Andrea Nguyen
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October 07, 2013My Q&A with 5th GradersLong before I wrote cookbooks I wrote a children’s bookcalled Trip to Freedom about how myfamily escaped Vietnam. It was an illustrated short story book for a bilingualeducation series aimed to teach kids about America’s diversity. Meg, achildhood friend who is now a school administrator, suggested me for the seriesand the publisher commissioned a Vietnamese American artist Winson Trang to dothe illustrations. Tripto Freedom (Nuestro Viaje HaciaLa Libertad) was published in 1997. Now and then I’d get a random emailfrom someone about the book but last month, I received a wonderful surprise.
Alisa, a fifth-grade teacher in Iowa, had her class read the book and they had follow-up questions. Thestudents wanted to know how exactly my family got our fake tickets to fly outof Vietnam, what it was like growing up in Vietnam, and how I learned to cook. Iemailed my responses and Alisa presented them to the students, who then handwrote thank you letters along with a few more questions. I was touched by theircomments (who gets letters in the mail anymore?!) and the wonder and appreciationthat they expressed (my eyes welled up a bit).
I thought of responding but figured that the class may havemoved beyond Trip to Freedom. So mysolution is to share some of the letters with you and answer a few of their questions.That way, they can get their responses at their leisure. As a class, I supposethey could comment on this post too. It's amazing how today's technologies can allow students to dream and connect far beyond their immediate surroundings.
The letters fell into three or so categories, one of whichwas cooking. Alisa said the class had read up on me so they knew about mycareer. What was surprising to me (and them) was that I’d started cooking inearnest when I was about ten years old. That’s when my mom taught me to makerice followed by lots of wontons. Because I don’t have children, it had escapedme that fifth graders are ten years old. (Duh!)
Several of the students shared that they liked to cook andeat, and that they were helping their moms in the kitchen. (There are somesmart moms in Iowa.)
To answer Charlie’s question: My favorite thing to cook isrice. It’s fun and you can make lots of different rice dishes. I’d love tolearn to make chicken and dumplings from Megan. Bring it on!
The students also wrote about writing as a profession. Atten years old, I thought about writing but it seemed like a distant dream more thana viable option. It’s wonderful to readthat to these students, a writing career is cool and something to consider.Selicia wants to be a writer and itlooks like she’s on her way; she’s been cooking since she was seven. Wow. Holdon to those family recipes.
How did I become a writer? It was a long road. I was not anovernight success story. It took a combination of lots of luck (you never know who may help you), pluck (let “Why not . . .?” guide you), and work (keep on polishing what you write).
What is my next book about? Sandwiches, and some of therecipes have received the thumbs up from young people around ten years old.
Finally, some of the letters focused on my family’s escapefrom Vietnam. We were among the fortunate ones to be able to leave by plane.Nonetheless, it was very frightening. Was I brave? I don’t know. I think myparents were the brave ones to find safe passage for our family. They wanted the ability to lead the lives of their choosing. They wanted freedom.
I get some really nice thank you messages from readers but Ihave to admit that these were among the best ever. Thank you Alisa and all thestudents for taking the time to make this one of the highlights of my career.
P.S. I wish I had teachers like Alisa when I was young!
Posted in Cookbooks, Miscellaneous | Permalink | |
| Comments My Q&A with 5th Graders Long before I wrote cookbooks I wrote a children’s bookcalled Trip to Freedom about how myfamily escaped Vietnam. It was an illustrated short story book for a bilingualeducation series aimed to teach kids about America’s diversity. Meg, achildhood friend who is now a school administrator, suggested me for the seriesand the publisher commissioned a Vietnamese American artist Winson Trang to dothe illustrations. Tripto Freedom (Nuestro Viaje HaciaLa Libertad) was published in 1997. Now and then I’d get a random emailfrom someone about the book but last month, I received a wonderful surprise.
Alisa, a fifth-grade teacher in Iowa, had her class read the book and they had follow-up questions. Thestudents wanted to know how exactly my family got our fake tickets to fly outof Vietnam, what it was like growing up in Vietnam, and how I learned to cook. Iemailed my responses and Alisa presented them to the students, who then handwrote thank you letters along with a few more questions. I was touched by theircomments (who gets letters in the mail anymore?!) and the wonder and appreciationthat they expressed (my eyes welled up a bit).
I thought of responding but figured that the class may havemoved beyond Trip to Freedom. So mysolution is to share some of the letters with you and answer a few of their questions.That way, they can get their responses at their leisure. As a class, I supposethey could comment on this post too. It's amazing how today's technologies can allow students to dream and connect far beyond their immediate surroundings.
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Asian Tofu in the News"Informative, engaging, well written and researched, this is also the best book about tofu."— Winnie Yang, The Art of Eating
"A whole cookbook devoted to tofu? Yes, please."
— Kate Williams, Serious Eats 2012 Favorite Cookbooks
"Cooking with Tofu (Are You Serious?!)"
— Michael Rulhman on his tofu conversion
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