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Lessons In Fusion: A Novel
WINNER, McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award FINALIST, MYRCA Northern Lights Award FINALIST, SYRCA Willow Award Sixteen-year-old Sarah (it's pronounced SAH-rah, thank you) has a successful blog creating fusion recipes. When Sarah is invited to compete on Cyber Chef, a virtual cooking competition that soars in popularity at the height of the pandemic, her twists on her Baba's recipes are not enough to pique the palate of the show's producers. She is pushed to present dishes that represent her Filipinx culture, but these flavours are foreign to her since her parents raised her emphatically Jewish. To survive Cyber Chef and find her cultural identity, Sarah must discover why her mother turned her back on all things Filipinx, and learn the true meaning of fusion. "Lessons in Fusion is very modern and includes social media as well as the difficulties of life during a pandemic, yet it is also the timeless story of one young woman who is coming of age as she discovers her familial roots and the much bigger story of the need for diversity and cultural acceptance in all facets of life." - CM Magazine
240 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 27, 2022
What an interesting read. Telling the story of a girl who enters an online cooking competition in the middle of the pandemic, Lessons in Fusion follows how half-Filipinx half-Jewish Canadian Sarah navigates the competition and learns more about her identity - as well as how those surrounding her learn more from her presence and willingness to say, "Look, I exist." I wasn't sure what to expect when I stumbled across this book on Libby, but I am very pleased with my decision to give it a read. By no means is it a perfect book: the plot is a bit obvious, certain side characters lack development (namely the friends), and it features far too many perspectives for such a simple story. That being said, author Primrose Madayag Knazan deftly writes Sarah's complicated relationship with her identity and culture in such a way that the reader really roots for her even if they can't necessarily relate. I've been struggling to find a good read recently and Lessons in Fusion had me engrossed and left me smiling at the end - sure signs of a good book. I definitely recommend this (criminally underrated) book and I hope to see more by this author in the future!
October 8, 2021
Lessons in Fusion was such a fun story to read!!!!
This debut narrative is unlike anything I have ever had the privilege of reading and I really enjoyed how the author wove in so many important issues, without any heavy-handedness.
I loved how the reader learns along side the central character, "Sarah" ... with her coming to terms with the cultures of both sides of her family.
And when Sarah does realize that she can be both, it is a real lesson of fusion...and that is beautiful!
The probing questions that she asked showed that it took courage.
I had great difficulty putting it down and caught myself twice being late for work.
I really enjoyed the character of Sarah and the recipes that were throughout the story.
And I will also enjoy experimenting with the variety of cuisine presented in in the story!
I really liked how the characters of 'Poppy' and 'Chuck' came to terms with Sarah's revelation/narrative about herself...and in the process revealed something about themselves.....this is true for all the secondary characters on the cooking set.
It is a story that is intertwined with love, and this is evident in the richness in development of the narrative and the character of Sarah.
Lessons in Fusion speaks to your heart, as it is written from the heart!
Highly Recommended : Five Stars!
Received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher Great Plains Publications.
This debut narrative is unlike anything I have ever had the privilege of reading and I really enjoyed how the author wove in so many important issues, without any heavy-handedness.
I loved how the reader learns along side the central character, "Sarah" ... with her coming to terms with the cultures of both sides of her family.
And when Sarah does realize that she can be both, it is a real lesson of fusion...and that is beautiful!
The probing questions that she asked showed that it took courage.
I had great difficulty putting it down and caught myself twice being late for work.
I really enjoyed the character of Sarah and the recipes that were throughout the story.
And I will also enjoy experimenting with the variety of cuisine presented in in the story!
I really liked how the characters of 'Poppy' and 'Chuck' came to terms with Sarah's revelation/narrative about herself...and in the process revealed something about themselves.....this is true for all the secondary characters on the cooking set.
It is a story that is intertwined with love, and this is evident in the richness in development of the narrative and the character of Sarah.
Lessons in Fusion speaks to your heart, as it is written from the heart!
Highly Recommended : Five Stars!
Received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher Great Plains Publications.
October 25, 2021
Although it is a YA novel, I got a lot out of it as an adult, and not just the recipes! This book is about identity and belonging from the very unique perspective of a Filipinx- Jewish protagonist, Sarah. I love the way the understanding of modern multicultural Jewish identity was presented. Sarah’s mother made the point that if she is a Jewish woman, her daughter is Jewish; a point that is not always grasped, in the book or in real life. The complexity and intersection of Sarah as Filipinx, mixed race and Jewish was a treat to read, and is of interest to older readers as well. As someone of a different mixed race background, I could relate strongly to the mother-daughter discussions.
The dialogue was very crisp and realistic, as could be expected from an author who is an established playwright. The teenage conversations and emotions seemed very accurate. I appreciated that Sarah didn’t have any crushes or romantic thoughts - she was focused on her schoolwork, cooking and friendships. The setting of the pandemic places the book squarely in our times - we got masks, distancing and hand sanitizer, but it didn’t take over the narrative. The machinations of the show executives and the way a racist incident is handled also feel very contemporary. Some day this will be a book today’s teens can show their descendants to explain what their lives were like.
My favourite parts were the flashbacks to the earlier moments in Sarah’s mother’s life and Sarah’s early life explaining their views of their identities today. The scene where Sarah’s mother decides to become Jewish was especially powerful and the dialogue is so haunting.
I also like that we don’t get a pat, Hallmark ending. And yet the book ends at exactly the right spot. A compelling and enjoyable read.
The dialogue was very crisp and realistic, as could be expected from an author who is an established playwright. The teenage conversations and emotions seemed very accurate. I appreciated that Sarah didn’t have any crushes or romantic thoughts - she was focused on her schoolwork, cooking and friendships. The setting of the pandemic places the book squarely in our times - we got masks, distancing and hand sanitizer, but it didn’t take over the narrative. The machinations of the show executives and the way a racist incident is handled also feel very contemporary. Some day this will be a book today’s teens can show their descendants to explain what their lives were like.
My favourite parts were the flashbacks to the earlier moments in Sarah’s mother’s life and Sarah’s early life explaining their views of their identities today. The scene where Sarah’s mother decides to become Jewish was especially powerful and the dialogue is so haunting.
I also like that we don’t get a pat, Hallmark ending. And yet the book ends at exactly the right spot. A compelling and enjoyable read.
September 28, 2022
Personally, I thought Lessons in Fusion started off a little slow, however I did enjoy the last half of the novel a lot more than the first half. I did like the overall message of the book and liked to hear how Sarah learned to embrace both sides of her identity, her Jewish side AND her Filipino side through her cooking. Some of the recipes also sound great and I’m really looking forward to trying some of them! Overall, it was a cute book about a virtual cooking competition that had a good message about figuring out who you truly are when you are someone of mixed cultural heritage.
November 10, 2021
CW // pandemic setting, racism, internalized racism/cultural self-loathing, outing someone, intergenerational trauma
I have a lot of thoughts on this book. First, I’m hungry 🤤 Will definitely try out some of these recipes as soon as I could adjust the fat, salt, and sugar content because health reasons.
And this is the first time I’ve read a story of a character who’s both Filipinx (as Sarah prefers) and Jewish. Oftentimes, Filipinos are Catholic.
Also, this is definitely geared toward teens. Sarah’s journey, as well as her mother’s, is something I know all too well. In fact, the main reason I knocked it down one star is because it brings back painful memories for me. I’ve read way too many “getting in touch with my roots” stories that I want something else. Having said that, I’m sure diaspora Filipino youth still struggling with their identities need to see stories like this so they can make sense of whatever struggles they might have. I have said many times that had I read stories with Filipino MCs when I was younger, I probably would have been spared a lot of self-loathing.
And boy, does Sarah’s mom Grace have a lot of it. For me, the worst anti-Filipino sentiments I’ve ever experienced came from Filipinos themselves. (Colonial mentality, anyone? 😒) So if my own classmates hated their own ethnicity, what’s so great about being Filipino? It’s hard to get away from that kind of self-loathing, and only when I got older, found other Filipino friends who were proud of their culture, and took several ethnic studies classes did I begin to unlearn that toxic crap. For Grace, she let one lunchbox incident (side note: this incident makes me mad over that CBS article asking if a kid’s too young to learn about racism, when kids of color *experience* it 🙄) turn her into a self-hating coconut for the rest of her life, and anything bad happening to her she attributed to her being Filipino, like her father’s death because of the high-fat Filipino foods he ate (there is racism in dietetics, folks. Look it up.) It didn’t help that no one in her family talked to her about it until Sarah came along. In fact, I was glad Sarah called her out, and also mad that Sarah was more of the adult between them, and that her mom was trying to pass her own trauma onto her by erasing everything about her own Filipino side. She shouldn’t have to play therapist to her own mother, but what do I know? 🤷🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
As for Sarah, she did come off as an elitist know-it-all at times, but then again, she is a teen. Though I didn’t appreciate her comments about rooting for talent not ethnicity when she was Team Lai (sure, Jan), as well as Filipino food being at best a peasant cuisine (okay, classist). 🙄
Also, the show Cyber Chef proves you need POC showrunners and behind-the-scenes crew, because…damn. 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ I mean, getting someone’s name right shouldn’t have to be a goddamn struggle that you just give up on and stick with the wrong pronunciation because it’s “too hard” for you. 😒🙄
And I didn’t like how the POC characters had to “rise above” the racist microaggressions thrown their way — i.e., extend the white producers and the one white queer contestant who had that racist meltdown grace. Del even said “we’re accustomed to it,” which is something POC should never have to be accustomed to in the first place! Sarah, when finally revealing she’s also Jewish, was also chided for not being straightforward with her identity in the first place, when that racist Chuck (who suddenly got nicer to the teen contestants) kept pushing for her Filipino side. She’s a kid who has to deal with her own trauma; the adults should have known better than to speak over her, like getting her damn name right! Why is it that POC, no matter how young, have to be the ones doing the work of dismantling systemic racism anyway? When there’s injustice that big, you go after the higher-ups. Sadly, there’s no real accountability with these showrunners, and worse, they unknowingly helped Sarah with her own personal journey. So they get off scot-free because despite the backstage drama, it all worked to their advantage. 🤦🏻♀️
Nitpicky stuff: wasn’t too keen on the immediate translation of Filipino terms. Some of them I felt weren’t even accurate, proving this book was written for a white audience in mind. Also, you don’t need to capitalize the “W” in white. And shouldn’t it be “nata de coco” instead of “coco de nata”? Then there was the weird formatting in the matzah brei recipe. 👀
And what was with the outing scene during the family argument with Grace’s engagement to Aaron? That felt so unnecessary, violent even. You never out a queer person before they’re ready, ever.
I’ll end with this: I don’t care if Filipino food doesn’t become the “next big thing.” You know colonizers will appropriate and bastardize it as they are wont to do. I still cringe over the Bon Appetit’s bastardized version of halo-halo and Giada DeLaurentis’ atrocity she calls “chicken adobo.” Let Filipinos cook and enjoy our own food, thanks. 😌
I have a lot of thoughts on this book. First, I’m hungry 🤤 Will definitely try out some of these recipes as soon as I could adjust the fat, salt, and sugar content because health reasons.
And this is the first time I’ve read a story of a character who’s both Filipinx (as Sarah prefers) and Jewish. Oftentimes, Filipinos are Catholic.
Also, this is definitely geared toward teens. Sarah’s journey, as well as her mother’s, is something I know all too well. In fact, the main reason I knocked it down one star is because it brings back painful memories for me. I’ve read way too many “getting in touch with my roots” stories that I want something else. Having said that, I’m sure diaspora Filipino youth still struggling with their identities need to see stories like this so they can make sense of whatever struggles they might have. I have said many times that had I read stories with Filipino MCs when I was younger, I probably would have been spared a lot of self-loathing.
And boy, does Sarah’s mom Grace have a lot of it. For me, the worst anti-Filipino sentiments I’ve ever experienced came from Filipinos themselves. (Colonial mentality, anyone? 😒) So if my own classmates hated their own ethnicity, what’s so great about being Filipino? It’s hard to get away from that kind of self-loathing, and only when I got older, found other Filipino friends who were proud of their culture, and took several ethnic studies classes did I begin to unlearn that toxic crap. For Grace, she let one lunchbox incident (side note: this incident makes me mad over that CBS article asking if a kid’s too young to learn about racism, when kids of color *experience* it 🙄) turn her into a self-hating coconut for the rest of her life, and anything bad happening to her she attributed to her being Filipino, like her father’s death because of the high-fat Filipino foods he ate (there is racism in dietetics, folks. Look it up.) It didn’t help that no one in her family talked to her about it until Sarah came along. In fact, I was glad Sarah called her out, and also mad that Sarah was more of the adult between them, and that her mom was trying to pass her own trauma onto her by erasing everything about her own Filipino side. She shouldn’t have to play therapist to her own mother, but what do I know? 🤷🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
As for Sarah, she did come off as an elitist know-it-all at times, but then again, she is a teen. Though I didn’t appreciate her comments about rooting for talent not ethnicity when she was Team Lai (sure, Jan), as well as Filipino food being at best a peasant cuisine (okay, classist). 🙄
Also, the show Cyber Chef proves you need POC showrunners and behind-the-scenes crew, because…damn. 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ I mean, getting someone’s name right shouldn’t have to be a goddamn struggle that you just give up on and stick with the wrong pronunciation because it’s “too hard” for you. 😒🙄
And I didn’t like how the POC characters had to “rise above” the racist microaggressions thrown their way — i.e., extend the white producers and the one white queer contestant who had that racist meltdown grace. Del even said “we’re accustomed to it,” which is something POC should never have to be accustomed to in the first place! Sarah, when finally revealing she’s also Jewish, was also chided for not being straightforward with her identity in the first place, when that racist Chuck (who suddenly got nicer to the teen contestants) kept pushing for her Filipino side. She’s a kid who has to deal with her own trauma; the adults should have known better than to speak over her, like getting her damn name right! Why is it that POC, no matter how young, have to be the ones doing the work of dismantling systemic racism anyway? When there’s injustice that big, you go after the higher-ups. Sadly, there’s no real accountability with these showrunners, and worse, they unknowingly helped Sarah with her own personal journey. So they get off scot-free because despite the backstage drama, it all worked to their advantage. 🤦🏻♀️
Nitpicky stuff: wasn’t too keen on the immediate translation of Filipino terms. Some of them I felt weren’t even accurate, proving this book was written for a white audience in mind. Also, you don’t need to capitalize the “W” in white. And shouldn’t it be “nata de coco” instead of “coco de nata”? Then there was the weird formatting in the matzah brei recipe. 👀
And what was with the outing scene during the family argument with Grace’s engagement to Aaron? That felt so unnecessary, violent even. You never out a queer person before they’re ready, ever.
I’ll end with this: I don’t care if Filipino food doesn’t become the “next big thing.” You know colonizers will appropriate and bastardize it as they are wont to do. I still cringe over the Bon Appetit’s bastardized version of halo-halo and Giada DeLaurentis’ atrocity she calls “chicken adobo.” Let Filipinos cook and enjoy our own food, thanks. 😌
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2022
I'm writing this immediately after finishing the book so it's not polished but this book means a lot, to me and I'm sure a lot of multiracial/white-passing descendants of immigrants. We're here! We have complex relationships with our culture(s)! We have lots of feelings! 2021-2022 has truly been the time of content focused on healing intergenerational trauma for immigrant families and my heart is sore but warm. I don't usually share these feelings with my family (see above complexities!) but this feels like I could maybe start these conversations. Too intimate a review for social media? Maybe! Too bad. If you're multiracial like the main character, white-passing or "whitewashed" like me, this one is for you. We out here.
March 8, 2022
4.5 stars
I think this is such a great read for anyone who enjoys food-centric books, but could be an especially great introduction for a younger audience. I really enjoyed our main character and almost all the side characters, and I think that thematically this is an incredibly relevant novel with a different but equally culturally relevant approach. There are a couple of things that make it more of a 4.5 star for me than a true five. One is that there are some places where the language feels a little odd and took me out of the story. Secondly, it feels like the pacing wasn’t quite as well-structured as it could have been, especially in places where flashbacks are included. Third, I really feel like FaD’s encouragement of pronouncing Sarah’s name incorrectly and suppressing her Jewish heritage should have been addressed sooner and had stronger consequences (something really should have been done about Marlee). In other words, I think that this could have done with a little bit more editing, but is an admirable work for an author whose primary format is plays.
I think this is such a great read for anyone who enjoys food-centric books, but could be an especially great introduction for a younger audience. I really enjoyed our main character and almost all the side characters, and I think that thematically this is an incredibly relevant novel with a different but equally culturally relevant approach. There are a couple of things that make it more of a 4.5 star for me than a true five. One is that there are some places where the language feels a little odd and took me out of the story. Secondly, it feels like the pacing wasn’t quite as well-structured as it could have been, especially in places where flashbacks are included. Third, I really feel like FaD’s encouragement of pronouncing Sarah’s name incorrectly and suppressing her Jewish heritage should have been addressed sooner and had stronger consequences (something really should have been done about Marlee). In other words, I think that this could have done with a little bit more editing, but is an admirable work for an author whose primary format is plays.
October 3, 2022
YA. A wonderful book about a Canadian virtual reality reality cooking competition during the first part of the Covid. Told from the point of view of a girl half-Filipinx and half Ashkenazi Jew who has been raised very heavily Jewish, as her mother converted and her maternal grandmother lives (in Canada) far away. Sarah (rhymes with "bah") has been raised in a Hebrew emersion school and does her Bat Mitzvah, and was extremely close to her paternal grandmother. Fortunately her maternal aunt is a prominent chef and lives nearby.
The show stereotypes her, as it is all about "cultural" diversity, and puts pressure on her to submit Filipinx recipes, of which she knows almost nothing, despite having a "fusion" blog. Fortunately her maternal aunt is there on the scene to coach her. Only towards the end of the competition does Sarah assert her Jewish identity (and the correct pronunciation of her name) and creates a proper fusion recipe.
Her maternal grandmother comes to stay for a long time with the family at the end, much to Sarah's delight.
The show stereotypes her, as it is all about "cultural" diversity, and puts pressure on her to submit Filipinx recipes, of which she knows almost nothing, despite having a "fusion" blog. Fortunately her maternal aunt is there on the scene to coach her. Only towards the end of the competition does Sarah assert her Jewish identity (and the correct pronunciation of her name) and creates a proper fusion recipe.
Her maternal grandmother comes to stay for a long time with the family at the end, much to Sarah's delight.
March 16, 2023
I give this book a 4.5/5 stars because this book was REALLY GOOD! I had to read this book independently for school and at first I wasn't up for it because it simply didn't interest me at the time. But I took a step back and realized I had to choose a memoir to read or a novel about a cooking competition and I thought the cooking competition was a more interesting read than the memoir... NOT THAT MEMOIRS ARE BAD OR ANYTHING, I like memoirs... I just never really read a novel about a virtual cooking competition before and when it comes to books I always try to read new books instead of sticking with my guilty pleasures. This book about Sarah (SAH-rah - that's important) is an amazing and easy read about her learning Filipinx cuisine and more about her Filipinx side of the family since she grew up more on her Jewish side than her Filipinx side and it's just an awesome read about her discovering her identity and the true meaning of fusion cooking! I absolutely recommend it if you ever come across it!
March 8, 2024
"Lessons in Fusion" was an easy read, and the author did very well in conveying the themes that she centered the story around. The first was identity. Throughout the story, Sarah learns more about her identity through discovering things about the Filipino side of her family. She is also a character who understands the importance of identity. She wants her name to be pronounced in the proper Hebrew pronunciation, and owns her mixed ethnicity. The second theme is the commercialization and exploitation of diversity and ethnicities which Idid not expect to be so central to the novel. The executives running Cyber Chef seem to not genuinely care for having a diverse group of contestants on their show, and only want to do so for the network to be held in high regard. This issue results in the executives overlooking Sarah's Jewish identity. Overall, "Lessons in Fusion" was a light read that explored identity, culture, discrimination, and other themes using a realistic and heartwarming storyline. I read the book for class and this review was part of an assignment. Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez!
August 29, 2022
There were many things I appreciated about this book. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where the main character plus ALL of her friends were Jewish. I liked that one of her friends was Jewish and from Argentina like my family. I liked that this was about a BIPOC Jewish character, something I rarely see. I liked that while this book takes place during the pandemic (we are still in a pandemic there is no good way to phrase that) it was really realistic about social distancing, masking, and creating a reality show during lockdown. Normally I would say that I wish we saw more of the friends but in this case, it makes sense because… pandemic.
January 25, 2022
what a cute book!
I have never had Filipino food before, but I have heard of halo-halo and rice (of course) and it seems like such a rich culture. Sarah was true to both sides of her roots, including her Jewish identity which made me so happy! love the real recipes, and I hope to make the white chocolate chai cookies! also, I love seeing behind-the-scenes and Poppy's attitude change throughout the book and buying a house- !!!!!!! all in all love love love is now a favorite!
(sorry I get really excited about foodie books)
I have never had Filipino food before, but I have heard of halo-halo and rice (of course) and it seems like such a rich culture. Sarah was true to both sides of her roots, including her Jewish identity which made me so happy! love the real recipes, and I hope to make the white chocolate chai cookies! also, I love seeing behind-the-scenes and Poppy's attitude change throughout the book and buying a house- !!!!!!! all in all love love love is now a favorite!
(sorry I get really excited about foodie books)
August 2, 2022
Lessons In Fusion By Primrose Madayag Knazan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ great book! Sah-RAH is half Ashkenazi Jew and half Filipino. She lives in Winnipeg and LOVES to cook, she has her own blog and watches CYber Chef. This book takes place during the lock down of the COVID-19 pandemic, where the cooking show is virtual cooking competition . Sarah tries out to for Cyber Chef, learns more about her Filipino background that her mom turned away from. This book has great recipes as well. #willowawards #willowawardsnominee #fusioncooking #lessonsinfusion #rcsdreads #stbernadettereads
January 29, 2023
Okay, not going to lie, I was crying at the end of this. Though I know this book was definitely not written for me, the feeling of a loss of identity is so well written here that I felt like I was missing something afterwards. Sarah is one of the realest protagonists I've read in a minute, and I love her optimism and willingness to explore. She takes wins and losses with grace, and I'm cooking all of these recipes as soon as I can.
December 4, 2024
I really enjoyed this YA novel. It was fun to read a book where so many people and groups who aren't usually represented well in stories were front and center in this one. I loved all the information about Jewish and Filipinx culture/traditions/recipes and that there were LGBTQ and Indigenous characters, as well as characters from mixed families. Plus, the recipes at the beginning of each chapter were a nice touch!
February 1, 2023
While the recipes looked amazing, I didn’t really love the book. The book takes place in Canada during the pandemic and part of me didn’t want to be reminded of that. Also, while it is a YA book, I found the text speak used by the main character and her friends to be annoying (and inquiries among friends seems to suggest that teens don’t text that way), but ultimately the story line didn’t capture me.
December 31, 2022
I enjoyed the story and now want to cook my way through some of the recipes.
December 10, 2023
I devoured this book. I love content about food and cooking (especially cooking competitions) and I think using as a backdrop to talk about diversity is a great idea.
May 17, 2024
I love this book so much. It is such a fun read and the main character is awesome.
August 16, 2025
3.5 ⭐'s. Slow in spots....
June 24, 2023
Excellent first novel. Great YA literature. Interesting blend of Jewish and Filipinx culture
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews