The
Little Saigon Cookbook
by
Ann Le
These
days, expectations for cookbooks are high. You can't just
gather up your favorite recipes, toss in an introduction
and an index, and call it a day. Would-be chefs want stories,
anecdotes with each recipe, and—if a dish is from
another culture—context. Cookbooks can serve as travel
guides, acts of preservation, and in the case of The
Little Saigon Cookbook, tokens of love.
When
we first met author Ann Le, her book was at the publisher,
being prepared to go to press. She seemed an unlikely person
for this project, a young, stylish investment banker who
left the Little Saigon community where she grew up and now
lives in L.A.'s hip Silverlake neighborhood. But as we got
to know her, we realized that few could do this subject
justice in the way that she would. Her respect for Little
Saigon is reverential, but in an admirably practical way.
And by leaving that community—although she still visits
her parents there often—she gained a unique appreciation
and can shed light on it from perspectives both outside
and in.
Little
Saigon, an hour south of Los Angeles in Orange
County, is a unique enclave, built up by refugees from
the Vietnam War and now home to the largest population of
Vietnamese people outside Vietnam.
It is a self-contained community, one that relies on itself
for many things: companionship, spiritual sustenance, and
most notably to visitors, food. There are around 200 Vietnamese
restaurants in the area, all serving dishes that originated
in the homeland. Le's target audience? People like herself,
American-born Vietnamese who are migrating out of the area,
and whose parents didn't have time while working hard in
their new land to teach their offspring the fundamentals
of Vietnamese cookery.
Recipes
are plentiful, and most are simple, with the potential to
become staples in your diet: grilled pork chops with herb
noodle salad, fresh crab sautéed in salt and pepper,
and catfish braised in caramel sauce are among our favorites.
You will also learn how to make dishes that are not common
home cooking, but have historic significance, such as Hanoi-style
fried fish with turmeric and dill, which comes from a restaurant
in Vietnam that is over 100 years old. For easy reference,
excellent glossaries for cooking tools, techniques and ingredients
are provided.
As
Le walks you through the recipes, she also walks you through
Little Saigon, with short essays and sidebars that explore
topics from fish sauce to local churches—services
are held both in traditional temples and tiny ranch houses
turned into sanctuaries. The personal aspect of the book
is enhanced by Le's reliance on her family's expertise in
various areas. For example, she uses her brother's background
as a biochemist to explain umami, the fifth flavor
that complements the Asian taste quartet of hot, sour, salty,
sweet.
Intimate,
black and white photos by Julie Fay provide the faces of
the community, and you can almost feel the steam on your
skin in a shot of a woman making rice paper in a confined
restaurant kitchen. The photographs also serve to illustrate
the ultimate purpose of Le's book. In order to understand
the food of Little Saigon, you must first understand the
people who prepare it, and in whose life it has both physical
and spiritual significance.
Reviewed
by Kim Fay
Going
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