num_pages: 304
description: There is a new American culinary landscape developing around us and its one that chef Edward Lee is proud to represent. In a nation of immigrants who bring their own culinary backgrounds to this country what happens one or even two generations later? What does their cuisine become? It turns into a cuisine uniquely its own and one that Lee argues makes America the most interesting place to eat on earth. Lee illustrates this through his own life story of being a Korean immigrant and a New Yorker and now a Southerner. In Off the Menu he shows how we each have a unique food memoir that is worthy of exploration. To Lee recipes are narratives and a conduit to learn about a person a place or a point in time. He says that the best way to get to know someone is to eat the food they eat. Each chapter shares a personal tale of growth and self-discovery through the foods Lee eats and the foods of the people he interacts withwhether its the Korean budae jjigae of his father or the mustard beer cheese he learns to make from his wifes German-American family. Each chapter is written in narrative form and punctuated with two recipes to highlight the story including Green Tea Beignets Cornbread Pancakes with Rhubarb Jam and Butternut Squash Schnitzel. Each recipe tells a story but when taken together they form the arc of the narrative and contribute to the story we call the new American food.
language: English
title: Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine
publisher: Artisan