Barbara Tropp

Barbara Tropp (1948 – October 26, 2001) was an American orientalist, chef, restaurateur, and food writer. During her career, she operated China Moon restaurant in San Francisco and wrote cookbooks that popularized Chinese cuisine in America. China Moon's accompanying cookbook is credited with being one of the first fusion cuisine cookbooks. She was the 1989 recipient of the Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America James Beard Award. Tropp was called "the Julia Child of Chinese cooking."

Early life and education

Barbara Tropp was born in 1948 in Springfield, New Jersey. The majority of her exposure to Chinese food was the Friday night Chinese take out her family ate each week. Tropp described herself as an introvert growing up. Tropp earned her master's degree from Princeton University in Chinese literature and art. to write a cookbook: The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking: Techniques and Recipes in 1982. In 1989, she appeared on Great Chefs.

The China Moon Cookbook was published in 1992. The New York Times called it "one of the first books that successfully brought together Chinese and European-American mainstream cooking." The book was awarded an International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Award.

In 1994, Tropp's sister, Nhumey, called her to tell Tropp that their mother had died of ovarian cancer at the age of 48. Prior to this, they did not know what kind of cancer their mother had died from. Nhumey had researched medical records to find the cause of death. Due to concerns about ovarian cancer being passed down genetically, Nhumey had a oophorectomy and it was confirmed she had ovarian cancer. Tropp also had an oophorectomy and it was also confirmed she had ovarian cancer. Tropp had chemotherapy for one year coupled with Chinese medicinal and herbal treatments. In 1996, she sold China Moon due to her declining health. She also took time off from writing.

Tropp eventually stopped her Western cancer treatments when her cancer was in remission. She continued to use medicinal Chinese treatments. While in Asia, with her husband Bart Rhoades, her cancer returned. Back in California, she started chemotherapy again.

Later life and death

By 1999, Tropp continued chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. She returned to work, writing for Gourmet, teaching cooking classes, and hosting food tours in San Francisco. She, her husband and stepdaughter, split their time between San Francisco and their home in Napa Valley.

In October 2001, she was awarded the Women Chefs and Restaurateurs' President's Award. Weeks later, on October 26, she died of ovarian cancer at her San Francisco apartment.

Tropp's book, The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking: Techniques & Recipes, was awarded the KitchenAid Cookbook Hall of Fame James Beard Award in 2004.

Selected works China Moon Cookbook. New York: Workman Publishing Company (1992). The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking: Techniques and Recipes. New York: Morrow (1982).