A fascinating title for the anniversary of the establishment of the National Park Service, told through food and perseverance. A brief look at the discrimination Tie Sing may have faced appears at the beginning of the story, with a more detailed description of the racist policies of the U.S. in the back. The bulk of the story, however, focuses on Tie Sing's skill as a chef and mountaineering event planning skills.

This was an incredibly interesting story. I loved learning about this American! He made a significant contribution to our country. His story, though not well known, is just as remarkable as any other. I hope to see more stories like this in the future. America has a colorful tapestry of people; it's about time that we get to learn about the contribution and influence of other groups of people. Bravo!

Rating: 5/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: All
Status: NF, H, B
Source: NetGalley

A really interesting story about the start of the National Park Service, and the (previously) unrecognized man who had the brunt of the work in impressing that people who made that happen with his ability to cook gourmet meals on camping trips. The illustrations are really nice, though they hardly ever show any of his menu items (which might be a weird complaint, but this is kind of what the story is about..), but the descriptions of the food alone will be sure to leave you hungry!

Well now I’m hungry. Master of logistics and improvisation and camp cooking, this is a great bit of history.

One-stop aspirational shopping. What have we got?

- True story
- Set in the Sierra Nevada (OUTDOORS)
- About an American-born Chinese man who didn't want to work in a laundry and instead found his niche as a resourceful trail cook renowned for his gourmet meals (AMERICAN DREAM)
- And was recruited to cook for a two-week horseback camping trip (RIDE, SALLY RIDE)
- Which was organized by tycoon Stephen Mather in order to convince influential men, including one U.S. Congressman and the head of the National Geographic Society to lobby for a National Park Service (WORKED)
- Told in vibrant watercolors that highlight the purple mountains majesty, the dark pines, and the rich umbers of horses and camp equipment (GORGEOUS)
- Augmented by vivid descriptions of sizzling steaks, apple pie, and sourdough biscuits served on fine china and a heavy linen tablecloth under starry skies after a day of riding. (MARTHA STEWART EAT YOUR HEART OUT)

VERDICT: Let me ride through the wide-open country that I love - DON'T FENCE ME IN
#bookaday

In this day, I think it's really important we learn about everyone who has had a hand in making the United States what it is today. And that includes a diverse group of people.
I really enjoyed this story about someone I had never heard of before and what he did to help the history of our National Parks Service.

I am sorry to say I don't know much history about the founding of the National Park system of the United States. I also don't know a lot of history of the Chinese and Chinese-Americans in the United States other than that they were marginalized, discriminated against and made into non-citizens. So reading about Tie Sing and how he cooked for the people who ended up founding the National Parks Service was a delight.

I had no idea that this man existed, and that the author found about about him by reading sources that mentioned him. There are photos of the party of men who went out to see what would become Yosemite, but not much more information about Tie Sing than what they wrote about him in passing.

The information in the back of the book is interesting to read as well, where the author explains how she did the research. The only thing I wondered about, and wished there was more information on was what other things he fed the men when all the rations that he brought with him were gone.

Good, easy to read book about Chinese-American, California and United States history.

Thanks to NetGalley for making this book available for an honest review.

What an interesting story! And the watercolor and charcoal artwork is lovely.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, and I'm hoping the publisher changes the difficult to read font to something larger and simpler before the book is published.

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.