'Recipes of C-ID' Cookbook Available to View or Add to at mam’s bookstore

by Misty Shock Rule

Every weekend when Molly Nguyen was growing up, her mom would make a sweet treat. And often it would be a cassava cake called bánh khoai mì nướng.

"Whenever I smell the cake or think about the cake or see it," she said, "it just immediately takes me back to my childhood, waking up on a weekend morning and seeing my mom cooking it."

Now Nguyen is sharing her mom's recipe through a community cookbook called Recipes of C-ID. The cookbook is a binder made up of recipes from Chinatown-International District community members, and it's available to view or add to at mam's bookstore.

All are invited to contribute to the cookbook, either by printing out their recipes and putting it in the binder themselves or by emailing it to Nguyen at mollynguyen@gmail.com.

Nguyen created the cookbook in December, and it currently includes Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, and Hmong recipes as well as fusion recipes like Earl Grey white miso dark chocolate cookies. Some are family recipes, while others represent cooking as a new hobby.

The idea grew out of another community project, the Seattle Chinatown Book Club, which meets the last Sunday of the month at mam's. Bookclub member Stacy Wang had the idea and pitched it to Nguyen.

"I already exchanged recipes with friends and family, and it's a great way to try something new that someone has vouched for," Wang said. "So I was thinking, a lot of my recipes I want to share with people, especially because it's the holiday season … my recipes are predominantly Asian, and I was like, where do we have a community for that?"

Wang, who is Chinese American, was also inspired when she saw an Instagram story where Nguyen was making a Cambodian soup called kuy teav.

"I wonder if we can share that, because I've never heard of it," said Wang, remembering her reaction. "This is a chance to learn something new and make something new and have exposure into this particular culture."

For Nguyen and Wang, the project is not only about sharing recipes. It's also about sharing their personal stories.

In her introduction for her cassava cake recipe, Nguyen recreated the experience of walking down the stairs at 10 years old to see her mom pulling the cake out of the oven.

Wang shared a recipe for golden beef soup, which her mom always makes for her when she goes home because she likes it so much. The recipe is her mom's take on the dish, a variation from traditional preparations.

These variations are part of what makes the cookbook unique.

"There are a lot of ways you can cook one dish," said Nguyen "And I feel like you can learn a lot about who a person is and their cultural background based on how they cook a specific dish. There's no black and white, and I find beauty in that."

Food is an important way to bring people together and break through barriers, said Nguyen. And the cookbook gives her a way to do that for the CID community.