Eat Bitter

£18.99

‘Eat bitter’ is a Chinese proverb meaning ‘endure hardship to taste sweetness.’ For Lydia Pang, it embodies the struggles of her Hakka ancestors, a persecuted Chinese ethnic group whose ingenuity shaped a food culture rooted in fermenting and foraging. Pang reimagines eating bitter as a philosophy to confront her own challenges: burning out, testing her marriage, navigating fertility struggles and caring for a parent. Through eight recipes, she shares food as memory and medicine: the silly egg noodles her father cooked when her sister was ill, the bone broth she boiled in New York while homesick and courgettes grown in rural Wales as a gesture of reconnection. ‘Eat Bitter’ is a beautiful and fearless exploration of food and feelings, showing readers how to celebrate the ugly and keep going.

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Scheduled for publication on 14th May, 2026
The book will be available on or after this date. If you would like to preorder a copy, we will notify you when it is ready to collect.

SKU: 9781784746308 Category: Tag: Publisher/imprint : Chatto & Windus
Page count : 304
Published on 14th May, 2026

Description

‘Touching, absorbing and unflinching? shows you how to stomach life’s shit, celebrate the ugly, and keep going’ Angela Hui

Eat bitter is a Chinese proverb meaning ‘endure hardship to taste sweetness.’ For Lydia Pang, it embodies the struggles of her Hakka ancestors, a persecuted Chinese ethnic group whose ingenuity shaped a food culture rooted in fermenting and foraging.

Pang reimagines eating bitter as a philosophy to confront her own challenges: burning out, testing her marriage, navigating fertility struggles and caring for a parent. Through eight recipes, she shares food as memory and medicine: the silly egg noodles her father cooked when her sister was ill, the bone broth she boiled in New York while homesick and courgettes grown in rural Wales as a gesture of reconnection.

Eat Bitter is a beautiful and fearless exploration of food and feelings – with bite – for fans of Crying in H Mart, Butter and Midnight Chicken.

Additional information

Weight 0.5 kg
Dimensions 22.2 × 13.8 × 4 cm
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