

THE BENEDICTINE SISTERS OF PEKING
The Benedictine Sisters from St. Joseph, Minnesota began their missions to China in 1930; first establishing a school in Beijing and then one in Kaifeng. The war, and then the Communists, forced them to move camp a number of times. Our group ended up in Tokyo and started a cooking school, teaching their now twenty-five years of Chinese food experience. Their book, first published in 1956, went into many reprintings. (Their story, prior to Japan, is well told by Sr. Wibora Mulhenbein, and available here.)

M. KUWATA
If the real M. Kuwata is out there, please say hello. We can’t really nail down a story—or even a gender for M. Kuwata. The illustration throughout The Art of Chinese Cooking is possibly the most compelling reason to find a copy of the book today. Kuwata seems to have worked for the Chares E. Tuttle publishing company in the '50s. Other works with artwork worth checking out are In a Persian Kitchen, Rice & Spice, The Folk Arts of Japan and Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination.