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Fragrant Heart

Fragrant Heart

Author(s): Miranda Emmerson

Location(s): China, South East Asia

Genre(s): Food and Drink, Travelogue

Era(s): Late 2000s

Location

Content

We buy food we can point to. We stalk the streets until rush hour and wait for the little hatches to open in the sides of restaurants. From the steamy openings, cooks in overalls sell jiaozi (dumplings) and bowls of thick, sticky, white congee – an unholy cross between soup and porridge. Baozi, steamed white buns, are light as air. I buy them filled with water spinach and nettle – delicious dipped in sharp, black Chinese vinegar. In 2008, Miranda and her partner set off for one last big adventure before settling down. They chose to travel through South-East Asia. All did not go to plan: Asian flu, falling off boats and the general chaos of a life abroad challenged them at every step, and yet, in the midst of it all, they fell in love with the culture and culinary delights of China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia.

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Book Reviews

Lead Review

A wonderful combination of travelogue, gastrolgue and so much more. A recipe or two at the end of each chapter, Miranda really evokes the individual feel of each country.

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