'If only my Cantonese parents weren't so allergic to the word love...' 'A wonderfully
heart-warming memoir from the bottom of the stomach. ' - Xiaolu Guo 'A real and
delightful surprise full of smart thought and deft words - and also very funny.' - Ella
Risbridger 'Poetic delicious and full of moments of grace and beauty.' - Nikesh Shukla
What is the most unsayable thing you have ever wanted to say to your parents? For newly single
food journalist Candice Chung there's been one thing on her mind lately: 'If anything happens
I love you.' Simple. Reasonable. If only her estranged Cantonese parents weren't so allergic to
the word 'love'. Still she's determined to tackle what's left unsaid. To find a way to
unscramble what her family has been trying to tell each other all along - not in Cantonese or
English but with food. As Candice dives into the rituals of family dining and her
parents offer to join her at restaurants she's due to review she begins to unravel how a
decade of silence and distance have shaped their relationship. Through shared meals and
culinary adventures - from steaming hotpots to pasta at uncomfortably romantic trattorias -
they begin to confront the unspoken. And to unpick what it means to show care when you come
from a culture where saying 'I love you' isn't the norm. Set against the backdrop of a
burgeoning new relationship grasped-at date nights mid-pandemic and an uncertain future across
seas Candice reflects on migration solitude and intimacy. How can we rebuild closeness
when we've drifted apart? Can food fill the gaps where words fail? For anyone who
has ever found their loved ones' emotional worlds unreachable Chinese Parents Don't Say I Love
You is packed with heart humour and those bright-hearted moments around a dinner table that
bring us together. The next word-of-mouth obsession for readers of Crying in H Mart by
Michelle Zauner Butter by Asako Yuzuki and I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by
Baek Sehee. __ 'Tenderly shows how food steps up to provide the emotional support
comfort and safety that humans need when words cannot.' - Hetty Lui McKinnon 'Will
undo anyone whose love language is food.' - Tara Wigley co-author of Ottolenghi SIMPLE
