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Eat Bitter

A Memoir of Food, Family and Resilience

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Eat Bitter

By: Lydia Pang
Narrated by: Lydia Pang
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Brought to you by Penguin.

A beautiful and fearless exploration of food and feelings – with bite – for fans of Crying in H Mart and Midnight Chicken.

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.

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

© Lydia Pang 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Asian Creators Cooking Culinary Cultural & Regional Food & Wine Professionals & Academics
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Critic reviews

'A beautiful book about family and food ... potent, honest, and unapologetic ...I wolfed it down'
'Bold, honest and utterly relatable ...shows how food can be medicine, memory and a lifeline all at once.'
'A riveting nosedive into the blood and guts of food, family and self compassion. Lydia Pang writes with raw passion straight from the heart, leaving us well fed, but still ravenous for more. A beautiful book.'

'What Lydia Pang fearlessly captures in Eat Bitter is a glimpse into the life of a creative.
Nurturing and brave, her story inspires and her recipes warm.'
'Incredible... Pang beautifully explores what’s really important in our lives, while offering recipes that bring solace. You’ll be handing this book out to everyone you know.'
An engaging story
All stars
Most relevant
This is a deeply personal memoir that uses food as a vehicle to explore heritage, home, and family in the girl boss era. Each chapter is written with so much flavour and depth. I feel braver and prouder to have dual heritage upon reading this. It will make you want to call your mum.

Excellent and Brave

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