A Spoonful of Time by Flora Ahn - a culinary time travel

Title: A Spoonful of Time
Author: Flora Ahn
Illustrator: Jenny Park
Publication: Quirk Books, hardcover, 2023
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Setting: Present-day California

Description: Maya lives with her widowed mother, who works at a law firm, and her grandmother, Halmunee, who moved in with them recently and may be suffering from dementia. Although Halmunee’s memory is erratic, she remembers the traditional cooking she learned as a girl in Korea and is determined to share this with Maya. Maya enjoys learning about and eating Korean specialties her mother is too busy or tired to make but to her amazement, Halmunee uses each recipe to take Maya back in time to witness special moments in her past in Seoul. Halmunee explains this is a skill some family members have and Maya wonders if she can use her newfound ability to learn more about the father she lost at 3. Her mother is always too stressed to talk about him but Maya longs to know more. This focus on the past causes Maya to neglect her friend Jada and schoolwork in the present. A surprise ending helps Maya and her mother improve their relationship and allows Maya to better understand her family history and how she fits it.

My Impression: This is a delightful story about an ordinary 13-year-old confronted by the impossible when her grandmother transports her to 20th century Korea. The actual time travel is at first triggered by the traditional recipes Halmunee teaches Maya how to make; when they are cooking and touching, Maya is transported back in time to Korea with her grandmother. They can observe but cannot interact with the people they see, mostly Halmunee’s family and others from her childhood. Maya observes her own great-grandmother describing their family’s abilities to her Halmunee, then Hyun Suk:

“Your imo [aunt] has always been upset that our omma’s power passed on to me and my children, and not her. And so now she’s telling her children that it’s all a lie. That it doesn’t exist. She’s turned her back on our family . . . . From this point on, you don’t talk with anyone about what we can do,” her mother said. “Not even your friends or cousins. Not everyone will understand or want to understand. And what we do can be very dangerous.”

Maya is enthralled by the glimpse of the family she has never known and wants to keep going back but Halmunee’s condition is worsening and she is not always in the mood to cook, which seems essential. Eventually Maya figures out how to time travel alone, which I was afraid would end in disaster but did not.

Maya is coping with a lot: she yearns to know more about the father she lost when she was three – she barely remembers him but cooking with Halmunee helps her recall a food memory with her father; her grandmother is suffering from dementia which worries Maya and her mother; her new friend Jeff, also a time traveler, is so mysterious it hurts her feelings; her mother is distant; and her distraction from all of the above has caused a rift with her best friend and interfered with her school work. I liked that Maya has challenges in her life that don’t disappear just because she is having an exciting adventure but what really gives this story dimension is the relationship between Maya and her ailing grandmother and the way they connect through Korean culture and food. Of course, I always enjoy a well-done time travel although the relationships confused me at the end. It is great to see a small independent publisher produce such an unusual and appealing book.

Source: Library