"What's Eating Jackie Oh?" by Patricia Park is a YA novel that follows the story of a Korean American teen, Jackie Oh, as she navigates the competitive world of a TV cooking show while balancing cultural expectations from her family. The novel explores Jackie's dream of becoming a professional chef, which clashes with the traditional expectations of her second-gen Korean American parents.

Jackie, determined to pursue her passion, aspires to be a chef despite her family's expectations. The story takes an unexpected turn when she gets recruited for a casting audition for Burn Off!, her favorite competitive cooking show. As a contestant, Jackie faces the challenges of the cutthroat TV show world, dealing with psych outs, picky critiques, and microaggressions related to her heritage.

Set against the backdrop of a competitive cooking show, the novel delves into themes of identity, ambition, and the pressure to conform to cultural expectations. Jackie must navigate the complexities of proving herself both on and off the plate, leading to a journey of self-discovery and understanding.

Patricia Park's storytelling combines humor and depth, creating a narrative that explores the delicate balance between individual aspirations and cultural identity. The novel promises to be a hilarious and stunning exploration of Jackie's journey as she strives to define herself amidst the challenges of the culinary world and family expectations.

This is a wonderfully written and realistic portrayal of life as a Korean American teen in New York City. The story describes well the Korean culture focused on family, obedience of elders, hard work and pursuit of achievement above all else. While Jackie is a naturally gifted student, what she enjoys the most is cooking with her grandparents both at their home and at the delicatessen that they own. She and her grandparents often have dinner together and discuss ingredients, techniques and strategies as they watch a cooking competition called Burn Off. By skipping school and misleading her parents, Jackie attends an open call for Burn Off's new show focused on teen chefs and lands a spot. Ultimately, she goes very far in the competition, and through this experience reconnects with her parents and heals a family trauma involving an older brother who is incarcerated. What I enjoyed the most is the novel's realistic portrayal of the stereotypes and dangers faced by Koreans (and those of other Asian cultures) who are often victims of hate crimes (as occurs in the story to Jackie's grandfather). The author describes it very well in a non-confrontational manner. There is not much that I disliked about the book, other than the fact that I would have loved for their to be another chapter or epilogue to hear more about what happens later to Jackie, her brother, her parents, her grandparents, and her friend KT. I highly recommend this book as it is not only engaging but gives a diverse perspective of growing up in New York City.

Engaging and immersive. A recommended purchase for YA and HS collections where foodie contemporaries are popular.