Lessons In Fusion

by Primrose Madayag Knazan

Overview

WINNER, McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award

FINALIST, MYRCA Northern Lights Award

FINALIST, SYRCA Willow Award

Sixteen-year-old Sarah (it's pronounced SAH-rah, thank you) has a successful blog creating fusion recipes. When Sarah is invited to compete on Cyber Chef, a virtual cooking competition that soars in popularity at the height of the pandemic, her twists on her Baba's recipes are not enough to pique the palate of the show's producers. She is pushed to present dishes that represent her Filipinx culture, but these flavours are foreign to her since her parents raised her emphatically Jewish.

To survive Cyber Chef and find her cultural identity, Sarah must discover why her mother turned her back on all things Filipinx, and learn the true meaning of fusion.

"Lessons in Fusion is very modern and includes social media as well as the difficulties of life during a pandemic, yet it is also the timeless story of one young woman who is coming of age as she discovers her familial roots and the much bigger story of the need for diversity and cultural acceptance in all facets of life." - CM Magazine

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781773370699
Publisher:	Great Plains Publications
Publication date:	10/01/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	3 Years

About the Author

Primrose Madayag Knazan writes from a distinctly Filipinx-Canadian, Jewish, and woman's perspective. Her plays have been produced by the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, and Sarasvati Productions and published in the anthologies Breakout: An Anthology of Emerging Manitoban Playwrights, Beyond the Pale, and Generation NeXXt. Primrose is also a food writer for the Filipino Journal and a social media influencer and brand ambassador promoting Manitoba restaurants and artisan products as @pegonaplate on Instagram. She is the mother of two FilipinxJewish boys.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a beautiful story that highlights family, traditions, identity and the strength one girl finds to rise above everyone else’s expectations – all while making us hungry for snacks like Furikake Popcorn and White Chocolate Chai Almond Butter Cookies!” —Sidura Ludwig, author of You Are Not What We Expected

From the Publisher

11/01/2021

Gr 7 Up—Sarah Dayan-Abed is a 16-year-old multiracial, Ashkenazi Jewish and Filipinx teen who loves cooking, writing for her fusion cooking blog, and watching her favorite reality show, Cyber Chef, created during the pandemic. Cyber Chef has virtual contestants create recipes that must be easily reproduced by judges. When an opportunity to star in Cyber Chef: Next Gen arises, Sarah jumps at it, thinking about all of the recipes she created with her Jewish paternal grandmother, Baba. However, it becomes clear that the show is in search of someone Filipinx. Sarah identifies more with her Jewish heritage, so her backstory is rewritten to fit the program's demographic desire. Her blog is suddenly filled with Filipinx recipes she has only recently learned, her name is constantly mispronounced on the show (Seh-rah instead of Sah-rah), and her memories of cooking with Baba are attributed to Lola, her maternal grandmother, whom she doesn't know well. The book superbly tackles issues of identity, both in the ways we see ourselves and the ways the world perceives us. Though this is Sarah's story, an array of character perspectives dive deeper into issues of diversity, culture, family, and identity. Some sections feel unnecessary, confusing, and take away from the main story, but others, like Sarah's mother's, give fuller insight into Sarah's cultural and racial identity formation. Each chapter opens with a detailed recipe that ties into what is ahead. Taking place during the pandemic, with references to mask wearing, social distancing, and Zoom, this book feels highly relevant. VERDICT Highlighting family, food, multiracial identities, and cultural competency, this book is recommended for general collections.—Kristyn Dorfman, Friends Academy, Locust Valley, NY

School Library Journal

2021-08-16
A cooking competition show gets Sarah to more fully explore her cultural heritage.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Dayan-Abad is a Winnipeg girl of Ashkenazi Jewish and Filipinx descent. She attends a Hebrew immersion school and maintains a fusion cooking blog, highlighting the Jewish recipes her late Baba taught her. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Cyber Chef, a virtual cooking show for food bloggers, has become one of her favorites, inspiring her own cooking. When Sarah is offered the chance to be a last-minute sub on the show, she is told she needs to present more Filipinx recipes on her blog, forcing her to quickly dive into her mother’s Filipinx culture. As she learns more, she confronts her mother about abandoning her Filipinx heritage. Looking within herself and at her family’s histories, Sarah must learn the true meaning of fusion if she hopes to get far in the competition. The central theme in the book around discovering and accepting your own racial and cultural identities—while recognizing that other people’s perceptions may be very different and not reflect the whole story—is presented very well. The novel also depicts problematic ways that race, diversity, and equity are handled in a predominately White society, especially within the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, the writing feels scattered, with many changing viewpoints, locations, and times. Each chapter opens with a fusion recipe from Sarah’s blog, spotlighting Filipinx and Jewish cuisines.

A solid fusion of food, heritage, and social issues. (Fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews