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.
[7] Tropp earned her master's degree from Princeton University in Chinese literature and art.
Tropp credited Po-fu with introducing her to traditional and gourmet Chinese food and preparation.
[5] Upon her return, Tropp obsessed about the food she had eaten and observed being prepared in Taiwan.
She taught cooking classes and catered for extra income as her fellowship began to run out.
Eventually, she was contracted by James Beard[8] to write a cookbook: The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking: Techniques and Recipes in 1982.
[3] The Los Angeles Times described the food at China Moon as "authentic in taste but Californian in its spirit of artistic expression.
Stewart agreed to give Tropp credit in future editions of the book.
The New York Times called it "one of the first books that successfully brought together Chinese and European-American mainstream cooking."
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.