Asian American Herbalism: Traditional and Modern Healing Practices for Everyday Wellness―Includes 100 Recipes to Treat Common Ailments

by Erin Masako Wilkins, Ayako Kiener (Illustrator), Kristen Murakoshi (Photographer)

Japanese American herbalist and acupuncturist Erin Masako Wilkins shares accessible and comprehensive herbal wellness practices, remedies, and recipes, rooted in Asian tradition for optimal health.

Erin Masako Wilkins is a California-based herbalist, acupuncturist, and the founder of Herb Folk, an online shop with an array of Asian American herbs, teas, and wellness products. In Asian American Herbalism , Wilkins shares a beautifully illustrated and photographed collection of herbal recipes, remedies, and wellness practices. Rooted in East Asian history and culture, these offerings will help the reader to prevent illness and restore health and vitality.

This comprehensive wellness guide addresses the root causes of illnesses and offers 100 easy and accessible herbal recipes to heal, uplift, and improve the quality of daily life. A central theme of this book is that food is our greatest medicine, and there is an emphasis on incorporating herbs into daily meals and drinks to address common ailments, such as allergies, anxiety and depression, digestion and gut health, menstrual disorders, and sleep difficulties. For
In addition, Wilkins visually walks readers through the process of preparing homemade herbal remedies with ingredients that can be found at local markets.

The first contemporary book exploring the intersection of American folk herbalism and traditional Chinese medicine by an AAPI author,  Asian American Herbalism is filled with practical remedies easy enough for even the busiest reader to implement and beautiful enough to display on a shelf or coffee table. An exploration of what it means to practice traditional Asian medicine in the context of modern-day life, it is the perfect health and wellness reference guide for our time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cookbooks, Health

320 pages, Paperback

Published October 17, 2023

Reviews

[laura]

whoever does the featured book section at my library does a great job of picking books that pique my interest haha but this one was not my favorite :') I caught a few typos, including a soup recipe where the author soaks dried mushrooms and then never mentions them again haha

[Kallyn]

A bit confusing with some of the warming and cooling methods as well as other methods but overall I really love this type of herbalism. If you have the physical book, turn to page 300 for a summary of each herb profile

[Cherie]

Really excellent herbalism book, explaning so many herbs in wonderful ways. Loved the recipes.

[Justin]

I was hoping to learn more about Asian herbs but the section devoted to that was small