“Lucky for me, Taipei was in the midst of transforming itself into a food lover’s paradise at the exact time I appeared on the scene.” So begins Carolyn Phillips’s journey as a language student in 1970s Taiwan that culminated with her becoming a traditional Chinese family’s eldest daughter-in-law.

Through beguiling stories that stretch across four decades, she recalls how she fell in love with a man who seduced her with everything from simple homely meals to haute cuisine, from crabs stir-fried with clouds of scrambled eggs to lush braises that enticed and bewildered. As their relationship deepened and her language skills grew, she evolved into a cook who wrestled a pig’s head into dinner, learned Hakka dishes from her reticent father-in-law and wrote an award-winning cookbook. At the Chinese Table is a culinary adventure studded with stunning line drawings and twenty-two recipes that celebrate a lifetime filled with extraordinary meals.