Have You Eaten?

In Taiwan, people commonly greet each other by asking, “ have you eaten already?” I grew up on meal-time stories of Chinese famines and children eating bark. These stories are inscribed with beet juice on a dough-soaked burlap “scroll”.

I collected the bread discarded from a local restaurant each day of the week.

Dad was a chemist who measured everything with great precision; Mom cooks by intuition and never reads labels. Their recipes for manto, Chinese steamed bread, reflect their approach to life.

I steamed and served up manto to visitors; we broke bread together and shared stories of favorite recipes, family traditions and family feuds.