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Dumpling Therapy: My Mother, Chinese Food, and Five Thousand Years of Not-So-Ancient Recipes
Not yet published
Expected 5 Jan 27A delicious and moving memoir, tracing a family’s journey through Chinese food.
As a teen growing up in San Francisco, Miranda Brown noticed her outspoken immigrant mother didn’t act—or cook—like other Chinese mothers. Butter invaded coffee. Sticky fruits found their way into ice cream. Brown dreamed of making dumplings the way “normal” Chinese moms did.
Years later, after her mother’s death, Brown became a mother herself. Determined to master the classic Chinese cooking her mother never taught her, she discovered something even the dumpling may have foreign roots. The revelation propelled her deep into the hidden histories of China’s most beloved dishes, tracing the lineage of everything from the chewy noodles of Beijing to her favorite braised Cantonese tofu to the chop suey she once scorned as a teenager.
But the search for culinary origins unlocked a more intimate mystery. From the fields of ancient China to the kitchens of 1980s San Francisco, Brown pieces together her family story across two millennia. Through secret letters and centuries-old recipes, she uncovers not just the histories behind beloved dishes, but her mother’s own mixed heritage and adventurousness. The woman who once seemed to cook “wrong” left a richer inheritance than Brown had ever imagined.
As a teen growing up in San Francisco, Miranda Brown noticed her outspoken immigrant mother didn’t act—or cook—like other Chinese mothers. Butter invaded coffee. Sticky fruits found their way into ice cream. Brown dreamed of making dumplings the way “normal” Chinese moms did.
Years later, after her mother’s death, Brown became a mother herself. Determined to master the classic Chinese cooking her mother never taught her, she discovered something even the dumpling may have foreign roots. The revelation propelled her deep into the hidden histories of China’s most beloved dishes, tracing the lineage of everything from the chewy noodles of Beijing to her favorite braised Cantonese tofu to the chop suey she once scorned as a teenager.
But the search for culinary origins unlocked a more intimate mystery. From the fields of ancient China to the kitchens of 1980s San Francisco, Brown pieces together her family story across two millennia. Through secret letters and centuries-old recipes, she uncovers not just the histories behind beloved dishes, but her mother’s own mixed heritage and adventurousness. The woman who once seemed to cook “wrong” left a richer inheritance than Brown had ever imagined.
384 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication January 5, 2027
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 18, 2026
4.25 Stars!
While readers will naturally compare Dumpling Therapy to Crying in H Mart when it drops on 1/5/27, the two couldn't be more different.
Written by Miranda Brown (whose father’s cousin Jerry Brown was once California’s governor), Dumpling Therapy blends personal reflections on Chinese cuisine with brilliant culinary detective work. Brown starts with her own core memories of General Tso’s chicken, eggplant, and mapo tofu, then dives deep into the wild histories behind the ingredients. From the colonization of India to the sneaky anchovy origins of ketchup (before sugar took over), her unfiltered research proves one undeniable truth: food truly unites us all.
I completely fell in love with this book. As a Chinese American raised in foggy San Francisco, so much of it hit close to home. Sunday morning Dim Sum, traditional soups used as a cure for literally everything, and maraschino cherries in a Coca-Cola as the ultimate childhood treat, it all felt so wonderfully familiar.
The reflections on the bond between Brown and her mother are deeply moving, celebrating not just the joy of cooking, but the way food seamlessly bridges cultures centuries apart. Spice wars, the Silk Road, Ancient Rome - somehow, every road leads back to the dinner table.
“Sugar first reached China as a rare commodity through the Silk Road, where merchants and monks brought not just the substance but also Indian techniques for processing sugarcane juice into crystallized form.”
I loved how vividly she imagines a 16th century cook in Mexico discovering a spice that would alter world history, or brave travelers crossing the globe on foot and by boat to unintentionally spark cultural unification (and, well, a few wars).
“Portuguese traders brought chilies from the New World to Asia in the late sixteenth century, end of story.”
She seamlessly steps into the shoes of historical figures while keeping her own family story front and center.
“I thought of my mother. She would have approved of this dish - sugar used properly, not for sweetness, but to coax out deeper flavors. Though she’d never have admitted to using it at all. I could picture her at the stove, shaking her head after another bad report from the dentist.”
Plus, almost every chapter includes incredible recipes that I am dying to try in my own kitchen!
Do not sleep on this amazing read. Huge thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy!
While readers will naturally compare Dumpling Therapy to Crying in H Mart when it drops on 1/5/27, the two couldn't be more different.
Written by Miranda Brown (whose father’s cousin Jerry Brown was once California’s governor), Dumpling Therapy blends personal reflections on Chinese cuisine with brilliant culinary detective work. Brown starts with her own core memories of General Tso’s chicken, eggplant, and mapo tofu, then dives deep into the wild histories behind the ingredients. From the colonization of India to the sneaky anchovy origins of ketchup (before sugar took over), her unfiltered research proves one undeniable truth: food truly unites us all.
I completely fell in love with this book. As a Chinese American raised in foggy San Francisco, so much of it hit close to home. Sunday morning Dim Sum, traditional soups used as a cure for literally everything, and maraschino cherries in a Coca-Cola as the ultimate childhood treat, it all felt so wonderfully familiar.
The reflections on the bond between Brown and her mother are deeply moving, celebrating not just the joy of cooking, but the way food seamlessly bridges cultures centuries apart. Spice wars, the Silk Road, Ancient Rome - somehow, every road leads back to the dinner table.
“Sugar first reached China as a rare commodity through the Silk Road, where merchants and monks brought not just the substance but also Indian techniques for processing sugarcane juice into crystallized form.”
I loved how vividly she imagines a 16th century cook in Mexico discovering a spice that would alter world history, or brave travelers crossing the globe on foot and by boat to unintentionally spark cultural unification (and, well, a few wars).
“Portuguese traders brought chilies from the New World to Asia in the late sixteenth century, end of story.”
She seamlessly steps into the shoes of historical figures while keeping her own family story front and center.
“I thought of my mother. She would have approved of this dish - sugar used properly, not for sweetness, but to coax out deeper flavors. Though she’d never have admitted to using it at all. I could picture her at the stove, shaking her head after another bad report from the dentist.”
Plus, almost every chapter includes incredible recipes that I am dying to try in my own kitchen!
Do not sleep on this amazing read. Huge thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy!
Read
September 19, 2026If you enjoy anecdotes about cooking, food, the place of food in social history, and research into the origins of dishes, you should be entertained and informed by this sprightly, vividly written book. The author delves into her own and her family's history as she researches the origins of various famous (and not so famous) dishes, often uncovering surprises along the way.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
I was so lucky to win Miranda Brown’s Dumpling Therapy through a Goodreads giveaway!!!
It was a highly enjoyable and cozy read. I read a couple of chapters each night and enjoyed getting a delicious recipe at the end. I was especially excited to find the recipe for ho fun, my favorite thing to order at Chinese restaurants.
Reading this book felt like watching an engaging documentary about food in China. I really appreciated all the research that went into it, presented in such a palatable way (no pun intended) for someone like me who knew very little about the history of Chinese food. As a Chinese American who grew up with Cantonese spoken at home, I was very familiar with many of the foods Brown writes about and was fascinated to learn about their history. I also loved getting to know Brown and her childhood and present-day family through her stories. Her writing is engaging and her prose is beautiful, and the scholar in her is very evident. Both she and her mother clearly express love through acts of service, especially by cooking for their family.
I am of the same generation as Brown and coincidentally wrote a book with a dumpling on the cover and in the title. We grew up very differently, yet I found so much that resonated with me in her stories of family, love, and belonging. I was even amused by some of our overlaps: we both reference mental health and the Qing dynasty, and somehow both managed to use the words “maggots” and “kitchen” on the same page!
Dumpling Therapy delivers exactly what its description promises: a dive into the culinary origins of Chinese food, told through moving stories about Brown’s family and well-researched, vividly imagined stories set in ancient China that trace how the foods in each chapter evolved into the Chinese dishes we know today.
I highly recommend Dumpling Therapy but have a warning for you: this book may induce some serious cravings for Chinese food!
Dumpling Therapy will be released January 5, 2027 but you can preorder it today!
#DumplingTherapy
#MirandaBrown
#StMartinsPress
It was a highly enjoyable and cozy read. I read a couple of chapters each night and enjoyed getting a delicious recipe at the end. I was especially excited to find the recipe for ho fun, my favorite thing to order at Chinese restaurants.
Reading this book felt like watching an engaging documentary about food in China. I really appreciated all the research that went into it, presented in such a palatable way (no pun intended) for someone like me who knew very little about the history of Chinese food. As a Chinese American who grew up with Cantonese spoken at home, I was very familiar with many of the foods Brown writes about and was fascinated to learn about their history. I also loved getting to know Brown and her childhood and present-day family through her stories. Her writing is engaging and her prose is beautiful, and the scholar in her is very evident. Both she and her mother clearly express love through acts of service, especially by cooking for their family.
I am of the same generation as Brown and coincidentally wrote a book with a dumpling on the cover and in the title. We grew up very differently, yet I found so much that resonated with me in her stories of family, love, and belonging. I was even amused by some of our overlaps: we both reference mental health and the Qing dynasty, and somehow both managed to use the words “maggots” and “kitchen” on the same page!
Dumpling Therapy delivers exactly what its description promises: a dive into the culinary origins of Chinese food, told through moving stories about Brown’s family and well-researched, vividly imagined stories set in ancient China that trace how the foods in each chapter evolved into the Chinese dishes we know today.
I highly recommend Dumpling Therapy but have a warning for you: this book may induce some serious cravings for Chinese food!
Dumpling Therapy will be released January 5, 2027 but you can preorder it today!
#DumplingTherapy
#MirandaBrown
#StMartinsPress
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC e-book in return for a honest
review.
This exquisite novel about Miranda a daughter of a Chinese mother and American father who was part of the political Brown family searching for the truth about her heritage.
This memoir is a fascinating look at the impact food plays with memories of our childhoods and how that food is a reflection on all the cultures that helped to create our meals.
Miranda is searching for an answer to who her mother was and what her life was like in China. Some of the clues that she was different were the foods that she made for her family. As a teenager Miranda notices her mother isn’t quite like the other Chinese mothers. This confused Miranda and left her with many questions.
After her mother’s death Miranda as a new mother looks to find out what influenced her mother as a child so she can learn what stories to pass down to her daughter, what will her daughters Chinese inheritance entail.
The adventure begins with why dumplings look different. A culinary quest ensues and many questions and answers about food histories and her mother’s history are revealed. What you learn is that all food is a mixture of cultures and so is Miranda.
I had 48 hours to read this book and finished it in 24 hours. This is a very compelling read and I plan to buy this book so I can take my time and savor these stories and maybe just maybe try my hand at some of the recipes.
review.
This exquisite novel about Miranda a daughter of a Chinese mother and American father who was part of the political Brown family searching for the truth about her heritage.
This memoir is a fascinating look at the impact food plays with memories of our childhoods and how that food is a reflection on all the cultures that helped to create our meals.
Miranda is searching for an answer to who her mother was and what her life was like in China. Some of the clues that she was different were the foods that she made for her family. As a teenager Miranda notices her mother isn’t quite like the other Chinese mothers. This confused Miranda and left her with many questions.
After her mother’s death Miranda as a new mother looks to find out what influenced her mother as a child so she can learn what stories to pass down to her daughter, what will her daughters Chinese inheritance entail.
The adventure begins with why dumplings look different. A culinary quest ensues and many questions and answers about food histories and her mother’s history are revealed. What you learn is that all food is a mixture of cultures and so is Miranda.
I had 48 hours to read this book and finished it in 24 hours. This is a very compelling read and I plan to buy this book so I can take my time and savor these stories and maybe just maybe try my hand at some of the recipes.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This is part memoir, part food history (Chinese food has surprisingly global origins), and part recipe-book. It reminds me a lot of Crying in H-mart, in that the author tries to honour her mother’s memory through food & cooking. I learned a ton; did you know, for example, that the orange chicken so frequently written off as an “American invention” actually had Chinese origins? I will certainly be less inclined to dismiss it as easily the next time I see it at Panda Express. Brown does a great job of tracing the origins, development, and variations of Chinese dishes throughout.
I did feel like the book tried to do too much & veered in too many tangents at certain points, but perhaps it’s unrealistic to expect memory to conform to any neat structure. This is one of those books where I imagine the process of writing & cooking was more cathartic for the author than it may ever be for the reader, though it certainly was informative.
I did feel like the book tried to do too much & veered in too many tangents at certain points, but perhaps it’s unrealistic to expect memory to conform to any neat structure. This is one of those books where I imagine the process of writing & cooking was more cathartic for the author than it may ever be for the reader, though it certainly was informative.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley)
This memoir is a delightful blend of Miranda Brown’s own personal history, deeper family history, culinary history, and also a variety of recipes thrown in to boot. I particularly enjoyed learning about some of the genuinely surprising origins of several Chinese dishes or staple foods. Also, equally enjoyable were the ways it made me reflect in general about ideas of culinary authenticity, and the various ways palates and food can evolve and change, whether due to crossing distances into new lands, through hanging palates, or simply kitchen experimentation. Again, Dumpling Therapy was a joy to read, and deeply scratched by occasional hyper-specific itch for satisfying food history.
This memoir is a delightful blend of Miranda Brown’s own personal history, deeper family history, culinary history, and also a variety of recipes thrown in to boot. I particularly enjoyed learning about some of the genuinely surprising origins of several Chinese dishes or staple foods. Also, equally enjoyable were the ways it made me reflect in general about ideas of culinary authenticity, and the various ways palates and food can evolve and change, whether due to crossing distances into new lands, through hanging palates, or simply kitchen experimentation. Again, Dumpling Therapy was a joy to read, and deeply scratched by occasional hyper-specific itch for satisfying food history.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
As so many have already said in other reviews, this book is part memoir, part Chinese American culinary history, and part recipes - all in the service of attempting to grasp a fuller understanding of a mother who was mercurial, a force of nature, sometimes difficult, with mysterious origins, and died way too young. The author is also trying to find her place in academia and her footing as a mother. All these threads interweave through food - as things so often do in the food-obsessed Chinese culture. This is a special read for any Asian-American or mixed heritage kids, who will particularly identify with the themes.
September 14, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and st Martin’s press for an early copy of this book to read. I loved this book. I found the author learning about her mother and culture through food incredible. I enjoyed that it illustrated the triumphs as well as the incredible challenges that her mother and others faced. I would definitely read another book by Miranda brown. Check it out when it is released on January 5th, 2027.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Netgalley ARC-A charming blend of personal story and food. At its heart, this memoir is a poignant tribute to a mother-daughter relationship. Through family history and recipes, the author lovingly seeks to understand her mother not just as a parent, but as an individual with her own story.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews