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At age thirty-five, her thirteen-year relationship ended and food journalist Candice Chung found herself without not only her first love, but her most reliable restaurant review partner. When her retired Cantonese parents offered to be her new plus-ones, she faced a dilemma: was it better to eat together in polite silence, or to try saying the unsayable--to broach how, for the past decade, they had managed to drift so profoundly apart?Soon, a geographer enters her life, and the course of their relationship forces Chung to address what's still left unsaid to her parents. To do so, she must find a new vocabulary--a way to unscramble what her family has been trying to express all along. Not through words, but with food.

FT – THE BEST SUMMER BOOKS OF 2025‘If only my Cantonese parents weren’t so allergic to the word love…’‘A wonderfully heartwarming memoir with lots of foodie insights.’ Rachel Khoo‘A real and delightful surprise – and also very funny.’ Ella Risbridger__What is the most unsayable thing you have ever wanted to say to your parents? For newly single food journalist Candice Chung, there’s been one thing on her mind lately: she has never told them, ‘I love you.’ Simple. Reasonable. If only her estranged Cantonese parents weren’t so allergic to the word ‘love’.With a 13-year relationship coming to an end, Candice Chung finds herself losing not only her first love but also her most reliable restaurant review partner. And so when her parents offer to be her new plus-ones, she faces a dilemma: is it better to eat together in polite silence or to try to broach how, for the past decade, they’ve managed to drift so profoundly apart?Through shared meals and culinary adventures, Candice and her parent