Cooking, Culture & Cookbooks: Our Afternoon with Chris Joe and My Nguyen
I have been teaching cooking for more than ten years, and I still get a little giddy around cookbook authors. A cookbook always has a story behind it, and I love hearing it from the person who lived it. So when we had the chance to meet Chris Joe and My Nguyen at Book Passage in San Francisco, we made the drive up from Morgan Hill without a second thought.
Two Authors, One Conversation
Book Passage sits right inside the Ferry Building, and walking in under that clock tower made the afternoon feel like an occasion.
Chris was there to celebrate his new cookbook, Cook Asian: 100+ Flavor-Packed, Foolproof Recipes from My Asian American Kitchen, written with Carolynn Carreño. My Nguyen, the creator of My Healthy Dish and author of Healthy, My Way, sat down with him, and the two of them talked openly about food, family, television and what it really takes to make a cookbook.
It Started with His Grandfather
The part of the afternoon that stayed with me most was when Chris talked about his grandfather.
His grandfather opened Joe’s Groceries, a grocery store in Glendale, California, and Chris grew up watching him butcher meat right there in the store. That butcher counter is where it all started for him. Long before CJ Eats, long before a cookbook, there was a kid watching his grandfather work.
That hit home for me. So much of what I do, as a teacher and as a mom, comes down to letting kids stand next to you while you cook. They are watching more than we think.
You can taste that history in Cook Asian. These are not recipes chasing a trend. They carry the flavors of a family table, passed down and then made his own.
Behind the Scenes of 100 Cooks
Then the stories got fun. Chris told us about his time on 100 Cooks, starting with the interview process. After all of that, he didn’t find out he was actually on the show until one week before filming. One week! And the entire series was shot in just 10 days.
The detail I keep coming back to is this one. With nerves running high, a lot of the cooks were cutting themselves on their very sharp knives.
I couldn’t help but smile, because it is exactly what I tell my students. When you are nervous or rushing, slow down, tuck your fingers and respect the blade. It turns out that advice holds up even on a TV set.
More Than a Social Media Post
Chris built his following on CJ Eats, sharing recipes in short videos. But he wanted to make something more substantial than a post that scrolls by and disappears.
I understand that so well. A video is a wonderful spark, but a book is something you prop open on the counter, splatter with sauce and hand down to the next generation. Cook Asian puts more than 100 of his recipes in one place, ready to become part of someone’s kitchen.
His goal with Cook Asian was to demystify cooking Asian cuisine, so home cooks feel confident making these dishes in their own kitchens. As a teacher, that is music to my ears. Taking something that feels out of reach and breaking it down until anyone can do it is exactly what good teaching is.
Inside the Recipe Testing
This was the part I was most curious about, because I write recipes for our classes and I know how much goes into getting one right.
Chris walked us through how every recipe in the book was tested, and how precise the publisher needed the writing to be. The measurements, the steps and the timing all had to be accurate, so a home cook could follow along and end up with the same dish he makes.
I left with a lot of respect for that process, and a good reminder to hold our own recipes to the same standard.
What I’m Bringing Back to Our Kitchen
I went in excited to get a couple of books signed. I came home thinking about grandparents and butcher counters, about nervous hands and sharp knives, and about how much care it takes to write a recipe someone else can trust. Those are the same things I care about every time I teach a class.
Thank you, Chris, for sharing your story so openly. Thank you, My, for so kindly signing our copy of your book. And thank you to Book Passage for hosting such a warm afternoon. Our signed copies came home with us, and now comes the hard part: deciding which recipe to make first. Stay tuned!