Why I Started Letters from Irene

There are thousands of Chinese recipes online — but many are oversimplified, stripped of context, or written with ingredients that feel impossible to find unless you live near a specialty shop. I started Letters from Irene because I believe Chinese food deserves more than that. I want to help people cook real Chinese food — and understand it, too.

This blog is for anyone who’s ever stood in front of a bottle of soy sauce or Shaoxing wine and wondered, What exactly does this do?

It’s for people who love Chinese flavors but don’t always have access to every ingredient, and still want to make dishes that feel right — balanced, satisfying, and rooted in something real.

Instead of just telling you what to do, I want to explain why Chinese cooking uses certain techniques, how ingredients work together, and what you can substitute when you don’t have the traditional pantry. Because once you understand those things, Chinese food becomes much more intuitive — and accessible — wherever you are in the world.

This all started with my best friend, Margot.

We met in university in London, where we bonded over food and shared endless meals together. She’s British, but a lifelong lover of Chinese food — always on the hunt for her next noodle or dumpling fix. Even in London, she knew where to find the good stuff, and supermarkets had most of what you’d need to cook Chinese dishes at home.

Now, she lives in a small town outside Oslo with her baby Hugo. And one day, she told me:

“Even the best Chinese food in Oslo is worse than the worst Chinese food in London.”

She wasn’t joking. Good ingredients are hard to find, and Chinese food just feels... distant. So I began writing recipes for her — dishes she could make with the ingredients she had, plus notes on how to adjust, why it matters, and what to expect.

That became Letters from Irene — a growing collection of recipes, techniques, ingredient guides, and stories written from my kitchen to yours. Whether you’re Chinese, half-Chinese, not-at-all-Chinese, homesick, curious, or just hungry, I hope this space brings comfort, knowledge, and warmth to your table.

With love,

Irene