About the Author

Barbara Tropp was born and raised in suburban New Jersey, in a town of one Chinese restaurant. For no discernible reason, she was smitten with Chinese things at an early age and decided to study the Chinese language. She graduated in 1970 from Barnard College of Columbia University with honors in Oriental Studies, and then received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to continue graduate work at Princeton University in Chinese literature and art history. During the course of her graduate studies, she lived in Taiwan for two years as an adopted child in two Chinese homes, both headed by superb traditional cooks. In Taiwan, she learned to eat.