Has anyone read the book Hong Kong Food Culture? I am considering buying it but I am curious how in depth it may be, especially for an audience who already have a baseline familiarity of the food culture there.
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Depends what you want from the book. Just from the pages shown in amazon, looks good as a coffee table book, beautiful photos, educational for people who doesn’t know anything on the place or a good book to show to young kids who show interest, or a book as a point to start conversation. But me, I found the information a bit basic and too general. You are in HK right? Can you not find some Chinese books with more detailed information?
Flipping through the book:
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I just caved in and bought it during amazon’s uh… prime day sale even though there was no discount on that book. Felt like I had to buy something… lol
I know that feeling! LOL, please report back after receiving the book.
Will do!
Looks fairly interesting and a little more elaborate on the details. I have some books where they kinda give less than a paragraph (well maybe sentence) regarding some ingredients so hopefully more info in English. I can’t quite say my Chinese reading comprehension is all that great…
Well I got the book, but I honestly am starting to despise OnTrac.
Top corner of one of the boxes was dented, and sadly, the book was right at that corner.
Binding of the book doesn’t seem too great, but whatever delivery happenstance occurred, the inside portion of the thing just started tearing. 
Oh well, amazon is able to refund it, and I’ll be purchasing another copy. My brief reads on the first few pages of this book is off to a good start though. I’ll keep this topic updated.
Sorry to hear that, especially when shipping destroys heavy books. Too many times that happened. Sometimes, I prefer to get those books from stores.
Good to know.
Sadly, the book really is only for sale through amazon according to the publisher’s website (I mean… I could fly to HK I guess… but not sure how much that would increase the price… lol).
In any case, received my second copy and well… the cover’s a little tweaked but eh at this point, I’ll call it a day. I do have a second copy I can sell for like half off if anyone wants one (preferably shipping in the USA). This copy does have a slightly damaged inner cover though (I can post pics if anyone cares)
Overall I liked the book but I do wish for more details on the topics. I like to think it was akin to the HK cuisine wikipedia page but with a few light interviews with restaurateurs, grocers, and producers. There are a few recipes in the book, but this is definitely not a cookbook in that sense (and aptly titled more on the culture of the cuisine).
I think its a nice read if you’re not familiar with HK and Cantonese cuisine in general. There are some nice parts such as common ingredients used (I realized I keep calling them almonds in Chinese soups but they’re apricot kernels whoops)
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