Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food (By Fuchsia Dunlop)

  Though Fuchsia Dunlop has written some of the greatest Chinese cookbooks in the English language, THIS IS NOT A COOKBOOK. Invitation to a Banquet is not about how to cook Chinese food, but how to eat it, and why to eat it. It should be a companion to any and all Chinese cookbooks, because knowing the context, history and culture of a dish always improves it. And that is particularly true of Chinese food, which has been so misunderstood for so long in the West. I wish that I had room to quote the several pages of the introduction that set the record straight about the historical preeminence of Chinese cuisine(s) with breathtaking clarity and efficiency. But that's just the start. Fuchsia's deep research and academic authority combined with three decades of personal experience studying, cooking and eating throughout China make her eminently qualified to tell the 10,000-year story of Chinese food. Plus, she's just a superlative writer.  If you've ever wondered how Chinese food evolved o