The following is an excerpt from Sophia Nguyen Eng ’s novel bookThe Nourishing Asian Kitchen(Chelsea Green Publishing December 2023 ) and is printed with permission from the publisher.courtesy of Chelsea Green Publishing
“ Eat to live , do not inhabit to wipe out ! ” was a lesson my grandfather taught me when I was a slight lady friend following him around his backyard garden in San Jose , California . He was a man who did n’t speak much and always had a serious demeanor , so I soaked in those minute when he did speak . And although I did n’t know it at the time , his few elementary words were setting a positive trajectory for our family ’s health for generation to issue forth .
I am a first - coevals Vietnamese American . My parents fled Vietnam by gravy boat with my old sister , who was then 2 age old , the dark before the fall of Saigon in 1975 . My maternal grandparents followed four years later . Both generations — my parents and grandparents — settle in San Jose , first living together in the same family and later in the same neighborhood , a block apart .
biography was n’t easy for our immigrant family adapt to a totally dissimilar living in California , but my parent always ensured that our family ’s basic needs were met . Our home was always filled with the smell of delicious and nutritious food and , although both of my parent worked long hours to make ends meet , my mother made it a priority to run us well . Whenever she was n’t taking extra time shift , I could find her in the kitchen .
My mother cook nozzle - to - tail before it was a thing , using every part of an animal to falsify delicious , nutrient - dense meal and leaving nothing to devastate . She could stretch out a whole broiler chicken into multiple meals : cooking down the point , neck , and ivory for several hours to make porridge , the dark meat for cabbage and chicken salad , the breast meat for chicken phở — and even red-hot and spicy volaille feet and pleasant-tasting chicken heart appetizers .
Growing up in Silicon Valley , I often felt like an outsider at the school day luncheon table . While other kids were munching on Lunchables and Fruit Roll - Ups , my momma had packed me pork dental floss , a finely rip up wry pork barrel that other kids called “ creature fuzz . ” For my fifth - grade field trip , my mother packed me bánh mì with chicken liver pâté that made my back pack smell like a wet dog . But even while I was pining for Lean Cuisine , Coke and hemangioma simplex - flavored sticky bears as an afterschool snack , I always alternate at the opportunity to go to the market store with my mother and avail her prepare our household meal . I loved watch her nibble out the new yield , veggie , fish and poultry or negotiate for a better price . Alongside my grandfather ’s mere doctrine to eat to exist , not live to eat , I engage these practical skills from my mother and carried them with me to college , my career , marriage and maternity .
courtesy of Chelsea Green Publishing
In schoolhouse , I was extremely move by two goals : I want to attend a esteemed university and then get a high - yield job so I could one day repay my parents for the hard body of work and sacrifices they made for our fellowship . I also wanted to hit the books music so that I could help oneself others attain wellness and healing ; there was , I call back ( and still do ) , no greater aspiration . After I graduate from high schooltime , I enrolled in an accelerated seven - twelvemonth double BA / MD program at The George Washington University ( GWU ) in Washington , DC . I thought I was well on my way to achieving both goals .
But the well - laid programme are often disrupt by reality , and mine were no exclusion . After I launched into my studies at GWU , I start looking more carefully at the details of the programme . There was only one course in nourishment ! Dr. , I check , have minimum training in nutrition . When they counsel patient , if at all , most offer only outdated recommendation for a received American diet ( SAD)—the same dietetic recommendations that have cooccur with a monumental surge in diabetes , obesity and chronic disease . I realise , passably painfully , that I ’d receive a good training in wellness and healing from my upbringing than I ever would in medical school . And so I decided to change course .
I completed my undergraduate level in biology and a master ’s arcdegree in clinical psychological science , then act back to the Bay Area to start a career in the tech diligence . I led growth marketing campaigns at inauguration ship’s company with few resources to reach growth by as much as a factor of 10 . Once again , I realized how worthful my upbringing had been : I apply my mother ’s lowly prowess of stretch a budget for some of the most muscular and profitable companies in the world .
Around this time , I crossed paths with Tim , a young military man I ’d attended high schoolhouse with in San Jose who had just graduated from West Point and was beginning a career in the Army . We were both ambitious and organized , and apportion similar values and visions for our life . But we also had big difference of opinion , specifically around intellectual nourishment . While I grew up on olfactory organ - to - shadow preparation , Tim maturate up on Rice - a - Roni . During the early years of our wedding , most of our disagreements were related to comfort food for thought — specifically Tim ’s nightly habit of munching on Nacho Cheese Doritos and Coke with two heap scoops of Ben & Jerry ’s ice ointment on the side .
Despite the unhealthful habits from his upbringing , Tim understood the grandness of victuals . He ’d struggle with eczema for his entire animation , ever since childhood . It was common for him to have lily-white moolah fool all over his soundbox from itching . Early in our marriage , sometimes I would wake up up in the middle of the night mentation we were being hit with one of Californian ’s famous earthquakes , only to discover that it was Tim scratch in his sleep and shaking the bed ! We intuitively knew there was a dietetic or lifestyle constituent to his condition , so we began experimenting with eliminating various foods and changing certain home products . Lo and behold , when we switched from grain - fed supermarket beef to grass - run gripe , he immediately see relief from eczema . This was enough for Tim to get on control board with a life-style change — which is not to say it was easy . Even as a West Point graduate and Army veteran , Tim says that his most intriguing battles were not struggle in the deserts of Baghdad , but at home plate , around intellectual nourishment , nutrition and the struggle to change the eating habits he produce up with .
In 2010 , “ lunatic farmer ” Joel Salatin gave a talk at Google Headquarters in the Bay Area . Joel owns Polyface Farm in Virginia ’s Shenandoah Valley and became far-famed when Michael Pollan devoted a chapter to him in his 2006 bestselling bookThe Omnivore ’s Dilemma . Pollan name how Joel desegregate animals into his farming system in elbow room that have lead in healthier food for thought , happy brute , less waste , and an effective , closed - loop farming ecosystem . Salatin call in himself a moonstruck granger because the evangelistic Christian frequently get hold himself at betting odds with regulatory passport and essential , as well as mod agricultural practice . As Joel says , everything he wants to do is illegal — and yet his many loyal customers routinely travel great length and compensate a exchange premium for his delicious , alimental and ethically produce intellectual nourishment . Joel Salatin , Polyface Farm , and Michael Pollan shined a brilliant light on how broken the industrial agriculture system is , as well as the failures of regulatory bodies such as the USDA , FDA and state health agencies .
At Google , Joel cue us that , until relatively lately , there were no garbage truck to cart waste away or landfills to floor deoxyephedrine in someone else ’s backyard . poulet were the garbage administration salvage surgery on the homestead ! When food spoils , you feast it to the chickens and they give you eggs in paying back . What a gorgeously efficient rotary system ! Too many Americans “ go green ” by shake off their banana tree peels on a diesel engine - powered shit truck that travels to an off - site composting operation . Joel tell apart those of us in the audience that if we really desire to be “ green , ” we should attach a volaille house to our corporate cafés so that the scraps go decent out to the volaille household , the eggs come right back in , and we do n’t have to truck our refuse off or buy egg from somewhere else .
Everything Joel Salatin say in that talk resonated with me — the systems - thinking efficiency , the commonsense frugalness , and his deference for the land and the animals . It reminded me of the simple frugalness of my mother and the common sense of my grandfather . Good food , good factory farm and expert wellness are inseparable , and traditional Wisdom of Solomon is often a much heavy value than so - called mod improvements .
Since both Tim and I lacked husbandry experience , we enrolled in several workshops and conferences organized at Polyface Farm . We see how to action meat chickens and rabbits and learned how to improve land for pasture . Our aim was to derive hardheaded , hands - on experience and learn from the expert . And who better to get wind from than Joel himself , the illustrious Fannie Merritt Farmer and practitioner of sustainable Agriculture Department ?
These hands - on workshops give us the confidence to move out of Pleasant Hill , California , and purchase 6 acres in Lincoln , Union of Sacramento , along with our own wimp processing equipment and tractor . This homestead included chickens , goats and sheep , which was a far cry from our urban background signal farm up in San Jose . In 2022 , we moved our family and homestead to eastern Tennessee , where we built upon our success and moral learned in California . We even expand our livestock and skill sets by adding dairy farm oxen to the mixing !
Joel ’s school of thought around food , farming and aliment quickly led me to the work of another turncoat thinker : Sally Fallon Morell , writer ofNourishing Traditions , founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation , and founder of A Campaign for Real Milk . Sally is passionate about health and has made it her mission in life to advocate for a diet free-base on nourishing - dense foods and raw Milk River . Nourishing Traditions , based on the employment of Weston A. Price , support the teachings of my mother and gramps about exhaust traditional foods .
Dr. Weston A. Price was a Canadian dentist who lived and practiced in Cleveland , Ohio , during the early part of the twentieth 100 . In his dental exercise , Dr. Price note that the dental wellness of his patient , and children in especial , had been declining over time , and he suspect that it had something to do with the increase accessibility of processed foods in the American diet .
Weston A. Price was a human on a mission . Driven to realise the surge in tooth decay , roof of the mouth malformations , and other impairment in dental health , he embarked on a series of singular journeys to isolated area around the humans . From the villages of Switzerland to the Outer Hebrides , Africa , Australia and Polynesia , he sought out communities where people still relied on their native diet of traditionally uprise , raised and inclined food for thought . These diet were a far watchword from the process industrial foods that were becoming more and more popular in North America in the early twentieth C . or else , they were rich in creature nutrient such as organ meat , mollusk , eggs and butter , and wad with life-sustaining nutrients like fat - soluble vitamins A , D , E and K ; water - soluble vitamins like B complex and C ; and a master of ceremonies of all important minerals .
With meticulous attention to point , Price documented the foods the great unwashed wipe out , how they were produced on the farm , and how they were develop in the kitchen . And what he launch was astounding . In community where citizenry continued to trust on traditional food , dental wellness was unassailable and overall wellness was robust . But in communities that had been introduced to treat industrial foods such as white flour , veggie oils and white bread , the health of the people had deteriorated rapidly .
Price ’s research revealed a remarkable coefficient of correlation between a diet rich in traditional nourishing foods , including gamy - character meat , milk , grains , fruit and vegetable , and optimal dental and overall physical health . This groundbreaking work inspired Sally Fallon Morell to co - see the Weston A. Price Foundation in 1999 with the goal of fix “ nutrient - heavy foods to the human dieting through education , research and activism . ” Fallon ’s acclaimed cookbook , Nourishing Traditions , has sold gazillion of copy and stage a bold critique of the nutrient Great Pyramid , mainstream alimentation guidelines , the standard American dieting , the miserable - fat cult and the increasing reliance on processed foods . In tune with Dr. Price ’s enquiry , both Morrell and Salatin pleader for humanely raise animals as an essential component of husbandry and human nutrition , emphasise the importance of locally sourced meats , milks , tall mallow and fats from grass - fed / grass - finish and pasture - raised animals .
As an Asian American family strain to prioritize nourishing traditional nutrient , Tim and I encountered a challenge : the inquiry of Dr. Price , upon which we based our approach , did not include studies on Asiatic countries . China and Japan in the thirties , in special , did not accommodate his criteria of keep apart , nonindustrialized groups with dieting based on autochthonic foods and special import . Despite being considered “ traditional ” at the clock time , both nation had extensive histories of trade with other countries and already had established diligence , including food production . This posed a quandary for us as we sought to honor our cultural tradition while embrace a nourishing dieting .
Take one example from our own kinsperson : Vietnam ’s rich culinary culture has been determine by a variety of influences , including Gallic colonialism in Indochina . The introduction of Gallic flavors , ingredient , and cooking techniques translate traditional Vietnamese smasher , creating a newfangled and decided sapidity visibility . The French put in the baguette to Vietnam , which the Vietnamese adapt using rice flour to create bánh mì . ( In fact , I am part French , which explains why I love Vietnamese and Gallic food so much . ) Many common vegetable , such as potatoes , Cynara scolymus , carrots , edible asparagus and onions were also introduce to Vietnamese cooking from the West . French influence extends beyond ingredient to preparation methods , with the purpose of butter , cheese , and wine all reflecting Gallic culinary tradition . Even beef dishes like bò 7 món , a seven - course meal of beef , were make by French expats to observe the new availableness of imported gripe during the French compound geological era . Vietnamese culinary art remains uniquely flavorful and diverse , a testament to the country ’s rich culinary history beyond French influences .
All of this mean that identify the most nutritive traditions for our fellowship was … complicated ! Our menage ’s cooking traditions included a good deal of Vietnamese nutrient , of course , as well as a blending of Formosan and Taiwanese cooking from Tim ’s background knowledge . But over the years , our family ’s palate was shaped by where we lived in California and being bring out to some of the best Asian culinary art in the Earth , from Korean BBQ and Indian curry ravisher to Thai noodles and fresh Nipponese sashimi and more .
On top of all that , Tim and I had three ( very different ) generations under one roof . As my parents reached retirement old age and commence to have health issues , my mother and begetter left their home in San Jose and move in with us . In 2011 , we welcomed our first - born daughter , Emily , followed four years later on by our daughter Natalie . Over the years , a quite a little of process foodstuff — especially condiments , marinades and spices — had made their way into our pantry . We were a busy new family surrounded by four Whole Foods Markets and we get laid our delivery of their Sperlonga bread .
One daytime , I decided to purge our larder of these highly processed foods so we could start up brisk with real , wholesome food . My mother walked into the kitchen right as I open up the refrigerator and cast out a bunch of condiment and marinades into a big ignominious garbage bag .
“ If you throw away all of these condiment , what will we cook with ? ! ” she exclaimed .
“ I do n’t have it off yet , but we will figure it out ! ”
I knew that adopting Salatin ’s approach to agriculture and Fallon ’s approach to nutrition would serve our family well , but I was n’t solely certain how to do it in the context of a modern first- and second - propagation immigrant family . I was beginning to mistrust that we were go to have to make it up as we move along .
When I explained to my mother why I was throwing out our process soy sauce and hoisin sauce , however , she quickly get on board with the same kind of conclusion I ’d witnessed when she bargained with the fishmonger for a better price on mackerel . sharpen on a few fundamental staples was the first step in a age - long journeying we take together to recreate the Asiatic dishes our family love so they would be more nourishing and nourishing - dense .
As we envision with Tim ’s eczema , the cogent evidence of better wellness was all the evidence we demand to dedicate ourselves to this agency of living . Over time , ailment that my parent stick out from improved . For my female parent , that meant her high blood pressure diminished and congestive heart unsuccessful person adjudicate . My father struggle with economic crisis and obsessive - compulsive disorder ( OCD ) , both of which also ameliorate after we began eat real food as close to its natural res publica as potential .
I now trust that there is no one - size of it - fit - all approach to food for thought , health and nutriment . It ’s probably true thateveryfamily must get by at some storey with honour their culinary custom while rebuild them for good nourishment , especially in the context of a appliance - driven modern society . I do n’t claim to have all the answers . This record is plainly my offering of our menage ’s darling Asiatic recipe through the lens of nutrient - dense Wise Traditions principles . The Wise Tradition principles are not a diet , per se , but more a framework for making the in force food choice for the human body , based on what has worked for humankind for millennia .
In other words , it is my attempt to fulfil a gap where Weston A. Price allow off , as well as a passion projection to pass as much sentence as I can in the kitchen with my mother to capture her recipes and keep them for her grandchildren . This book and the homemade recipes in it were animate by her and , while I enhanced them with everything I ’ve learned from Joel Salatin , Sally Fallon Morell , and the Weston A. Price community , they all required her thumbs - up when she tasted each dish . And Mom did not go easy on me , I assure you ! From our kitchen to yours , I hope you and your kin enjoy these formula as much as we do .
Sophia Nguyen Engis a first - generation Vietnamese - American who left a successful life history in maturation marketing in Silicon Valley to start a five - acre permaculture farm in the Appalachian region of eastern Tennessee . During her time in the technical school diligence , Eng led successful ontogenesis marketing campaigns for startup and Fortune 500 companies like WorkDay , InVision , and Smartsheet , which led to opportunities to develop a certificate grooming programme with CXL Institute and being a founder of the technical school organisation Women in Growth . A seek - after speaker , she has present at Google HQ , GrowthHackers , and the global SaaStalk tech conference . Now she draws on her experiences speaking on stage and her knowledge of intellectual nourishment , husbandry , and health to portray at homesteading conference . Eng is also a Weston A. Price Chapter Leader and the founder of the website Sprinkle with Soil . With her husband , Tim , she raises grass - feed dairy farm cows , beef cattle , laying hen , broiler , ducks , sheep , goats , Republic of Turkey , and grow a motley of green groceries for her multi - generational syndicate and local residential district .
