Harry Long's Fabulous Chinese Cookbook from 1965!

Today, Larry Wong lent us a copy of the "Fabulous Chinese Cook Book" written by Vancouverite Harry Kam Long in 1965.

It really is fabulous both for the great recipes and for its glimpse back at the Vancouver Chinese food scene circa 1965. Today we take it for granted that we can get 99% of the ingredients needed for authentic Chinese food; back then this was a lot more difficult.

This excerpt from the foreward is very telling:

We believe that the "Fabulous Chinese Cookbook" is the book which you have been waiting and searchng for. This cookbook, which is the first of its type to be published in Western Canada, differs from most Chinese cookbooks in that it is written by a Canadian Chinese expressly for North American families.

It contains recipes for the most popular Chinese dishes familiar to us, and, in order to minimize confusion, it includes only a few of the ancient traditional Chinese dishes which require ingredients foreign to us. These traditional recipes are presented in a separate section.

...

As the enthusiasm and interest built up we approached Mr. Kam Long, who is perhaps the most well known Chinese cook in Western Canada, to give us the recipes most often requested. As a result, we now have some of his knowledge and years of successful experience recorded in this handy book, which contains over 145 popular recipes...

We would love to get a second hand copy of this cookbook because we collect vintage cookbooks! If anybody knows of where we can get a copy or how to contact Mr. Long's family (we'd love to help them prepare a 21st century edition or reprint!), please let us know!