Through Frost & Cupboards is a a self-written publication that is part cookbook and part dedicated-love-letter to my late grandmother that explores the role of food and the Asian American diaspora.

Project Type: Publication, Layout Design

Duration: Winter 2024 - 6 Weeks

Tools: InDesign, Photoshop

WHAT YOU'LL FIND RUMMAGING THIS CUPBOARD

Through Frost & Cupboards features 48 spreads and 5 different chapters that explore a facet of cultural identity, food. In between this dialogue, recipes from my own grandmother’s notebooks and familial testimonies are scattered across the publication to create a holistic insight into a greater conversation.

PERSONAL NARRATIVES FROM HOME

Throughout the book, there are page inserts that showcase the original recipes that were written in various notebooks over a span of 30 years. When opened, a short personal story related to that particular recipe is revealed.

COLOR WAYS:

The book focuses on the colors blue & yellow. Yellow in Vietnamese culture is known to stimulate memories and reflect prosperity while the blue is a call to feelings of serenity as readers are encouraged to reflect about their own heritage throughout the book as well.

BINDING:

Spiral-bind was eventually chosen as it kept the book flat,
helpful for viewing the recipes but also to call back to the many spiral notebooks my grandmother wrote in herself. Off-white paper was chosen to call back toward’s how my grandmother’s notebooks have yellowed overtime, but to also give it a more friendly or inviting tone with its warmer hues.

Spiral-bind was eventually chosen as it kept the book flat, helpful for viewing the recipes but also to call back to the many spiral notebooks my grandmother wrote in herself. Off-white paper was chosen to call back toward’s how my grandmother’s notebooks have yellowed overtime, but to also give it a more friendly or inviting tone with its warmer hues.

CLOSING THE CUPBOARD:

I chose this name because my grandmother’s name, Suong, literally means “Frost.” I also felt like it was fitting as a large portion of helping my grandma “cook” whenever I got to was mostly just little me getting ingredients around the kitchen from the fridge, cupboard, and the “other fridge/freezer” in the garage (hence again, frost). Not only that but through this process of curating this book I feel like I have learned more about my grandmother with her daily life notes and chicken scratch scattered across her dozens of notebooks.

This is a dedication to her, and the firery passion for food she singlehandedly created and left in my whole family.