Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet: Essays and Interviews

This piquant anthology from poet Su (Peach State) probes the intersection of the culinary and the cultural. “Good cookbooks and good poetry collections... accommodate and inspire change as the reader changes,” Su contends in “She, Without Apology,” recounting how studying Italian and visiting Germany changed which recipes stand out to her, while getting married and the death of her grandparents changed which poems stick with her. Elsewhere, Su discusses struggling to cut down on the time she spends cooking so she might write more and concludes that even unproductive periods enhance one’s literary craft: “Writing is a conversation. Sometimes, you talk, other times you listen.” In the standout “Between the Shopping Cart and the Chinese Restaurant,” Su laments that many Chinese eateries don’t ethically source their ingredients, but she still brings her family to such establishments because the food connects her and her children to relatives they’ve never met in China. Su’s soulful reflections call attention to the complex connections between place, cuisine, literature, and taste, and revealing interviews with Su—originally published in Lantern Review and other literary outlets—open a window onto her creative process (“I’m suspicious of any desire on my part to educate, lest the poem turn out didactic, so I go into the process looking for something I need to learn”). This provides much to savor. (Aug.)