China Seminar | 10 December 2015

A Chinese Kitchen: What I Learned in Writing a Cookbook about Chinese Food in Hawaii

Lynette Lo Tom

Lynette Lo Tom wrote the fourth cookbook in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s series on ethnic foods in Hawaii. Using dishes from good family cooks; her mother, grandfather and grandmother, she put recipes to their favorite foods. In her research, she compared Hawaii-style food with that in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and specifically in Zhongshan, China. She visited those locations in her quest to find out if there is a unique Chinese-Hawaiian food (the answer is yes). She earned a BS in Journalism with honors from University of Colorado at Boulder, attended graduate school at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and earned an MBA degree from the University of California at Berkeley. She is a graduate of Punahou School. Returning to Hawaii, she worked in radio journalism at KHVH Newsradio 99, was a general assignment editor and then reporter at KGMB – TV. At Hawaii Public Television, she was a reporter and anchor. She also served as public information specialist at GTE Hawaiian Tel and marketing manager at Hawaii Public Radio. Before writing the cookbook, she oversaw 15 employees at Bright Light Marketing, her public relations and marketing company she started 25 years ago.