After giving birth in Taiwan, Clarissa Wei (James Beard-award-winning author of Made In Taiwan) was inspired to write Sitting the Month: Postpartum Recipes for Rest & Recovery, a cookbook rooted in her own experience with the postpartum healing practices of traditional Chinese medicine.
In traditional Chinese medicine, 坐月子 zuo yue zi (literally “to sit the month”) is a sacred time of rest and recovery for new mothers. While one component of this period involves staying indoors and literally sitting or lying down as much as possible to conserve energy, another equally important component is nourishing the body with the right food.
Clarissa and Taiwanese herbalist Stella Wang developed 88 recipes for supporting new mothers through three different stages of postpartum recovery: detoxing, rebuilding energy levels, and strengthening. Start with light, easy-to-digest soups like Egg Drop Seaweed Soup to support the detoxing of residual blood and tissues, then advance to protein-rich dishes like Scallion Oil Chicken to aid in tissue repair, before incorporating dishes with more intense and fiery ingredients, like Ten Tonic Supreme, to fortify the body.
Sitting the Month Bundle
In the cookbook, Clarissa recommends using black sesame oil and extra virgin camellia oil by Dong He, a family-owned oil mill in Chiayi, Taiwan that has been cold-pressing oils the traditional way since 1921. These specialty oils are health-fortifying and featured in recipes like Camellia Oil Noodles with Sesame-Crusted Eggs and Sesame Oil Chicken Soup.
To help you get started cooking through these recipes, we’re offering a 10% discounted bundle featuring these two foundational oils.
Bundle Contents:
-
Black Sesame Oil, pressed from toasted black sesame seeds. According to Clarissa, it is used to heat up the body, stimulate circulation, and restore strength after childbirth.
-
Camellia Oil, or bitter tea seed oil, pressed from the seeds of the Camellia oleifera tree. It is prized for its ability to soothe the stomach and ease inflammation
About the Author
Clarissa Wei is the author of Made in Taiwan, winner of an IACP Award and finalist for a James Beard Award. Her writing has been published in
The New Yorker,
The New York Times, and
Bon Appétit. The cofounder of single-origin soy sauce brand HEYDOH, she lives in Taiwan with her husband and two children.
Stella Wang is a second-generation Taiwanese herbalist, mom, and owner of EDD Herbs, a herbal dessert and tea shop that she operates out of her father’s Chinese medicine shop in Taipei.
Specifications and Dimensions
Publish Date: September 15, 2026
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
by Clarissa Wei with Stella Wang
288 pages, Hardcover
Dimensions: 9.3” L x 7.3” W x 1” H / 23.6 cm L x 18.5 cm x 2.5 cm
Weight: 2.5 lbs / 1.1 kg
From the Publisher
A nourishing and restorative guide to eating well after childbirth, with recipes informed by traditional Chinese medicine.
When Clarissa Wei gave birth to her first child, she was living in Taiwan, where the postpartum period lasts four weeks and is considered one of the most important periods of a woman’s life. The practice of “sitting the month” includes therapeutic herbs and warming meals—stir-fried pork liver, chicken simmered with rice wine and sesame oil, or steamed cod with goji berries—believed to help repair the womb and reenergize the new mom. There isn’t a lot of information in the English-speaking world about this practice, or its cuisine, and she set out to learn more.
In Sitting the Month, through gorgeous photography, stories, and recipes, Clarissa Wei offers a holistic outlook on food specifically intended to nurture new mothers back to health. Any partner or relative (or a very tired mom) can navigate these 88 recipes. With guidance from Stella Wang, a second-generation owner of a Chinese medicine shop, she introduces three stages of recovery. Start with light, herbal soups such as Salmon Miso Soup and Egg Drop Seaweed Soup to detox the body. Advance to collagen and protein-rich dishes such as Scallion Oil Chicken and Black Vinegar Pork Knuckle Stew to support tissue repair, and build up to Ten Tonic Supreme Soup, packed with fiery herbs intended to combat deep fatigue and lingering weakness. Each recipe is designed for solo meals or for sharing with a partner. Freezing advice and notes on unique herbs make this ancient tradition accessible and doable for modern moms in the United States. There’s an old folk saying that sums up the East Asian attitude toward postpartum care: During pregnancy, nurture the baby. After pregnancy, nurture your body.
