20 Facts About Barbara Tropp

Barbara Tropp was an American orientalist, chef, restaurateur, and food writer.

Barbara Tropp was born in 1948 in Springfield, New Jersey.

Barbara Tropp's grandmother was German and cooked traditional German food.

Barbara Tropp became interested in Chinese culture after studying it in a high school art class.

Barbara Tropp attended Barnard College and graduated with honors in Oriental studies.

Barbara Tropp earned her master's degree from Princeton University in Chinese literature and art.

Barbara Tropp stayed at Princeton, on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, to pursue a doctorate in poetry.

Barbara Tropp did so, living with two host families who cooked traditional Chinese cuisine.

Barbara Tropp credited Po-fu with introducing her to traditional and gourmet Chinese food and preparation.

Barbara Tropp returned to the US, fluent in Mandarin, to continue her studies at Princeton.

Barbara Tropp bought cookbooks and taught herself how to cook Chinese food.

Barbara Tropp struggled to complete her thesis, preferring her culinary interests over academia.

Barbara Tropp taught cooking classes and catered for extra income as her fellowship began to run out.

Barbara Tropp dropped out of Princeton and moved to San Francisco.

Barbara Tropp worked in the kitchen at Greens, a San Francisco vegetarian restaurant.

Barbara Tropp co-founded the organization Women Chefs and Restaurateurs in 1993 with Joyce Goldstein and other women in the industry.

Barbara Tropp had an oophorectomy and it was confirmed she had ovarian cancer.

Barbara Tropp had chemotherapy for one year coupled with Chinese medicinal and herbal treatments.

Barbara Tropp eventually stopped her Western cancer treatments when her cancer was in remission.

Barbara Tropp returned to work, writing for Gourmet, teaching cooking classes, and hosting food tours in San Francisco.