Tummy-Rumbling Reads
Food can mean so much. It represents history, culture, community, and tradition. It can connect us, comfort us, and transport us. Plus—it’s delicious!! Explore cuisines and dishes from around the world in these books guaranteed to make your tummy rumble. (Just like mine is now.)
From an early age, Cecilia Chiang could be found delighting in the sounds and smells from her favorite room in her home—the kitchen. Little did Cecilia know that she would one day have to escape war and travel to a faraway country, destined to change Chinese cuisine in the United States forever.
Experience the dishes Cecilia Chiang enjoyed throughout her life as the seventh daughter in a large family to the owner of the famous Mandarin restaurant in San Francisco.
When Lintang finally gets to taste her nenek’s yummy, mouthwatering sambal, she’s delighted! But when she takes a bite it’s . . . SPICY!
Her lips burn, her mouth feels like it’s on fire, and her taste buds are crying for help. Desperate to fit in with her family, Lintang tries many different types of sambal, but they’re . . . HOT!
With a little help from Nenek, will Lintang find a way to beat the heat and connect with her Indonesian heritage?
Marta is finally old enough for her own slice of the special, sneaky dessert she loves so much—la Rosca de Reyes.
The colorful crown of sweet bread is so tempting, but Marta knows the truth—there’s a baby hiding in the dessert: el Niño Dios. Marta can’t help but wonder what will happen if she accidentally eats the little figurine of baby Jesus.
Suddenly, Marta will do whatever it takes to avoid picking the last slice of la rosca—no matter how badly she wants a bite!
This humorous story of one girl’s journey to overcome her fears explores the traditions of Three Kings Day and the importance of family and faith.
Celebrate Korean Lunar New Year and join one child’s quest to eat enough bowls of soup to become a “big girl!”
Sohee’s favorite part of Seollal is tteokguk—the special Korean rice cake soup traditionally only enjoyed on New Year’s Day. Each bowl is said to make the person who eats it one year older. This year, Sohee wants to eat as many bowls as she can to finally be an eonni, or “big girl,” to her younger siblings and cousins. Before Sohee can even get to her first bowl, though, she’s interrupted by a series of holiday-related chores, leaving plenty of opportunity for her mischievous younger sister Somi to eat not only Sohee’s tteokguk, but their whole family’s! Despite this outrageously silly setback, Sohee eventually learns that being a big girl is more than just how many bowls of tteokguk you eat.This funny story of a child’s journey to discover what it really means to be a big girl explores the traditions of Korean Lunar New Year and the value of family and helpfulness.
This sweet, rhyming, beautifully illustrated picture book celebrates Jewish joy and intergenerational love as it follows a girl and her grandmother preparing for Shabbat dinner by baking traditional challah from scratch.
A little girl and her grandmother spend Friday afternoon preparing for Shabbat by making challah.
In hours full of laughter and love, they mix the ingredients, braid the dough, let it rise, and set the table, and finally, enjoy a scrumptious family dinner and the bread they made together.
Told through Sara Holly Ackerman’s musical, rhyming verse and Alona Millgram’s rich, whimsical art, Challah for Shabbat Tonight will warm readers’ hearts and fill their bellies as they celebrate Jewish joy, familial love, and kitchen magic.
A challah recipe is included in the back for those who want to bake along.
A roti isn’t just a roti. It’s a day in the hot sun tending to the wheat fields. It’s little grains of truth about where we come from. It’s a snack in the car for the perfect road trip lunch. It’s hundreds of hands over thousands of years, kneading together our story.
Told through alternating perspectives of a family in America and a family in India, this powerful cross-continental, intergenerational story proves that something as small as a grain of wheat can create a powerful sense of community.
A joyful picture book for kids and foodies of all ages (with real soy sauce as paint!) that celebrates the iconic kitchen staple and the magical way food connects family and friends across the world.
Salty, savory, rich, and even sweet, soy sauce is as fascinating to make as it is delicious to eat!
Luan makes a classic Chinese soy sauce. Haru uses his own recipe at his family’s traditional Japanese brewery. And Yoo-mi’s Korean soy sauce features special ingredients to make it spicy and sweet.
With unique ingredients that reflect different Asian cultures, and a brewing process that can take years, even decades, soy sauce holds deep meaning and flavorful history in every drop.
Praise for Soy Sauce!:
✭ “Lee’s lively watercolor illustrations of the children gleefully celebrating each stage of the long process pair beautifully with the upbeat text for an informative, engaging story…. A joyful ode to soy sauce that’s delicious to the last drop.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Soy Sauce! is a charming celebration of one of our favorite condiments. Delicious!” —Grace Lin, author of Chinese Menu and A Big Mooncake for Little Star
“I can’t wait for children and families to learn about the colorful history and process of soy sauce.” —Kristina Cho, James Beard–winning author of Chinese Enough and Mooncakes and Milk Bread
“A loving ode to the ways we connect at the table through taste and tradition….A perfect read for your budding epicurean.” —Cecily Wong, author of Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer’s Guide