How to Cook and Eat in Chinese by Buwei Yang Chao

How to communicate a culture? History books are unreliable without the context of everything they exclude. Anthropology asks the world not to question the anthropologist or his particular biases, experiences, traumas, and psychological eccentricities. And the other disciplines—literature, math, science, philosophy—very often fail to include those on the margins: women, ethnic minorities, the poor. But everyone eats! And while every culture has its version of haute cuisine, food is the rare cultural expression that is dominated, perpetuated, and expertly practiced by the often voiceless masses. After all, even the most celebrated chefs were children once, eating nursery food prepared by mothers, grandmothers, aunties, and nannies. So let's look at culture this way: ingredients, tools, techniques, the structures of various meals, the roles of the cook and the eater and the host and the guest. A picture of culture emerges; values are expressed in the uses of a chicken or the order of a di