Martha Dahlen

Martha Dahlen is a writer, gardener, and cook. She was born in Ohio; raised in Virginia; and received her BS degree at Purdue University (Indiana) in Horticulture. She arrived in Hong Kong in 1977 where she lived for the following 21 years. Initially she worked in the Department of Botany at the University of Hong Kong as a teaching assistant, during which time she completed a Ph.D. in Botany on the taxonomy of the Fern Allies. For the next ten years, Dr. Dahlen worked at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, primarily as an editor. During her years in Hong Kong, she traveled extensively in Southeast Asia. Her most widely known book is “Popular Guide to Chinese Vegetables,” which is also illustrated by her long-time friend Karen Phillipps. She currently lives in Campbell, CA with a Cantonese kungfu master where she bikes, hikes, knits, meditates, cogitates, and blogs.