What do you think?
Rate this book
The Secret Menu: Chinese Food in America, and How I Made It
Not yet published
Expected 17 Nov 26A culinary and philosophical memoir about the secret menus in every aspect of immigrant life, and what it really means to be “Chinese.”
What is the secret menu? Hidden from view but commonly known, it’s the menu that insiders pick from to be assured of a delicious, authentic meal—often in immigrant-run restaurants. But there are secret menus in every aspect of life, cheat codes that promise to help us navigate a new home, or a new life in the best possible a promise that, if you just follow this formula, everything will be all right. Even if we know that things don’t always work out that way.
Shiamin Kwa uses food, history, poetry, art, and the story of her coming of age to explore the deepest and most evocative aspects of what it means to belong to and succeed in a new home, and what it even means to be “Chinese.” From her childhood in Malaysia to her family’s immigration to the United States and her years in China, Kwa paints a wide-ranging portrait of the centuries of movements between countries and continents that have shaped Chinese culture and food as they adapted to each new place.
Kwa’s descriptions of food are lush and vivid, plumbing the historical, personal, and philosophical depths of dishes and bringing in the difficult histories around Chinese immigration to America in complex and illuminating ways. In delicious prose that reads with the swiftness of a novel and the depth of a philosophical treatise, The Secret Menu shows us how the thinking and cooking lives are connected, and how the hunt for harmony, success, and a sense of belonging have helped generations of immigrants find their own menus for a delicious life filled with delights, against the odds.
What is the secret menu? Hidden from view but commonly known, it’s the menu that insiders pick from to be assured of a delicious, authentic meal—often in immigrant-run restaurants. But there are secret menus in every aspect of life, cheat codes that promise to help us navigate a new home, or a new life in the best possible a promise that, if you just follow this formula, everything will be all right. Even if we know that things don’t always work out that way.
Shiamin Kwa uses food, history, poetry, art, and the story of her coming of age to explore the deepest and most evocative aspects of what it means to belong to and succeed in a new home, and what it even means to be “Chinese.” From her childhood in Malaysia to her family’s immigration to the United States and her years in China, Kwa paints a wide-ranging portrait of the centuries of movements between countries and continents that have shaped Chinese culture and food as they adapted to each new place.
Kwa’s descriptions of food are lush and vivid, plumbing the historical, personal, and philosophical depths of dishes and bringing in the difficult histories around Chinese immigration to America in complex and illuminating ways. In delicious prose that reads with the swiftness of a novel and the depth of a philosophical treatise, The Secret Menu shows us how the thinking and cooking lives are connected, and how the hunt for harmony, success, and a sense of belonging have helped generations of immigrants find their own menus for a delicious life filled with delights, against the odds.
384 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication November 17, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
2026
April 16, 2026Non-fiction November TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Rounded up from 4.75.
This was an absolutely incredible and insightful read; Providing a great blend of lived experience with a more theoretical approach.
Shiamin Kwa really helped to ignite questions in me as a reader about what it is to feel a sense of belonging somewhere and what makes something authentic vs an interpretation or a belief about it (if anything is authentic at all).
They also highlighted about how we all change and adapt over time and that who we were, who we are and who we will be are all different people, much like the food of a similar name that we eat and experience throughout our lives (or in the prime example of chop suey as mentioned in the book).
In some ways this book could read as a finding themselves or an encouragement to find ourselves but for me it actually highlights that isn't something we can ever do and we can't ever know our complete life journey because of the paths that are forged by ourselves and others over a period of time.
There are references to history and historical figures, especially a bit on a Chinese poet from centuries ago, that whilst I deeply appreciated for a connection to cultural aspects and discussions, it left me as somebody not an expert in those subjects feeling a little bit out of my depth.
A personal highlight for myself was reading about their increased love of food; Going from eating it, being scared of new foods, never cooking it and then becoming a lover of cooking, its techniques and the way that it can bring people together regardless of background (such as the discussion on what thanksgiving looks like to them). I feel that food is one of the binding factors in everyone's life and, as the title and blub suggest, we all need to find our own secret menu to work through life and the society around us and adapt the bits of recipes and methods to be able to get through and find the delicious in everything.
There were many sentences, paragraphs and even whole chapters that I will be thinking and reflecting on for quite some time.
Oh! And as a bonus feature of the book there are even some recipes scattered throughout as well that adds a little context to some of the dishes mentioned in the chapters as well.
This was an absolutely incredible and insightful read; Providing a great blend of lived experience with a more theoretical approach.
Shiamin Kwa really helped to ignite questions in me as a reader about what it is to feel a sense of belonging somewhere and what makes something authentic vs an interpretation or a belief about it (if anything is authentic at all).
They also highlighted about how we all change and adapt over time and that who we were, who we are and who we will be are all different people, much like the food of a similar name that we eat and experience throughout our lives (or in the prime example of chop suey as mentioned in the book).
In some ways this book could read as a finding themselves or an encouragement to find ourselves but for me it actually highlights that isn't something we can ever do and we can't ever know our complete life journey because of the paths that are forged by ourselves and others over a period of time.
There are references to history and historical figures, especially a bit on a Chinese poet from centuries ago, that whilst I deeply appreciated for a connection to cultural aspects and discussions, it left me as somebody not an expert in those subjects feeling a little bit out of my depth.
A personal highlight for myself was reading about their increased love of food; Going from eating it, being scared of new foods, never cooking it and then becoming a lover of cooking, its techniques and the way that it can bring people together regardless of background (such as the discussion on what thanksgiving looks like to them). I feel that food is one of the binding factors in everyone's life and, as the title and blub suggest, we all need to find our own secret menu to work through life and the society around us and adapt the bits of recipes and methods to be able to get through and find the delicious in everything.
There were many sentences, paragraphs and even whole chapters that I will be thinking and reflecting on for quite some time.
Oh! And as a bonus feature of the book there are even some recipes scattered throughout as well that adds a little context to some of the dishes mentioned in the chapters as well.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
See my full review at http://michelleardillo.com/2026/05/24...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews