Leslie Li's paternal grandfather, Li Zongren, was China's first democratically elected vice president, to whom Chiang Kai-shek left control of the countrywhen he fled to Formosa in I949. Nine years later, Li's wife, Nai-nai, comes tolive with her son's family in New York City, bringing a whole new world ofsights, smells, and tastes as she quickly takes control of the kitchen. Nai-nai's tantalizingly exotic cooking opens up the.heart and mind of her American granddaughter to. her Chinese heritage--and to the world. Through her grandmother's traditional cuisine Leslie bridges the cultural divide in an America in which she is a minority--as well as the growing gap at home between her rigid, traditional Chinese father and her progressive American-born mother.
……