Can food be the catalyst for accepting diversity?” asks Sauce Maven founder Natalie Keng, a daughter of Taiwanese immigrants raised in Atlanta, in the introduction to her chatty debut.

With these creative recipes, Keng gleefully mixes cuisines and high and low culture: an elegant recipe for a whole fish fit for a banquet is followed by instructions for frozen fish sticks atop congee. The fusion is clever: egg rolls contain collards, bacon, and cellophane noodles, while bao buns are stuffed with pulled pork. 

Keng also has an eye for color: “snushi rolls” (a portmanteau of snack and sushi) incorporate crushed potato chips, cheese curls, pork rinds, and purple rice; dumpling wrappers are dyed vibrant pink with the cooking water from beets. Keng’s parents play supporting roles in life and on the page: she relates how her mother cracks jokes and wields a fast-moving cleaver before sharing her recipe for spaghetti with ginger, garlic, and scallions.

A recipe for her father’s spiced boiled peanuts, meanwhile, serves four—or one “if Mom gets a hold of ’em.” This playful collection answers its opening query in the affirmative, and has fun along the way.