Tastes Like War: A Memoir

Tastes Like War: A Memoir (2021) is a 2021 National Book Awards finalist and winner of the 2022 Asian/Pacific Award in Literature. The author Grace M. Cho is an associate professor in the Sociology-Anthropology Department at the City University of New York, and her research centers on the experiences of the Korean American diaspora.

Tastes Like War: A Memoir is Cho’s second book and is inspired by Cho’s relationship with Koonja, her Korean-born mother who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Readers have responded enthusiastically to the work, affirming that it sheds light on the previously hidden experiences of a diaspora traumatized by war, colonialism and racism. Cho’s exploration of intergenerational trauma is facilitated by her consideration of food through the lenses of nourishment, relationships, and cultural significance.

This guide references the First Feminist Press Kindle Edition of the book (2021). Please be advised that Tastes Like War contains discussions of racism, sexual violence, self-harm, anti-gay bias, and domestic violence. Throughout this guide instances of racial epithets original to the text have been omitted or replaced.

Plot Summary

Cho’s book begins as an inquiry into the social forces behind her mother Koonja’s schizophrenia diagnosis. Cho rejects the Western medical establishment’s view of the disease as a biological phenomenon.