吳燕和從1958年進入中研院民族所籌備處,擔任研究院技佐,跟隨淩純聲所長工作 ,後就讀臺灣大學考古人類學系 (1963畢業), 而在赴美之前八年間,參加中研院各種民族學田野計畫,調查全臺灣各高山族。之後1966 年前往夏威夷大學研究院攻讀文化與心理人類學,於1969年獲人類學博士候選人資格。 但轉往澳洲國立大學,擔任研究學人,並與人類學者妻子王維蘭 (1942-2007), 一起赴巴布亞紐幾內亞田野調查三年,獲澳洲國立大學人類學博士學位。1974 年開始在夏威夷東西方中心,主持多項太平洋區域跨國合作計畫,包括 中、美、東亞和東南亞各國,探討精神衛生、傳統醫藥、兒童社會化、海外華人文化與族群關係,亞太區各國少數民族文化政策等課題。後應聘香港中文大學,主持人類學系所。近二十年又在中國,日本,臺灣等地進行多種田野調查,研究現代飲食文化跨國比較,特別是日本料理,與中華料理全球化問題。吳教授前後在歐美和亞洲出版英文專書十餘種,學術論文百餘篇,其中著作並有多國語言譯本。著作有研究代表性的專書如下:
The Chinese in Papua New Guinea (1982 Chinese University Press, Hong Kong); The East Paiwan People of Taimali (1988 IOE, Academia Sinica, Taipei); Preschool in Three Cultures: Japan, China, and the U.S. (1989 Yale University Press, co-authored, also published in Chinese, Korean, Italian, and Portuguese); Ethnicity and Interpersonal Interaction (1985 Maruzen Asia, Singapore); Chinese Culture and Mental Health (1985, with W.S. Tseng, Academic Press, N.Y.); From Beijing to Port Moresby (with Virginia Dominguez, 1998, Taylor & Francis, London); The Globalization of Chinese Food (with S. Cheung, 2002, Taylor and Francis, London); Changing Chinese Food Ways in East Asia (with C.B. Tan, 2004, Chinese U. Press, Hong Kong); Overseas March: How the Chinese Cuisine Spread” (2011 Chinese Dietary Foundation, Taipei); Where is Home (2011 IOE, Academia Sinica, Taipei); Hometown, Fieldwork, and the Train (2006 故鄉,田野,火車, in Chinese, China Times Press, Taipei ; also 2012 published in Japanese, (故鄉、フイドワク、列車), translation by Midori Hino (日野みどり), Tokyo, Hukyosha); An Anthology of Wu Kunhuang’s Poems (2013, in Chinese, National Taiwan U. Press, Taipei); etc.