It's no secret that food at Mei Mei in Boston is a family affair: After all, it's right in the name — "mei mei" means "little sister" in Chinese.
Now the Li siblings — Andrew, Irene and Margaret — are turning their award-winning restaurant and food truck into a brand new cookbook, "Double Awesome Chinese Food," which is named for their signature Double Awesome scallion pancake sandwich.
Andrew and Irene joined Boston Public Radio on Tuesday to discuss the new book, how they got into the business, and the ways they're fighting food insecurity and food waste around Boston.
They told BPR that, in their household, a love of cooking and food started at a young age.
"The dinner table was always the center of our household growing up ... It didn't matter what you were doing, everybody had to be at the table at 6 p.m.," Irene said.
"For us, everything in family life really revolves around food and the table," she added.
The book makes those family recipes — and the ones the Lis cook at home today — accessible for home cooks of all levels, said Andrew.
"The structure of the cookbook is really that it starts with the stuff like the sauces: You put together a few things, it's nothing overwhelming. You build your confidence from there, and before you know it, you're cooking Peking duck," he said.
The siblings also discussed their efforts to combat food waste. Their website FoodWasteFeast.com allows users to type in what ingredients they currently have languishing in the fridge and provides recipes to help use them up.
"It's all about how to take some tips from professional kitchens and to use those at home to make sure you really get to make the most of all the groceries you buy," Irene explained.
