The name Michelle Zauner may not sound familiar, but perhaps Japanese Breakfast rings a bell. One of the most celebrated indie musicians out there right now, she has a new album out, and a new book, too. The book, Crying in H Mart is a food memoir, titled after her viral New Yorker piece. The book deals with her mother’s diagnosis of terminal cancer, one that forced her to rethink her identity as it pertains to food, language, and history.
Crying in H Mart
Michelle told me how much she likes food, and how food helped her forge an identity while growing up between two cultures, Korean and American. She told me how her mom always made eating a celebration—how it was a love language. She told me a story about how she was out to dinner with her husband, his best friend, and his fiance, and how they had to ask each other if they liked cilantro. Knowing people’s food preferences, to Michelle, is fundamental. So for her five books, it’s only fitting she decided to recommend five books around food and how it can create a sense of belonging.
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