Eat Bitter: A Story About Guts, and Food

One of the Must-Read Books To Have On Your Radar in 2026—Service95

From a dazzling new writer, a stirring memoir rooted in Hakka culture about the lesson to accept both bitterness and sweetness in life

Eat bitter is a Chinese proverb meaning ‘endure hardship to taste sweetness.' For Lydia Pang, it embodies the struggles of her Hakka ancestors, a Chinese ethnic group subjected to forced migrations whose ingenuity produced a distinct food culture based on fermenting and foraging. Pang reimagines eating bitter as a philosophy to confront her own challenges: burning out, testing her marriage, navigating fertility struggles and caring for a parent. Through eight recipes, she shares food as memory and medicine: the silly egg noodles her father cooked when her sister was ill, the bone broth she boiled in New York while homesick and courgettes grown in rural Wales as a gesture of reconnection.

Comprising the satire and darkness of Netflix's Beef, the tender insight of Crying in H Mart, and the distinct magic of Ella Risbridger's Midnight Chicken, Eat Bitter is a very special book from a brilliant new voice and creative talent.

"Bold, honest and utterly relatable take on food, family, and getting through life’s tough spots … Lydia shows how food can be medicine, memory and a lifeline all at once. It’s perfect for anyone who loves family stories, a bit of wisdom and a healthy dose of real-life grit—plus some seriously good recipes." - Service95

"Touching, absorbing and unflinching, Eat Bitter is a testament to perseverance and grit through food. Lydia’s writing is a marvel, like excavating beauty in the messy richness of bone marrow, gnawing on chicken feet cartilage, and watching a pot of slow-simmering soup patiently. This book shows you how to stomach life’s sh*t, celebrate the ugly, and keep going." - Angela Hui, author of Takeaway: Stories from a Child Behind the Counter

"Radiator Char Siu. Wishbone Tuna. Scruffy Sacred Salad. What Lydia Pang fearlessly captures in Eat Bitter is a glimpse into the life of a creative. Nurturing and brave, her story inspires and her recipes warm." - Danny Bowien, James Beard Award-winning chef

"A beautiful book about family and food ... potent, honest, and unapologetic … I wolfed it down." - Emma Gannon, bestselling author of Table for One