Author Spotlight: Carolyn Huynh on Chaotic Families and Little-known History in The “Family Recipe”
Uncomfortable. Tender. Forgiving.
These are the three words Vietnamese-American author Carolyn Huynh would use to describe her novel The Family Recipe, which was released on April 1. The words capture the stages the main characters go through as they unravel a decades-long family secret and reconcile with their past. Spanning across two generations, The Family Recipe follows the five estranged children of Duc Tran as they compete to inherit their father’s bánh mì franchise, Duc’s Sandwiches. The catch? Each daughter will be sent to a city to revive a rundown store while the eldest son must get married. Whoever accomplishes their challenge first within a year will receive the entire inheritance.
The tension between the Tran siblings is palpable from the very first page where each wants a stake in their father’s inheritance. “My favorite part [to write] was when the siblings come together at the very beginning,” Huynh told EnVi over Zoom. Donning a green sweatshirt that read “Viet Cowboy,” Huynh’s outfit was a fitting match for her story primarily set in Texas. “You can see the fracture [in their relationship].”
EnVi had the opportunity to chat with Carolyn Huynh about her sophomore novel, The Family Recipe, her writing process, and the power of community.
Making History
The Family Recipe mainly follows the Tran siblings’ journey as they uproot their lives and move to their assigned cities (or in Jude’s case, Duc’s eldest son, sift through a list of potential suitors). Huynh also interweaves the lives of Duc and Huey — the Tran’s family lawyer — from 1976 to 1983. Their story stretches across states, from Louisiana to California, before they ultimately move to Seadrift, Texas. Here, Huynh unravels the history of Vietnamese fishermen and the violence they endured in the small Texan city.
She recalled watching the documentary Seadrift a few years back, which her friend Dr. Thao Ha co-produced. The documentary tells the story of the Klu Klux Klan’s violent attacks on Vietnamese fishermen in Seadrift, Texas, after the shooting of a white fisherman — and the landmark lawsuit that followed. “There’s already good media out there that tackle what happened between the fisherman Billy Aplin and the two Vietnamese brothers who killed him in self-defense,” Huynh said. “I wanted to include that.” Among this media, the author noted Seadrift as well as Fishermen and the Dragon by Kirk Johnson. However, she found herself more fascinated with the court case between the Vietnamese fishermen and the KKK.
When the jury ruled that Sáu Văn Nguyễn and his brother had acted in self-defense, the KKK “announced plans to investigate” the case. They began threatening Vietnamese fishermen and terrorizing them to leave Seadrift. After a series of violent confrontations, the Vietnamese fishermen brought the KKKs to court in 1981 and won on the basis of antitrust. “I think it’s more fascinating that they won the court case,” said Huynh, looking back on her research. “This group back then, who were so fresh in assimilation, […] helped change the tide by going and […] finding people to testify.”
After watching the documentary and completing more research, the historical aspect of The Family Recipe “came together organically.” Huynh told EnVi that she “wanted to tell a part of […] Asian American history that maybe we’ve all forgotten and we don’t really learn too much in the history books.”
The Chaos Behind Writing The Family Recipe
Like the beginning of her novel, Huynh describes the writing process to be uncomfortable as well. “I put a year and a half into it, but I was writing it on deadline, which I’ve never done before,” she told EnVi. Writing The Family Recipe — originally titled The Breadwinner — was full of newness, chaos, and self-doubt.
Part of that, Huynh admitted, was because of her writing process, which is chaotic in general. “I actually don’t write outlines. I don’t know the characters before I start writing, and I don’t know the plot. I just kind of open up my document and I just start going,” Huynh stated matter-of-factly. By the end of the year, the rising novelist “probably write[s] three or four full books.” But here’s the kicker: “I toss it all out,” she said, looking straight into our shocked faces. (No, she hasn’t looked back at those initial drafts, even now.)
Add a deadline (and being a slower writer) to the mix, it was a total “mind shift” for Huynh compared to writing her debut, The Fortunes of Jaded Women. This first novel took five years to write — and according to the author, it was “magical.” She added, “It’s true what they say, like your first book is so magical because I wrote that without a publishing deal. I wrote that, like during my day job, after my day job, before my day job, I just had this story in my mind.” Huynh continued, noting, “You write it with no expectations of ever being published. You just write it for yourself.”
Although Fortunes and The Family Recipe are both “family dramatics about a very chaotic family,” the storylines diverge from there. Bánh mì and little told history weave together with a healthy dose of unhinged to get us The Family Recipe.
But why write a story focused on Vietnamese fishermen in the 1970s and ‘80s? And why Seadrift, Texas? Huynh’s response: “I always wanted to write a story set in Texas.” She became curious about what that “type of diaspora ethnic enclave” looked like, as her experience was limited to her growing up in Orange County, California.
Through this research, Huynh discovered the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) Trial Reenactments. One of the reenactments this group did was when Vietnamese fishermen in Texas won against the KKK in 1981. (Adding to the historical significance of this trial was Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, the first African American woman in Texas to serve as a federal judge.) The KKK had a running list of people who participated in this trial, a fact that sparked the larger idea of The Family Recipe. “That’s where I got the idea, ‘Oh, what if one of our parents’ names had been on that list?’”
Finding Home
Huynh later flew to Houston and drove down to Gavelston to get a feel for the city. “I had been [to] Houston before,” she noted, “But this time, I specifically wanted to try to understand what that timeline could have felt like.” In 1981, 40,000 Vietnamese people lived in Texas, the second largest number in the U.S. One of the reasons pointed to the weather; the sticky humidity reminded them of Vietnam. “I thought that was so special,” Huynh reflected. “Because I guess if you’re trying to assimilate […] you look for weather that reminds you of home.” She added that every time she goes back to Vietnam, she is “reminded of how specific that humidity and heat is, and it’s so specific to that region.”
The weather in Vietnam may be difficult to replicate, but Texas comes close. While Huynh was researching for The Family Recipe, she went to Houston in the “dead of summer,” which she groaned, was a mistake. However, she felt the same stickiness, the same feeling of being drenched in sweat as soon as you step off the plane that she has experienced in Vietnam. “You just feel that same burning sensation,” she said, a hint of awe in her voice. “And I was like, ‘Oh, I can see why a lot of people settled here.’ It’s the exact same thing.”
But in The Family Recipe, the estranged Tran family and siblings have scattered. Then comes Duc’s will and the almost impossible challenge of a) getting married (aimed at Jude) and b) reviving the failing bánh mì sandwich chains across the country (aimed at his daughters). With stores located in the Little Saigon’s of Houston, Philadelphia, San Jose, and New Orleans, Huynh also had her work cut out for her. However, she luckily had gone to all of these cities before she wrote her sophomore novel. Besides these experiences and memories, she also relied on friends from these areas, her husband who is from San Jose, and Google Maps to help “really capture the essence” of the four places.
Yet, Philly emerged as her favorite city. “I have a pretty special connection to Philadelphia in general,” she said, noting that when her father first arrived in the United States, he went to Lancaster, PA. Some Vietnamese people, like Huynh’s father, were sponsored by Christian families. “I think it’s so funny to me that my dad, fresh off [the boat], lands in this Amish countryside, and that’s his first impression of America,” Huynh reflected with a small smile. So, she took this personal connection and weaved it into the story of the Tran’s family lawyer. For example, when Huey learned how to use a fork and a spoon. When Huynh met the family that sponsored her dad, “They said, ‘Your dad could not grasp the English language at all, but the biggest word he couldn’t figure out was how to say spoon and fork,’” they told her.
“It’s something that you do actually need to use, to say in the everyday,” Huynh mused to EnVi. “And he just couldn’t say those words.”
The Characters of The Family Recipe
Speaking of words that could not be said, the crux of The Family Recipe revolves around a decades-old secret. The bearer of that secret? Evelyn Tran, the mother of the five Tran siblings. But navigating her character was no walk in the park. While Huynh was writing, she reflected on similar actions and habits of her own parents, thus, “Writing [Evelyn’s] chapters [were]…pretty traumatic.” The author elaborated, saying, “This is a woman who doesn’t have a lot of agency in her life. A woman who had to carry a lie for such a long time, to protect her family, to protect herself.” Huynh took these musings to a more personal level as well: “I think about this a lot, where if my parents were to get sick, I don’t think they’ll tell me. I think they would just keep it a secret until they recover. Or they don’t recover and it’s too late.”
“I always wonder about the things my parents wouldn’t tell me because they don’t want to burden me,” she concluded honestly.
As Huynh also noted, mental health questions arise when any of us keep traumatic experiences inside, forcing us to avoid them instead of processing them. Sometimes, like with Evelyn in The Family Recipe, burying trauma can lead to experiencing depression. When EnVi asked Huynh what the hardest part of writing this novel was, then, it comes at no surprise that the author said that it was Evelyn’s story. “I think it’s an interesting aspect of our culture where you keep it in. I think writing her part was hard for me because I did imagine my mom,” she stated.
On the other side of the spectrum, writing Paulina’s character — the sophisticated, elegant, and a little bit mysterious middle child — had a special place in Huynh’s heart. “I love them all for different reasons,” Huynh started. However, Paulina and diving into her second-chance romance plotline still came out on top, mainly because it was simply a fun experience.
“Even though her [story] is a bit more quiet, it’s about reconnecting [with] this guy she thought was the love of her life,” she began. Huynh added that this subplot was “kind of [her] practice” writing romance. “And I really want to write a romance story one day,” she hinted.
Meanwhile, Huynh could see herself becoming friends with Bingo, the second oldest Tran sister. Why? “I love an angry queer person,” the author said. “I just like Bingo. I like people who are pretty honest about their flaws and very transparent about what they can and can’t do,” Huynh added. “And people who are still learning their boundaries, even though the process of learning can have ricochet effects against the people around you, but the people who say, ‘Stay’ because they care for that person.” In the simplest words, “I like watching people grow,” Huynh said.
Youngest sibling Georgia is Huynh’s pick to lead a food tour. “I feel like that type of positivity is something that I need when I travel, because I am not positive when I travel,” she joked. “I’m just so, like, old and irritated by everything.” Georgia, in her creator’s eyes, would “be so [much] fun, and lead the charge, and plan everything,” if a food tour was the name of the game.
But what if the author had to revamp one of Duc’s sandwich shops just like in the novel? At first, Huynh was a bit torn between claiming New Orleans or Philly. However, she remembered after some back-and-forth that she is not a fan of winter and also not a sports fan. Thus, New Orleans won over Philly in the end. In addition, Huynh posed a slight diversion from the challenge presented in The Family Recipe. Instead of rebooting a bánh mì shop, she would turn the space into a bookstore and coffee shop. “I think I [would] just start a coffee shop, a coffee shop at a bookstore. That’s what I really want,” she pondered. “And if you want a bánh mì, you can go next door,” Huynh added with a laugh.
What’s Next For Carolyn Huynh?
With the adaptation of The Fortunes of Jaded Women on the way, Huynh had an opportunity to adapt the novel into a pilot. “And then from there, I’ve just enjoyed the process of screenwriting [and] other forms of storytelling,” she explained. A part of Rideback Rise’s 2025 Fellowship Cohort, Huynh is currently adapting her third book, The Department of Arranged Entanglements, into a feature film. The novel is forthcoming in spring of 2026 and is “pitched as if The Handmaid’s Tale unionized.”
With her first two books being dramedies featuring “chaotic families,” Huynh described her third book as her “genre jump.” Alongside the romance genre, she also aims to move towards near-future dystopian stories and potentially sci-fi fantasy set in the far future. “I think for me to grow as a writer, I want to try to expand myself a bit more,” Huynh told EnVi. After being on deadline for nearly five years, she looks forward to a break after the release of her third book to focus on screenwriting and playwriting.
Huynh left the call with one piece of advice for aspiring writers: “Don’t worry about the success of your debut book. Just enjoy the magic of writing.” She went on to explain that a writer’s first book is untouched by the industry. “It’s just you and your brain,” she said. “And [to me], it’s the most intimate form of art.”
Keep up with Carolyn Huynh and her writing on Instagram, X, and her website. Find The Family Recipe wherever you can purchase books.
Want more conversations with your favorite authors? Check out EnVi’s interview with Stefany Valentine, author of First Love Language, here!
