I would recommend starting there.

[Aj · Rating 3 out of 5]

The speaker sounds indeterminate, wooden and selfish in the first pages, but her openness creates many resonant points. My own experience with China has been shockingly different (in a positive way), but I appreciate her gutsy portrayal of a bourgeois existence (she dates an executive in the novel and spends a great deal of time discussing interactions with her home's maid--comes off as oblivious and egocentric, yet she genuinely embraces what crosses into her small world while in China, and that is useful and real).

[Diane C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down, but also felt the author sounded whiny, confused and co-dependent through much of it. Bouncing between China and the states with her well to do east coast financier/start up exec boyfriend Eric, she seemed never fully able to enjoy her life anywhere, probably because she was with the wrong person. Despite this, the story was interesting and she revealed herself fully and bravely, warts and all. Seems like she wrote this book as a catharsis.

[Rudy Kong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading about places I know and have been in Beijing but the story was a little weak. It was one of those books where the author seems to be making a bigger deal out of things than they she should have.

It is a very personal story that I read while finishing up my own book. When I had doubts about whether or not I had revealed too much of my own life I said to myself "it's nothing compared to Linda Furiya's confessions."

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was well written and I didn't mind the information about living an eating in China, but I didn't really care about her relationship with Eric. I just couldn't, or didn't want to (I can't say for sure which), get invested in the relationship of two dysfunctional people.

Anyway, it is an okay book for people interested in China, but you'll have to sift through Linda's life along the way.

[Samara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this authors first novel and can relate equally to this second novel. This book deals with her marriage and its beginning and demise, touches on her pregnancy and birth of her son and is a true coming of age story and her insights as she strives to find her own voice as a woman and a writer.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great follow up to Linda's book "Growing up in whitebread America".... this is her journey to follow a boyfriend who lives in China and how she adapts to the new culture, I LOVE !!!! this book.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was OK. I know it's a memoir, but I was hoping for more redemption? More growth? I don't know. I adored the story of her becoming more attuned to the Chinese culture. I almost wish the author had taken her experience as inspiration for fiction. More me than the book, I guess.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect vacation book. It was easy, engaging, and I feel like I learned a significant amount about Chinese culture.

[Shaoyu Lin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Linda Furiya's 2nd book. Not as good as her first one.

[Beverly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liked the recipes.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring, I had to stop half way. The beginning was not too bad but the story telling did not succeed to draw my attention.

[Paul]

Review at asianamlitfans.