CELEBRATING LUNAR NEW YEAR WITH THE WOKS OF LIFE

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 1, 2023
6pm to 7pm et (3pm to 4pm pt)

Join The Woks of Life, parents Judy and Bill Leung and sisters Sarah and Kaitlin Leung, for a discussion about their recipes for success and stories and traditions around Lunar New Year.

The Leungs will gather around the kitchen table to talk about the blog they started in 2013, The Woks of Life, which garners more than 7 million views a month and their New York Times best-selling cookbook, The Woks of Life: Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family (published on November 1, 2022). They will share recipes, their varied perspectives, and how their lives blend together as they document their family’s story through food. In conversation with the family will be David Uy, the Chinese American Museum DC’s executive director.

About The Woks of Life
Bill, Judy, Sarah, and Kaitlin Leung are the creators of The Woks of Life. Founded in 2013, The Woks of Life began as a quest to document one family’s history through food and has become the most popular online resource for Chinese cooking in English, recording generations of recipes for millions of home cooks. Parents Bill and Judy, older sister Sarah, and Kaitlin are the authors of The New York Times and USA Today bestselling cookbook, The Woks of Life: Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family. They have been featured on PBS, the Food Network (digital), Magnolia Network, and Good Morning America (digital), as well as The New York Times, Eater, and many other publications. Bon Appetit has profiled the Leung family, stating “The Woks of Life is shaping Chinese home cooking in America.” They live in New Jersey where they work on the blog full time and continue their eternal debate over what’s for dinner. 

More about the Leungs story 
About 10 years ago, the Leung family was at a pivotal point in their lives and careers. In 2012, Sarah graduated with a degree in media studies from Vassar College in upstate New York, and job prospects were slim. Kaitlin was studying communications and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Bill and Judy had relocated from New Jersey to Beijing, where Bill had been tasked with creating a new software engineering team for Nokia. Sarah had been working in Beijing at internships and non-profits and found herself back home alone, wondering what was next. Before long, Sarah, along with the rest of the family, decided to start posting recipes to The Woks of Life. They started with family favorites like pan-fried noodles and roast chicken stuffed with sticky rice, expanding from there to bring the family together in new ways and create countless recipes for Chinese food lovers everywhere to recreate beloved flavors at home. 

The Leungs had always had an interest in food, with Bill coming from a long line of restaurant chefs and growing up working in Chinese restaurant kitchens, one of which was owned by his parents. Judy had her own high standards in the kitchen, treasuring the flavors of her childhood in Shanghai even after coming to America. It’s no surprise their daughters Sarah and Kaitlin also had a love for food, often watching the cooking shows like the original Iron Chef and the British cooking program Two Fat Ladies and experimenting in the kitchen. 

The Woks of Life cookbook is their joint family endeavor. Editorial reviews for it include:

“For years, Bill, Judy, Sarah, and Kaitlin have been my go-to source for recipes and techniques that have roots firmly planted in Chinese tradition but with a uniquely American experience and voice. Their intergenerational approach makes The Woks of Life unique in its ability to inspire and educate, with an eye toward practicality and usefulness. This is a very special book.”—J. Kenji López-Alt, author of The Food Lab and The Wok

“For years, home cooks have turned to food blog The Woks of Life as a trusted source of Chinese and Chinese-American recipes and cooking tips….here, just as they do online, the Leungs dive thoroughly into all the essential techniques, must-have tools and pantry staples that you’ll need.”—Vetted by Forbes

“The Leung family shares their favorite restaurant-worthy, family-friendly, and forward-thinking Chinese recipes, plus tips on how to approach essential cooking tools and pantry items with confidence.”—Epicurious

In 2022, Bill and Judy purchased a sprawling farm with plans to use the property’s historic barn to build a kitchen studio for filming recipes, and Sarah now works full-time on the blog.

Our many thanks to AARP Maryland for sponsorship of this program.