Panfried whole fish is prepared Taiwanstyle with garlic, ginger and scallions.Pete Lee / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

And what to drink when the meal travels from kitchen to the dinner table?

"I would actually recommend a Western-style lager or light beer for easy drinking while eating with most foods from Taiwan. Taiwan Beer is a good example. For wines, I would gravitate towards a crisp white like riesling or a cool, floral sake or rice wine. I don't enjoy drinking very hard liquors while eating a meal."

Erway is also the author of The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove, and the host of Heritage Radio Network's Eat Your Words.

"I have focused on writing about the everyday habit of home cooking because I felt it was an empowering, healthful and thoughtful activity that has been falling out of habit these days for many people," she says. "In a day when it's all too easy and prevalent to eat out for convenience's sake, we are losing so much in terms of culture, a connection with our environment and food system, physical health, and money, compared to when we cook for ourselves."

Contact the writer at michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn