Taiwan sojourn

A Chinese-American foodie explores the culinary richness of her mother's home and presents it to US readers in a new book, Mike Peters reports

Cathy Ervay's semi-memoir about the foods of her heritage is such a luminous homage to the cuisine of Taiwan, it's surprising to learn that it came about almost by accident.

Her mother was born and raised on the island, but the cookbook author and food blogger herself grew up in America, and spent the spring of 2004 in Taipei when a teach-study scholarship there was offered to her by pure chance.