Frankie Gaw - First Generation : Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home [A Cookbook]

Thank Yous

Its the day before my manuscript is due, and this is the last thing I have to write. I cant believe Ive made it to the end, to a finished book that only existed in my wildest daydreams between the clicks of a mouse during my nine-to-five job. To type these last words is to close a chapter on a process that has been so fulfilling, one that I dont want to end. The words thank you cannot describe the overwhelming gratitude I have for all those whove lifted me up as Ive gone along this wild adventure of writing a cookbook.

Im forever indebted to my two grandmas, my , who is still with me today, and my , who went to be with my dad while I was writing this book. Thank you, , for calling me every week since I was five, and for all those conversations and meals that taught me the love language of food, undoubtedly keeping me connected to my roots even if I wasnt ready yet. Thank you, , for the countless FaceTime calls filled with your face too close to the camera. These pages are filled with the countless recipes you taught me, every technique and dish Ive learned since I was a kid forming the backbone of this entire book. How lucky I am to have grown up with such tradition, all beginning at the little kitchen island in Ohio when we lived together. I cant help but recognize that the freedoms in my life only exist because of the both of youyour amazing will to survive and make a better life for your family despite the traumas and poverty youve all experienced. For that, Ill be forever grateful.

To my mom: thank you for loving me for who I am and for teaching me to never take life too seriously. I would never have been at a place to pour my heart and soul out for people to read without the unconditional love youve given me. Every photo you post happily posing with a drag queen and dancing at a Pride parade, despite its contradiction to your beliefs, has taught me that God really is just love.

To the rest of my family: thank you for providing an environment filled with laughter amidst adversity. A special thank you to my Aunt Jay, who was so incredibly generous with her time helping me translate my grandmas recipes, providing a breadth of context around family dishes, sending me her entire library of vintage Taiwanese and Chinese cookbooks, and helping me interview my grandma through FaceTime calls. Thank you to my Uncle Jerry for lending his cooking expertise and tips for some of my most nostalgic dishes.

To Sally: Im so thankful that our paths crossed. This book exists because of you. Your unabashed enthusiasm and mind-blowing expertise have made my dreams a reality while making this entire process the most enjoyable roller-coaster ride that I dont want to get off of. Youve been a believer in me since day one, even when I couldnt really see it myself. How did I get so lucky?

To the team at Ten Speed: Thank you, Emma, for being my fairy godmother of cookbooks. Youve been a champion of my vision while making the book so much better with your generous input and voice. Lizzie, you captured the vision of this book so beautifully. I nearly passed out when I saw the first designs. The thoughtfulness and creativity youve put into this project from the beginning are a testament to your talent. Thank you for choosing to work with me and lending your creative genius to this book, despite the risks of working with a blabbering former designer with too many opinions. Allison, thank you for your marketing prowess, and most of all for believing in me so early on. To Kim and Carey and Rachel, thank you for helping me get to the finish line, and taking such care and thoughtfulness with these words. Thank you to the entire team at Ten Speed; its been such a dream to work with each and every one of you.

To 204, my close friends, and my recipe testers: thank you for being my earliest fans and my biggest cheerleaders.

Thank you to my partner, Scott. Where do I even begin? This all started when you had me write out my dreams. It was December 2017, and I scribbled that I wanted to write a cookbook. You had me work backward, visualizing all the things I had to do to get there. It felt like a pipe dream, but five years later its come true. Thank you for giving me the tools to believe in myself and supporting me during every moment of joy and failure along the way. Your belief in me has literally given me the energy to make it through writing this cookbook. Making me breakfast every day while I was writing this book, despite your early-morning meetings. All those dinners you cooked when I was too exhausted to even touch another saucepan. Every pep talk that gave me the motivation to keep going. Im so grateful that I get to come home to this life weve built together, a life filled with unconditional love that I never imagined I could find. Thank you for everything.

Lastly, thank you to my dad, my . I miss you so much, and I hope Ive made you proud.

About the Author

Frankie Gaw is a food writer, photographer, and designer. He has worked as a product designer for companies such as Facebook and Airbnb while founding his food blog, Little Fat Boy , which was nominated for a Webby and has won Saveurs Blog of the Year award and IACPs Individual Food Blog Award. Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, he now resides with his partner, Scott, in a quaint home in Seattle, making dumplings and pottery.

01.

An American Pantry

I grew up with a distinctly American pantry, a typical coat closetsized space in suburban Ohio with four wooden shelves, shared by three generations of an immigrant family, under one dinky fluorescent light. My mom used pantry snacks as a tactic: a path for her American son to not only fit in but to out-Gusher and out-Dorito every white kid in the competitive sport that is the school lunch. My dad just wanted a taste of the homeland that he rarely returned to. His contributions included soy-coated rice snack mixes and sesame candy that took him back to Taiwan with every bite. My grandma wanted to nourish her grandson like she had her daughter, filling the remaining shelf space with sesame oils and dried mushrooms with pungent, earthy aromas. Ours was a pantry stocked with sauces, snacks, and ingredients, filled by a family with opposing motivations and cultures. But to me, it didnt feel like a clash; it was just your normal American pantry.

Asian Market Snacks

The Asian supermarket is a destination filled with language, color, and smell that feels like a magical world all its own. Every aisle is a gold mine of snacks, many of which enriched my familys pantry when I was growing up. You can view this as a biased guide to eating your way through these very aisles. Its a list of my personal favorites that evoke a nostalgia equally powerful to any American snack I had growing up.

Salty

Rice crackers fig. 01

Crunchy rice crackers in a variety of shapes, all with a coating of soy and a hint of sweetness