Kim Fay

Shelf Awareness, July 27, 2010

“Cool Idea of the Day” – The Communion book launch party was selected as the Shelf Awareness “Cool Idea of the Day” for inviting the Mandoline Grill food truck to serve Vietnamese cuisine outside Traveler's Bookcase after the reading and Q&A.

Click here to go to the "cool idea" on Shelf Awareness.

Click here to read about the book launch on my blog, Serve It Forth.

Click here to read about the book launch at Mondette.

The Morning News, July 23, 2010

"... engrossing ..."

Click here to go to the full review at The Morning News.

Chopstick Cinema/​ThingsAsian.com, July 16, 2010

"To read Communion is to experience Vietnam in all its dimensions. Communion is at once a lesson in history, anthropology, sociology, economics, psychology, and gastronomy, taught with humor and pathos."

Click here to go to the full review on ThingsAsian.com.

Click here to read more about Communion at Chopstick Cinema.

Click here to read more about reviewer Celeste Heiter's experience cooking Chef Huong's Dalat Ragu from Communion.

Rambling Spoon (rated one of the world's top 50 food blogs by the London's The Times), June 16, 2010

“'I thought about how much better food tastes when it fits into a narrative.' With this, Kim captures the nugget of great food writing. Ingredients are important—yes—but context is so much more so. … Communion doesn’t simply tell us what Kim thought about the crispy fried eggplant she ate in Hoi An. Instead, it guides us through the life of Miss Vy, the restaurateur and instructor who opened her history to Kim. By the time we reach the recipe for that eggplant, 'as delicate and flavorful as Miss Vy,' … I am all the hungrier for her food. I’m reminded of Paul Theroux, who wrote years ago about how Conrad, Hemingway and the other greats 'had not done Africa justice.' Their writings 'ignored Africans or else made them insubstantial figures in a landscape.' They wrote of Africa without any Africans. I see the same today in writings on Asia. I see it in the travelers themselves … Just traveling--with iPods in the ears and eyes cast inward (or hidden behind tiny digital cameras). I don’t want to know about their fave banana pancakes or their perception of Saigon’s best noodles--not unless their opinions reflect something more than themselves. Tell me, instead, about the woman serving those awesome noodles and how she came to be behind a steaming wok on the street. Tell me her history and ideas. Tell me how her noodles fit--or don’t--into the texture of modern-day Asia. Of course, no writer succeeds at this all the time--but it is what I strive to do. And it is what Kim Fay has done in Communion."

Click here to go to the full review on Rambling Spoon website.

Asia by the Book, May 20, 2010

"Kim Fay is adept at illuminating a country through the food that it prepares. Her love for Vietnam is obvious and her skill at describing who she meets, what she sees, and what she tastes as she travels from one end of the country to another makes her readers love it as well … She has infused the art of eating in Vietnam with its history, its culture, and more than a few damned good stories … The result is a wonderful mixture of travel memoir, food literature, and cultural history, served up with a generous helping of humor and a number of tantalizing recipes."

Click here to go to the full review on the Asia by the Book website.

Library Journal, March 1, 2010

"In Communion, Fay takes readers on a more personal culinary journey. There are a handful of recipes, but the focus is on her delicious prose, which will leave the reader yearning for an authentic taste of Vietnam. The emphasis is on not only food but also the political climate and how that has affected agriculture throughout the country. Fay's nostalgia and adoration for Vietnam is apparent in her dedication to meet a wide variety of Vietnam's notable culinary experts, chefs, horticulturalists, and farmers. VERDICT: Communion is recommended for those wanting to dip ... into the freshness and diversity that is Vietnamese food."

Click here to go to the review on the Library Journal website.

Forthcoming reviews:

The Courier-Journal (Louisville) --- Confirmed review: August 2010

Gastronomica --- Confirmed review: date to come.

KCRW's Good Food --- Confirmed interview: date to come

NBC Los Angeles Feast --- Confirmed interview: date to come

Zester Daily --- Confirmed review: date to come

Travel in 10 --- Confirmed podcast review: date to come

Eating Asia --- Confirmed review: August 2010

Just for Fun

While not a review, this blog post made my day. It is the response from one of the winners of the Communion book giveaway on GoodReads. It is the reason I love being a reader and a writer.