A-Gong's Table: Vegan Recipes from a Taiwanese Home

【阿公的餐桌A-Gong's Table】
✰阿公的味道：喚醒台灣記憶的90多道蔬食料理！

踏上暖心尋根之旅，感受家傳蔬食的獨特魅力。作者 George Lee 兒時曾與阿公一起在淡水生活，擅長烹飪的阿公，教會他許多台灣料理。直到17歲時，阿公逝世，作者與家人按照佛教的禮儀，吃素一百天，期間經常在寺廟用餐，寺廟的師父甚至教導 George Lee 如何烹煮。

多年後，George Lee 重新審視這些珍貴的回憶，將他所學到的蔬食料理匯集成這本烹飪故事集—《阿公的餐桌》，收錄超過90道台灣在地蔬食料理，搭配知名攝影師夏洛朗 (Laurent Hsia) 鏡頭下的台灣，共同譜寫出一段動人肺腑的美食回憶錄。

「阿公的餐桌」不僅是一本食譜，更是一趟充滿回憶的台灣之旅。George Lee 與好友 Laurent Hsia 一同遊走台灣各地，沿途拍攝美景佳餚，猶如兒時與阿公逛早市，或是公交車上並肩而坐的恩愛老夫妻。跟隨書中的文字和圖片，帶你從清晨到夜晚，細細品味台灣的蔬食文化與濃濃的思鄉之情。(暫譯)

A rendering of food through the memories of family and of home: over ninety plant-based recipes from George Lee, the creator of Chez Jorge, with Laurent Hsia's images of Taiwan.

“An astonishingly accomplished exploration of flavors, ingredients, and traditions.”—Katy Hui-wen Hung (洪惠文), co-author of A Culinary History of Taipei: Beyond Pork and Ponlai

“This is a beautiful love letter to Taiwan and a quietly uncompromising work of documentation.”—Hannah Che, author of The Vegan Chinese Kitchen

George Lee grew up with his A-Gong (grandfather) in the quiet refuge of Tamsui, Taiwan. He took part in the myriad Taiwanese food traditions his A-Gong nurtured, until he was seventeen, when his A-Gong passed. In observation of the death, he and his family undertook a set of Buddhist funeral customs and abstained from eating meat. For a hundred days, they ate at the monastery and the nuns there taught him to cook.
 
Years later, he revisited the lessons and pieced them into the story of his family’s cooking. Some recipes he shares here are directly from childhood: Han-tsî-bê, an everyday breakfast congee floating with fist-size chunks of golden sweet potatoes, and the quintessential preserve Tshài-póo, crunchy strips of sun-dried daikon radish that salt in the air for a few days in January. Others tread the boundaries between old and new, such as Sòo-lóo-pn̄g, a meatless rendition of the hand-cut pork bits his mom braised in soy sauce and ladled over rice.
 
While writing this book, George wandered all over Taiwan with his friend Laurent Hsia, who took photos along the way. Together, they sought out the foods and places tied to their memories growing up. Like the grandpa who slung a bag of apples along the zebra crossing to exit the morning market, or the old couple on the bus in black and white, sitting side by side and peering forward, the two found themselves . . . always afoot, traveling. A-Gong’s Table follows the rhythm of their footsteps: a pulse that takes you quietly through the book and through Taiwan, from morning to night.