Ever-Green Vietnamese Pre-order Perks Alert

+ Canadian Viet Women + Smithsonian Events + Gochujang

I love alliterations. If I added a third P to the title of this post, it would have been promotion. Book promotion has changed a lot over the years. My first cookbook published in 2006, when there were clipping services and I’d get media mentions mailed to me. That experience makes me a bit of a publishing dinosaur but food culture, technology, and making interesting cookbooks keeps me youngish.

It used to be — and I’m only talking about 2019(!), that folks placed pre-orders for books months ahead of release. The pandemic filled life with uncertainties but one thing we can be sure of is that vendors, from big and small, will amazingly deliver our purchases quickly.

All that said, many people have already pre-ordered Ever-Green Vietnamese. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Your pre-orders validate interest in Vietnamese flavors, book making, and my work. This cookbook project began in late 2019 so it’s been a hella long journey!

For anyone who pre-orders before April 25 (when EGV publishes), you get special access to a bonus pack of content plus a free livestream cooking class with me!

Pre-order Perks FAQ

What’s in the digital bonus pack? The download provides early access to a key section about ingredients, a handful of recipes from the book, plus extra recipes that I simply couldn’t fit into the book. The bonus pack is available after you submit your pre-order information.

The book releases on 4/25, why is the class on 5/18? I’d love for you to get the book into your hands, live and cook with it for a bit, then bring your thoughts and questions to the May virtual event. A few days ahead, I’ll email everyone with the Zoom link and with the recipe so you may shop and prep for it, if you like. We’ll have a fun cook along! You can attend from anywhere in the world!

Where do I buy EGV? Anywhere. Consider supporting a local bookstore, cookbook bookshop, or Asian American bookstore. I have events scheduled with most of these bookstores (there are other events so check the full schedule).

Cookbook shops: Omnivore Books (San Francisco, 4/25), Kitchen Arts and Letters (NYC, 5/6), Book Larder (Seattle, 5/23), Bold Fork Books (Washington, DC, 4/30, Smithsonian), Now Serving LA (Los Angeles, 6/18)

Asian American bookstores: East Wind Books (Berkeley, 5/13, CAAMFest), Yu and Me Books (NYC)

Outside of the U.S., Eslite in Taiwan maintains amazing cookbook selections. Kinokuniya in many Asian countries keeps a strong English-language cookbook section. I’ve heard that Kobo is good for purchasing ebooks internationally.

If online retailers are for you, Ever-Green Vietnamese is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Walmart and many others—wherever books are sold!

What if I get your book through a ticketed in-person event? If you purchase a ticket to one of my in-person events, such as the ones in New York City, you're eligible for the perks too!

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Ready for your perks? Submit your order info here or click on the image below.

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Wait a second. What is Ever-Green Vietnamese?

It’s my new plant-forward, flexible cookbook. It’s built for anyone who wants to prepare and eat healthy, creative, delicious food. EGV is a mostly (not totally) vegetarian book that speaks to the enduring values of Vietnamese cuisine, which features vegetables with seafood and meat in supporting roles. That evergreen notion also facilitates sustainability, hence the title Ever-Green Vietnamese!

The book is loaded with tips. As you cook through it, check recipe Notes, text boxes, and green text bursts in the margins (see the sample below).

What kind of recipes are there? Lots of creative, fun, recipes to spotlight vegetables—Việt style! A small sampling of what’s in store:

• pantry recipes: vegan fish sauce(!), chile sauces, pickles

• fun snacks: smokey nori wontons, steamed veggie bao

• iconic classics: vegan takes on 3 regional noodle soups, a banh mi chapter(!), oven-fried imperial rolls, sweet potato and shrimp fritters

• modern street foods: grilled rice paper "pizzas", crunchy spicy garlic bread

• easy sweets: no-churn jackfruit lime sorbet, coconut-coffee pops

Are the 125+ recipes and variations tested? Yes. Multiple times by me before volunteer recipe testers tackled them, and occasionally raked me over the coals.

How many recipes are vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, or gluten-free? Most of us are cooking for folks with varying dietary needs and preferences. I hope vegetarians and vegans will find delicious new ideas to present to their omnivore or flexitarian family and friends—and vice versa! Numbers to consider:

• Vegetarian recipes comprise 80 to 85 percent of the book. That's over 100 vegetarian recipes out of the 125+ recipes and variations.

• Most of the vegetarian recipes are vegan, but not all because because there is no silver bullet egg replacer. If you use an egg replacer with those recipes and like the results, please share your findings with me!

• Dairy-free options are included.

• Most recipes are gluten free, but certain ones, like the yeast-leavened steamed and baked bao, couldn’t be produce with gluten-free flour. (I know my limits.)

If a recipe isn't vegetarian or vegan, and you sense potential wiggle room, check recipe Notes. That's where I may tuck ideas for you!

For more information, you can:

• look at the Ever-Green Vietnamese advance copy

• peruse an expanded book preview and early reviews at my website

• cook a sample recipe posted at Burlap & Barrel (a spice company that’s generously offered to help spread the word about the book)

• check out a recent review by Cathy Erway at FoodPrint.org and comments by Amelia Shwartz at Food & Wine

4 Final Things

4/15 Empower Phụ Nữ Collective Event (Free, virtual): Join me and this Canada-based Vietnamese arts organization to discuss cuisine and culture. You don’t have to be Viet to attend! Phụ nữ means women in Vietnamese.

4/30 Ever-Green Vietnamese X Smithsonian Associates (ticketed, in-person): My first book event in Washington, D.C., with Washington Post editor Joe Yonan and Beard-nominated chef Kevin Tien! I’m honored because it’s the nation’s capital and there’s a strong Vietnamese community there. The Smithsonian selected the event for the program cover book! Join us!

Gochujang is Not a Sauce (NYT, free gift link): One of my favorite modern food writers, Eric Kim, sets the record straight on what gochujang is and what it isn’t. Take a read of this article to learn about gamchil mat and get ideas for how to creatively use the pivotal ingredient. (If you’ve known me for a bit, I’ve mentioned Eric and his remarkable recipes for Korean-American crunchy soy sauce fried chicken, spicy, salty, sweet fruit salad and much much more!)

And please don’t forget . . .