Happy Asian Heritage Month! I thought that the best way to celebrate our collective Asian heritage is through books on food. Cuz how many times have we heard our parents shove food in front of our faces vs saying “I love you?”
Over the last 3 years, we’ve read more than 500 books to our daughter, and many that feature Asian foods. So not every book made the list. My criteria for featuring these are through how memorable they are. I would’ve loved to include more Asian cultures, but some just didn’t stand up in terms of good storytelling. We own a few of these, and have considered purchasing more (but… budget :P)
Anyway, I hope this list serves as a great starting point for you to incorporate some cultural stories for your kiddos. Or if you don’t have kids (or don’t plan to have kids) that this may be a good reference list for you to get cultural books for kids, or even to share with your friends who have toddlers!
Dumplings for Lili
by Melissa Iwai:
(Chinese)
This book tells the story of Lili, whose grandma asks her whether she wants to make bao but because they’re missing an ingredient, she and her doggo need to run up and down their apartment building borrowing ingredients. Not just for her Chinese baos, but helping all the other nonnas and babchas in the building with their culture’s version of baos. There’s even a surprise ending!
I love that this story illustrates the power of community, especially with grandparents. They’re such gems in kids’ lives, whether they’re blood-related or not.
Dumpling Dreams
by Carrie Clickard
(Chinese)
The title says it all: this is the story of how Asian-American chef Joyce Chen brought dumplings from Beijing and westernized it for her new hometown of Cambridge.
I love that it highlights the business savvy of a woman chef – Joyce was so ahead of her time! This is perfect for sowing entrepreneurial seeds for little chefs-to-be and otherwise.
Boys Don’t Fry
by Kimberly Lee
(Malaysian)
The little boy in this book just wants to cook with his grandma, but first has to defy the gender expectations from his ever opinionated Asian aunties.
What a great story to show kids that gender has no bounds, in a soft-edged way.
Amy Wu’s Perfect Bao
by Kat Zhang
(Chinese)
Amy Wu is a very determined girl who can do many things, except make the perfect bao!
Can she rise to the occasion?
I love that the lesson for this story isn’t to be perfect (which many of us grew up with learning by osmosis that’s what our parents wanted) but it’s to find solutions to problems, and that even if perfection is achieved, that’s not what’s important.
Plus, this book features a pink-haired grandma! How cool and subversive is that?
Duck for Turkey Day
by Jacqueline Jules
(Vietnamese)
The girl Duck for Turkey day wonders why they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving with turkey. (Probably because it’s a colonial holiday… but that’s for another day)
I grew up thinking this holiday is for white people and Thanksgiving is just a free day off from school. But I’m sure a lot of us wondered why we don’t have the same norms.
I love that instead of completely disregarding the idea of Thanksgiving like I did, at the end of the book all the kids talk about the different foods they at at home to celebrate the coming togetherness of the holiday. And I’d take Asian barbecued duck over (potentially dry) turkey any day!
Everyone Loves Lunchtime but Zia
by Jenny Lia
(Chinese)
Embarrassment over Asian lunches.
Every kid of our generation felt this at some point, but never openly talked about it.
I was surprised to learn it still happens to this day. My niece who’s half-Asian still got teased for bringing dumplings for lunch in kindergarten.
In this story, Zia’s parents prepare special foods for her for a full week, and explain the symbolic meaning behind each.
I love that about the Chinese culture because meaning is steeped into everything, and we play on words so much. So the names of foods Zia brings to school may be homonymous with good luck or growth.
This book is so necessary for kids of Asian and non-Asian cultures to gain an understanding of different cultures.
Kadooboo!
by Shruti Rao
(South Indian)
Kadooboo is the story of Kabir who runs home to his mom with a dessert, but needs to keep repeating the name (incorrectly!) to remind himself.
This one’s a silly story told in the repeating style of the gingerbread man.
My daughter loved hearing all the silly names he mis-remembers kadooboo as – book-oo-doo!
Rainbow Shopping
by Qing Zhuang
(Chinese)
Growing up well into adulthood, I always felt the need to cook with “real” ingredients (aka non-Asian ingredients).
This book is great because it validates the Chinese experience of grocery shopping for “weird” vegetables like bitter melon and medicinal herbs. Foods that I surely was made fun of for eating at some point.
Also, you gotta read this book for the little girl’s quick wit. She’s sassy 🙂
The Perfect Sushi
by Emiluy Satoko Seo
(Japanese)
Just like Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao, the little girl in this book learns that it’s not making the perfect food that’s the most important to her elderly grandparents. It’s that she tried.
In the vein of the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi (accepting the imperfect and transient nature of life), the little girl learns that her grandma actually loves her imperfectly made sushi, because it shows it comes from her granddaughter, and not some assembly line.
For us perfectionist Asian millennial parents, I wish we had more of these stories growing up! Now we can show our kids through books that being perfect isn’t the end goal.
BiBimBap!
by Linda Sue Park
(Korean)
When I first started reading picture books to my daughter, this was probably the first Asian cultural book I came across.
This is a rhythmic rhyming book where the little girl grocery shops and prepares the Korean rice bowl with her mom, but not without her fair share of mishaps!
My fave line “Hurry, mama, hurry / Gotta shop shop shop! Hungry hungry hungry / for some BEE-BIM BOP!
It’s a super fun story that ends with the family sitting around the dinner table with her grandma, which is how our little family ends our days too <3
My Love For You Is Always
by Gillian Sze
(Chinese)
The little boy in this book asks his mama if she loves him. And in typical Chinese fashion, she responds to him in terms of food 😀
“My love smells like… My love looks like…” a series of precious Chinese ingredients.
It’s important for our kids to understand the cultural communication for older Asian generations is implicit through food and not via Western means of being so direct to say “I love you.” Maybe not with us, but to understand that’s how their grandparents may communicate their depths of love.
Last Thoughts on Kids Books ft Asian Food
So there you have it! Eleven books that truly centre around Asian food and love and approval and acceptance.
I so wish I had these books to shift my perspective on how Asian parents communicate, or the importance of eating Asian food at lunch.
I hope your kids (or godchildren! or friends’ kids!) will enjoy the fruits of these authors’ labour of love <3
xo, Miranda
