Stephanie Yuen, born in Hong Kong and a Vancouver resident for over 30 years, started as a journalist for Sing Tao (Vancouver’s Chinese newspaper) before developing a career as a freelance food journalist. She speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, and English.
Stephanie later served as a food columnist for CBC Radio 1, and currently writes for both Edible Canada and What’s On Magazine. She also contributes to the Vancouver Sun and makes frequent appearances on both radio and local television programs such as Fanny Kiefer’s Studio 4. You can follow her Asian food adventures at Beyond Chopsticks.
Stephanie co-founded the Vancouver Chinese Restaurant Awards and coordinated the visit that led Condé Nast Traveler writer Mark Schatzker to proclaim, “I’ve eaten Chinese food all over North America and in China, and the best I’ve eaten in the world was in Vancouver. Hands down.”
I had the pleasure of spending time with Stephanie on a recent media trip to the Okanagan Valley. And our chats led to discussing her recent book, East Meets West. This well-designed book includes a guide to Asian ingredients, serving and cooking tips, plus 88 recipes showcasing traditional foods from China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and India.
Modern classics prepared with Pacific Northwest Coast ingredients can also found in the book, recipes perfect for contemporary dinners. These distinctive dishes are culled from the best of the Lower Mainland’s Asian eateries.
Leafing through the book, I’ve been discovering a wealth of information about our city’s neighbourhood food shops, chefs, and flavours. This book is a true labour of love!
I’ve been sent a copy of East Meets West to give away to one lucky Vancouver food lover. For your chance to win, either:
1) Follow @arianecdesign and tweet the following: “I’ve entered to win a copy of East Meets West via @arianecdesign and Stephanie Yuen.”
2) Post a comment below mentioning your favourite Asian restaurant in either Vancouver or the Lower Mainland
I’ll draw a winner from all entries at random on June 8 at 5 pm.
*UPDATE: Congrats to KC, whose name was drawn at random this afternoon.
East Meets West is published by Douglas & McIntyre and is available via Amazon.ca, Indigo.ca or locally at Barbara Jo’s Books to Cooks, MEC, Kidsbooks, Cookworks, Banyen Books, Vancouver Art Gallery Shop, People’s Co-op Bookstore and others.
