• My first book, ALL UNDER HEAVEN, was a finalist for the 2017 James Beard Awards in International Cookbooks

• Also in 2017, my prose was nominated for the Beards’ MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award

• AT THE CHINESE TABLE was one of three finalists for the 2023 IACP Cookbook Awards

  • “All Under Heaven is not for the meek… the only other recent cookbook I can think of that parallels Heaven in terms of scope and ambition is Maricel Presilla's masterwork, Gran Cocina Latina…. All Under Heaven is an invaluable resource. And as a work of culinary record, it's a considerable accomplishment.”

    – Epicurious “Is This the Best Chinese Cookbook Ever Written?”

  • “Carolyn Phillips is the brilliance behind Madame Huang’s Kitchen,” and her “long anticipated cookbook, All Under Heaven, is the first book to examine all 35 of the cuisines of China… I forgive Phillips for making us wait so long now that I have seen the genius of her work. Phillips’s heart and soul can be felt in every word. This book is sure to be this year’s best cookbook, I have no doubt."

    — Cookbook Junkies

  • “With All Under Heaven, Carolyn Phillips delivers a remarkable love letter to the infinite variety of Chinese cooking… It is magnificent, and it will make you very, very hungry.”

    — Atlanta Journal-Constitution

  • “The vastness and complexity of the many cuisines of China would be daunting to anyone, yet Carolyn Phillips has produced a monumental work. Scholarly, comprehensive, … seasoned with her own insights of an ancient civilization rediscovering and exploring its own culinary history, this is bound to become a classic.”

    — David Kinch

  • “This has the makings of an all-time classic.”

    — Epicurious

  • “Carolyn Phillips brings a bold new voice to the subject of Chinese cooking. All Under Heaven is the result of a lifetime of passion and fascination with Chinese cuisine.”

    — Grace Young

  • "Phillips… offers a comprehensive and thoughtful examination of Chinese cuisine, providing a wealth of appealing recipes for beginner and advanced cooks... This is a broad and discerning approach to regional Chinese cooking... Buy This Book.”

    — Publishers Weekly

  • “Carolyn Phillips has written one of the best books on Chinese cooking that I’ve ever encountered. This is one of those books that will inspire all of us to get into our kitchens and cook. It is also one of those books that is almost as enthralling as a bestselling thriller. Phillips is a first-rate writer, and has made this a 'must-have' cookbook for inclusion in any respectable recipe collection.”

    — NetGalley Five-Star Review

  • “What a work of art... I have always welcomed any book that expands the horizons of our knowledge of Chinese food; now comes one of the best I have seen in ages. All Under Heaven is not just a mere cookbook—in fact, it may be the most comprehensive work to date on an incredibly complex subject.”

    — Ken Hom

  • “Packed with 300-plus recipes… this unprecedented reference will thrill cooks who want to expand their knowledge and move beyond the mainstays of American Chinese restaurant menus. Those who enjoy the thoroughly researched cookbooks of experts such as Claudia Roden … will appreciate Phillips’s comprehensive treatment, which includes historical information, an extensive ingredient glossary, suggested menus, and useful advice.”

    — Library Journal, Starred Review

  • The Field Guide “is a pocket-size resource featuring 80 hand-drawn illustrations” that ‘is perfect for bringing on-the-go to your next dim sum outing.” And, “It's not often that an individual author has two books in the roundup! In All Under Heaven—the first cookbook in English to examine all 35 cuisines of China—Phillips draws on centuries’ worth of culinary texts, as well as her own years working, eating, and cooking in Taiwan.”

    — Eat Your Books

  • “Carolyn Phillips’s exhaustive study of Chinese food culture is a thing of legend…. Each of the 300 recipes features a detailed headnote, and the author’s... illustrations tell the story visually—in a sort of Wall Street Journal meets Lucky Peach way."

    —Tastebook

    Background: A pastel study of Odilon Redon’s The Buddha (1906 - 1907) by Carolyn Phillips, 1987

A Sampling of Awards and “Best Of” Lists

All Under Heaven (Heaven) and The Dim Sum Field Guide (Field Guide) have— since their publication by McSweeney’s and Ten Speed Press on August 30, 2016—been included on some of the most prominent “best of” lists around, including the most renowned cookbook sellers on the West and East Coasts—Omnivore Books and Kitchen Arts & Letters—as well as:

“The Fall’s Best Cookbooks,” which notes that Heaven “follows the illustrated tradition of books like Shizuo Tsuji’s Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art and Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and therein lies its strength. Ms. Phillips’s simple line drawings cover everything from pulling noodles to removing pig hairs. It’s almost as good as watching over the chef’s shoulder.”

— The New York Times

“Deep Dives: the Biggest New Cookbooks of 2016”: “Perhaps the deepest possible deep dive in this list, All Under Heaven tackles thirty-five of China’s regional cuisines and thousands of years of culinary history. The massive, encyclopedic book will appeal to readers whose cookbook collections function not just as recipe inspiration but reference libraries to the world’s great food traditions. English language cookbooks rarely cover Chinese cuisine with such depth and breadth, making this an especially welcome addition.”

— Eater

“More Than 100 Exceptional Works of Journalism” (2016): “Each year, I keep a running list of exceptional nonfiction that I encounter…. This is my annual attempt to bring roughly 100 of those stories that stood the test of time to a wider audience.”

— The Atlantic

“This fall’s new cookbooks: 27 of our favorites,” which notes that “[Heaven] is as ambitious and comprehensive as it sounds: a compendium of over 300 recipes from all 35 cuisines of the vast and culinarily complex country of China…. Drawings of maps, animals and noodle methodologies accompany the text, making it feel like an illuminated manuscript.”

— Los Angeles Times