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Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food
The world’s most sophisticated gastronomic culture, brilliantly presented through a banquet of thirty Chinese dishes.
Chinese was the earliest truly global cuisine. When the first Chinese laborers began to settle abroad, restaurants appeared in their wake. Yet Chinese has the curious distinction of being both one of the world’s best-loved culinary traditions and one of the least understood. For more than a century, the overwhelming dominance of a simplified form of Cantonese cooking ensured that few foreigners experienced anything of its richness and sophistication―but today that is beginning to change. In Invitation to a Banquet, award-winning cook and writer Fuchsia Dunlop explores the history, philosophy, and techniques of Chinese culinary culture. In each chapter, she examines a classic dish, from mapo tofu to Dongpo pork, knife-scraped noodles to braised pomelo pith, to reveal a distinctive aspect of Chinese gastronomy, whether it’s the importance of the soybean, the lure of exotic ingredients, or the history of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. Meeting food producers, chefs, gourmets, and home cooks as she tastes her way across the country, Fuchsia invites readers to join her on an unforgettable journey into Chinese food as it is cooked, eaten, and considered in its homeland. Weaving together history, mouthwatering descriptions of food, and on-the-ground research conducted over the course of three decades, Invitation to a Banquet is a lively, landmark tribute to the pleasures and mysteries of Chinese cuisine.
Chinese was the earliest truly global cuisine. When the first Chinese laborers began to settle abroad, restaurants appeared in their wake. Yet Chinese has the curious distinction of being both one of the world’s best-loved culinary traditions and one of the least understood. For more than a century, the overwhelming dominance of a simplified form of Cantonese cooking ensured that few foreigners experienced anything of its richness and sophistication―but today that is beginning to change. In Invitation to a Banquet, award-winning cook and writer Fuchsia Dunlop explores the history, philosophy, and techniques of Chinese culinary culture. In each chapter, she examines a classic dish, from mapo tofu to Dongpo pork, knife-scraped noodles to braised pomelo pith, to reveal a distinctive aspect of Chinese gastronomy, whether it’s the importance of the soybean, the lure of exotic ingredients, or the history of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. Meeting food producers, chefs, gourmets, and home cooks as she tastes her way across the country, Fuchsia invites readers to join her on an unforgettable journey into Chinese food as it is cooked, eaten, and considered in its homeland. Weaving together history, mouthwatering descriptions of food, and on-the-ground research conducted over the course of three decades, Invitation to a Banquet is a lively, landmark tribute to the pleasures and mysteries of Chinese cuisine.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published August 31, 2023
524 people are currently reading
6313 people want to read
About the author
Fuchsia Dunlop
14 books391 followersFuchsia Dunlop is a cook and food-writer specialising in Chinese cuisine. She is the author of Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China, an account of her adventures in exploring Chinese food culture, and two critically-acclaimed Chinese cookery books, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, and Sichuan Cookery (published in the US as Land of Plenty).
Fuchsia writes for publications including Gourmet, Saveur, and The Financial Times. She is a regular guest on radio and television, and has appeared on shows including Gordon Ramsay’s The F-Word, NPR’s All Things Considered and The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4. She was named ‘Food Journalist of the Year’ by the British Guild of Food Writers in 2006, and has been shortlisted for three James Beard Awards. Her first book, Sichuan Cookery, won the Jeremy Round Award for best first book.
Fuchsia writes for publications including Gourmet, Saveur, and The Financial Times. She is a regular guest on radio and television, and has appeared on shows including Gordon Ramsay’s The F-Word, NPR’s All Things Considered and The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4. She was named ‘Food Journalist of the Year’ by the British Guild of Food Writers in 2006, and has been shortlisted for three James Beard Awards. Her first book, Sichuan Cookery, won the Jeremy Round Award for best first book.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 200 reviews
August 27, 2024
Non-fiction November
I am probably one of the largest proponents of OwnVoices. However, Fuchsia has studied the many faceted Chinese cuisine in China, and speaks wonderful Mandarin. You may have seen her on Parts Unknown.
With my soy allergy progressively getting worse as I age, the one cuisine I miss the most is Chinese. But just like you can't lump all Chinese languages into one, you can say the same for the cuisine. There are Eight Great Traditions, and within that, so much more. I'm partial to Cantonese and Sichuan, but that's what I grew up on.
Even though Fuchsia is a Brit, I found it fun that she mentions American Chinese cuisine, and some of the history behind it. I wouldn't touch chop suey with a ten foot pole, but you do you. Does anybody remember the 2014 documentary, The Search for General Tso? I found it eye opening and rather enjoyable at the time.
This is not to say Fuchsia only talks about such food items that are palatable to western tastebuds. There are mentions of fermented tofu and sea cucumbers. I've had the former. I will not touch the latter.
A fantastic look into a very complex cuisine. Don't read on an empty stomach.
🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio
I am probably one of the largest proponents of OwnVoices. However, Fuchsia has studied the many faceted Chinese cuisine in China, and speaks wonderful Mandarin. You may have seen her on Parts Unknown.
With my soy allergy progressively getting worse as I age, the one cuisine I miss the most is Chinese. But just like you can't lump all Chinese languages into one, you can say the same for the cuisine. There are Eight Great Traditions, and within that, so much more. I'm partial to Cantonese and Sichuan, but that's what I grew up on.
Even though Fuchsia is a Brit, I found it fun that she mentions American Chinese cuisine, and some of the history behind it. I wouldn't touch chop suey with a ten foot pole, but you do you. Does anybody remember the 2014 documentary, The Search for General Tso? I found it eye opening and rather enjoyable at the time.
This is not to say Fuchsia only talks about such food items that are palatable to western tastebuds. There are mentions of fermented tofu and sea cucumbers. I've had the former. I will not touch the latter.
A fantastic look into a very complex cuisine. Don't read on an empty stomach.
🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio
December 17, 2024
That was absolutely delightful. There is a little bit of history, a little bit of local folklore, a little bit of memoir and a huge helping of dishes, flavours and fragrance. It's a non-fiction book that gives you a lot of information but reads like a sensual dream you don't want to wake up from. Doesn't matter when you've ate your meal - you will get hungry while reading this book.
Author breathes and lives Chinese cuisine and her awe is palpable and very contagions. The ingenuity and adventurousness of Chinese chefs made me want to visit local Chinese restaurants and order something that I would not consider eating prior to reading this book. I've already bought a steamer to enrich my daily menu with some simple flavours. This is a perfect book to make you think about your diet and offer a different approach to how and what you are eating but don't expect any recipes. This is a high level introduction to the culture of eating in China, the rich history of dining, a guide to the food enjoyment in a Chinese way. Very difficult to put down.
I could probably gush about this book for many more paragraphs because this is easily the best book I've read this year. Skilfully written, engaging, challenging the mainstream ideas about the Chinese cuisine. I am sure you don't have to be interested in this part of the world to find this book fascinating. Go read it.
Author breathes and lives Chinese cuisine and her awe is palpable and very contagions. The ingenuity and adventurousness of Chinese chefs made me want to visit local Chinese restaurants and order something that I would not consider eating prior to reading this book. I've already bought a steamer to enrich my daily menu with some simple flavours. This is a perfect book to make you think about your diet and offer a different approach to how and what you are eating but don't expect any recipes. This is a high level introduction to the culture of eating in China, the rich history of dining, a guide to the food enjoyment in a Chinese way. Very difficult to put down.
I could probably gush about this book for many more paragraphs because this is easily the best book I've read this year. Skilfully written, engaging, challenging the mainstream ideas about the Chinese cuisine. I am sure you don't have to be interested in this part of the world to find this book fascinating. Go read it.
August 22, 2023
Actual rating: 3.5 stars!
Thank you to Penguin Press UK and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review.
As somebody that was raised at a Chinese takeaway shop in England, I loved the sound of this book. In it, James Beard award-winning cook and writer Fuchsia Dunlop explores and ruminates everything from the history of Chinese food to the philosophies and techniques. The book is cleverly divided into chapters that each focus on a classic dish, each further diving into specific aspects of Chinese gastronomy.
Dunlop writes in an assured manner, beautifully bringing the cuisine and country to life. There are some wonderful passages where she meets local food producers, chefs and even home cooks, discussing at length the dishes and techniques and table manners of Chinese food. If I’m honest, I was at first wary that this was written by a non-Chinese author, but a few pages in and I was already thoroughly enamoured by Dunlop’s breadth of knowledge and experience. There’s brilliant commentary about food and its impact on the planet, insight commentary about Western vs. Eastern tastes and outlooks towards food, and so much valuable history. Invitation to a Banquet is a gorgeous celebration and introduction to Chinese cuisine, and it truly made me feel so nostalgic for many dishes that I ate growing up.
Thank you to Penguin Press UK and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review.
As somebody that was raised at a Chinese takeaway shop in England, I loved the sound of this book. In it, James Beard award-winning cook and writer Fuchsia Dunlop explores and ruminates everything from the history of Chinese food to the philosophies and techniques. The book is cleverly divided into chapters that each focus on a classic dish, each further diving into specific aspects of Chinese gastronomy.
Dunlop writes in an assured manner, beautifully bringing the cuisine and country to life. There are some wonderful passages where she meets local food producers, chefs and even home cooks, discussing at length the dishes and techniques and table manners of Chinese food. If I’m honest, I was at first wary that this was written by a non-Chinese author, but a few pages in and I was already thoroughly enamoured by Dunlop’s breadth of knowledge and experience. There’s brilliant commentary about food and its impact on the planet, insight commentary about Western vs. Eastern tastes and outlooks towards food, and so much valuable history. Invitation to a Banquet is a gorgeous celebration and introduction to Chinese cuisine, and it truly made me feel so nostalgic for many dishes that I ate growing up.
October 4, 2023
I am a fan of all books written by Fuchsia Dunlop - this is not a recipe book per se however it is a fantastic delve into the culture and cuisine of China. I have mixed heritage and brought up with the customs and dishes of Hong Kong. The book gives me background to my lived experience of being part Chinese, the mannerisms, the dishes, the complex hierarchies and holistic way in which food is viewed in Chinese culture. Food is a fundamental of life - a common greeting in Hong Kong is sik farn la? or have you eaten yet? This for me encapsulates the Chinese view of food and life.
The authors depth of knowledge and descriptions, of food, traditions and landscapes are evocative and send me heading to the kitchen to try out recipes from her other works.
A must read for those who want to know more of the food tapestry that is woven throughout the culture of China.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing access to this ARC, all views are my own.
The authors depth of knowledge and descriptions, of food, traditions and landscapes are evocative and send me heading to the kitchen to try out recipes from her other works.
A must read for those who want to know more of the food tapestry that is woven throughout the culture of China.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing access to this ARC, all views are my own.
January 2, 2024
You can feel Dunlop's enthusiasm, passion and incredible knowledge of Chinese food jump off the page reading this triumph of a book. When I attended her book talk last month (where I met Amy Tan in person!), a millennial in the audience thanked Dunlop for being an ally. In my head, I thought, really? This British woman? But you read this tome and yes, Dunlop does so much to dismantle stereotypes with her knowledge and deep respect for Chinese people through her study of Chinese food. I am ready to sign up for one of her gastronomical tours. I am ready to push my own palette and go in with all five senses open.
January 5, 2024
Although I was aware that westernized and authentic Chinese cuisine had little in common, I was unaware of how diverse Chinese cuisine truly is. Fushia Dunlop invites you into the kitchens, restaurants, and banquet halls of China to understand the development of their culinary culture. A mouth watering read!!
December 18, 2023
Seven years ago I'd read Fuchsia Dunlop's Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet Sour Memoir of Eating in China and it was revelatory, helping me understand the food I've eaten and taken for granted most of my life; the pleasure I take in jellyfish, chicken feet, tofu, hashima, wood ear fungus, for instance and the bewilderment I experienced when I went to the US and experienced American Chinese food.
In Invitation to a Banquet, Dunlop delves deeper into Chinese food, "how should we understand it, and….how should we eat it". The book is divided into 4 sections - Hearth (on the origins of Chinese food), Farm (on ingredients), Kitchen (on culinary techniques), and Table (more general observations on Chinese cuisine). In Hearth, Dunlop argues that for the ancient Chinese, it is "the transformation of raw ingredients through cooking [that marks] the boundary not only between humans and their savage ancestors, but between the people of the civilised world…and the barbarians who lived around its edges". Raw foods are extremely rare in Chinese cuisine. Not only that, the Chinese emphasise the transformative nature of cooking - cutting, seasoning ingredients until they look very different from their original state. And "in that sense, a stir-fry of slivered meat and vegetables is more essentially Chinese than a slab of roast pork". While foreigners use knives and forks to cut up chunks of meat on their plates, the Chinese eat food that has already been transformed into small "chopstickable pieces" through cutting. The "violence and savagery of knives" is restricted to the kitchen.
In Hearth, Dunlop also touches on the quintessential elements of a Chinese meal - rice, soup (which may be the only liquid at the table, serving as both food and drink). Mixing and matching of different complementary and contrasting ingredients is key. Seldom do you get that sharp delineation of the meat dish and the veg. Dunlop also points out that traditionally, it is rare for the Chinese to eat a lot of meat. Whereas one pork chop would feed only one westerner, the Chinese would cut pork into slivers, stir fry it with a complementary vegetable and this would feed an entire family. For this reason, westerners tended to view Chinese cooking with great suspicion as they couldn't tell what all those finely chopped ingredients were. Dunlop also points out that for the Chinese, food is more than nourishment but also medicinal; far better to maintain or bring the body into balance via diet than to resort to drugs. When westerners criticise Chinese food for being unhealthy, it is because Anglo-American takeaway food bears no relation to what most Chinese people actually eat (e.g. westerners choosing fried rice over plain rice, spooning oily food into their bowls rather than picking up pieces of food with their chopsticks and leaving the oil in the serving dish, eating large servings of rich food rather than one small chunk of, say, fatty Dongpo pork with plain rice, some greens and broth).
In Ingredients, Dunlop reframes the Chinese relationship with ingredients. For the Chinese chef, the question is not "is this edible" but "how can I make this edible"? The Chinese don't eat marginal parts from "poverty and desperation" but because it is a privilege to dine on foods that require great care and creativity to render not only edible, but delicious. Hence the use of all manner of unusual ingredients from the swim bladder of fish and pomelo pith, to pig ears and goose webs. I loved the (non-exhaustive) list Dunlop provided of all these Chinese words for mouthfeel; I was only familiar with a small fraction of these.
Dunlop debunks the misconception that the Chinese don't care about the provenance and seasonality of their ingredients, unlike, say, a Tuscan restaurant. While westerners will pay for handmade pasta, Japanese sushi or dry-aged beef, they are much less willing to pay for top ingredients in a Chinese restaurant. She touches on the ingredients that underpin Chinese cuisine - the soybean, vegetables, pork, the mutton of the Muslim Hui people and qu, the dessicated micro-organisms that the Chinese add to their food for fermentation (to make rice wine, fermented beans, soy sauce, etc).
In Kitchen, Dunlop discusses different culinary approaches and techniques, for instance, the emphasis on "root flavours" versus "blended flavours", Chinese knife skills, the art of steaming and the art of stir-frying (which Dunlop clarifies is a catch all term that covers many many different kinds of frying). Dunlop helps the reader appreciate the technical complexity of "stir-frying" and how much more challenging it is compared to other cuisines, where chefs have the luxury of tasting their food and making adjustments to the flavour.
In the final section, Table, Dunlop offers some general observations on Chinese cuisine - the diversity of ingredients from China's "tapestry of lands and climates", the Chinese use of sugar and sweetness in dishes that are not meant to be eaten as desserts; trompe l'oeil vegetarian foods made to resemble (and taste like) meat; Chinese cultural appropriation (e.g with Deda Western Food Restaurant in Shanghai), food as an expression of love and care for the Chinese.
Invitation to a Banquet is a fascinating and informative read for anyone interested in food. I'd never really thought much about China's regional cuisines previously; I'd grown up eating Cantonese food in my family and was occasionally exposed to other types of Chinese food - Teochew, Shanghainese, Sichuan etc - but I wasn't terribly curious about Chinese food. Reading Fuchsia Dunlop changed that and made me want to visit the Universal Prosperity Tavern in Shaoxing to have lacquered sparrows' wings and broad beans; to have braised pomelo pith with shrimp eggs in Guangdong; to visit Yangzhou to try dishes that showed off their "extraordinary knifework"; to Datong in Shanxi province for its "pasta arts"; to Deda Western Food Restaurant in Shanghai.
Five stars.
In Invitation to a Banquet, Dunlop delves deeper into Chinese food, "how should we understand it, and….how should we eat it". The book is divided into 4 sections - Hearth (on the origins of Chinese food), Farm (on ingredients), Kitchen (on culinary techniques), and Table (more general observations on Chinese cuisine). In Hearth, Dunlop argues that for the ancient Chinese, it is "the transformation of raw ingredients through cooking [that marks] the boundary not only between humans and their savage ancestors, but between the people of the civilised world…and the barbarians who lived around its edges". Raw foods are extremely rare in Chinese cuisine. Not only that, the Chinese emphasise the transformative nature of cooking - cutting, seasoning ingredients until they look very different from their original state. And "in that sense, a stir-fry of slivered meat and vegetables is more essentially Chinese than a slab of roast pork". While foreigners use knives and forks to cut up chunks of meat on their plates, the Chinese eat food that has already been transformed into small "chopstickable pieces" through cutting. The "violence and savagery of knives" is restricted to the kitchen.
In Hearth, Dunlop also touches on the quintessential elements of a Chinese meal - rice, soup (which may be the only liquid at the table, serving as both food and drink). Mixing and matching of different complementary and contrasting ingredients is key. Seldom do you get that sharp delineation of the meat dish and the veg. Dunlop also points out that traditionally, it is rare for the Chinese to eat a lot of meat. Whereas one pork chop would feed only one westerner, the Chinese would cut pork into slivers, stir fry it with a complementary vegetable and this would feed an entire family. For this reason, westerners tended to view Chinese cooking with great suspicion as they couldn't tell what all those finely chopped ingredients were. Dunlop also points out that for the Chinese, food is more than nourishment but also medicinal; far better to maintain or bring the body into balance via diet than to resort to drugs. When westerners criticise Chinese food for being unhealthy, it is because Anglo-American takeaway food bears no relation to what most Chinese people actually eat (e.g. westerners choosing fried rice over plain rice, spooning oily food into their bowls rather than picking up pieces of food with their chopsticks and leaving the oil in the serving dish, eating large servings of rich food rather than one small chunk of, say, fatty Dongpo pork with plain rice, some greens and broth).
In Ingredients, Dunlop reframes the Chinese relationship with ingredients. For the Chinese chef, the question is not "is this edible" but "how can I make this edible"? The Chinese don't eat marginal parts from "poverty and desperation" but because it is a privilege to dine on foods that require great care and creativity to render not only edible, but delicious. Hence the use of all manner of unusual ingredients from the swim bladder of fish and pomelo pith, to pig ears and goose webs. I loved the (non-exhaustive) list Dunlop provided of all these Chinese words for mouthfeel; I was only familiar with a small fraction of these.
Dunlop debunks the misconception that the Chinese don't care about the provenance and seasonality of their ingredients, unlike, say, a Tuscan restaurant. While westerners will pay for handmade pasta, Japanese sushi or dry-aged beef, they are much less willing to pay for top ingredients in a Chinese restaurant. She touches on the ingredients that underpin Chinese cuisine - the soybean, vegetables, pork, the mutton of the Muslim Hui people and qu, the dessicated micro-organisms that the Chinese add to their food for fermentation (to make rice wine, fermented beans, soy sauce, etc).
In Kitchen, Dunlop discusses different culinary approaches and techniques, for instance, the emphasis on "root flavours" versus "blended flavours", Chinese knife skills, the art of steaming and the art of stir-frying (which Dunlop clarifies is a catch all term that covers many many different kinds of frying). Dunlop helps the reader appreciate the technical complexity of "stir-frying" and how much more challenging it is compared to other cuisines, where chefs have the luxury of tasting their food and making adjustments to the flavour.
In the final section, Table, Dunlop offers some general observations on Chinese cuisine - the diversity of ingredients from China's "tapestry of lands and climates", the Chinese use of sugar and sweetness in dishes that are not meant to be eaten as desserts; trompe l'oeil vegetarian foods made to resemble (and taste like) meat; Chinese cultural appropriation (e.g with Deda Western Food Restaurant in Shanghai), food as an expression of love and care for the Chinese.
Invitation to a Banquet is a fascinating and informative read for anyone interested in food. I'd never really thought much about China's regional cuisines previously; I'd grown up eating Cantonese food in my family and was occasionally exposed to other types of Chinese food - Teochew, Shanghainese, Sichuan etc - but I wasn't terribly curious about Chinese food. Reading Fuchsia Dunlop changed that and made me want to visit the Universal Prosperity Tavern in Shaoxing to have lacquered sparrows' wings and broad beans; to have braised pomelo pith with shrimp eggs in Guangdong; to visit Yangzhou to try dishes that showed off their "extraordinary knifework"; to Datong in Shanxi province for its "pasta arts"; to Deda Western Food Restaurant in Shanghai.
Five stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 25, 2025
I did not think this was a book I’d have in my top for 2024 but the passion, enthusiasm and delivery from Dunlop is excellent. Highly recommend the audio.
January 21, 2024
Fuschia Dunlop walks readers through all elements of Chinese cuisine -- from ingredients to cooking methods to seasonings to appetites -- and incidentally writes a fascinating history of China. I learned so much about different eras of history, the development of technology, and the relationship between different countries. Every story about food was also a story about geography, history or anthropology.
December 26, 2024
It was so interesting to learn how different each province is and the author’s experience traveling to each of them. There was so much information about specific dishes and their history, cultural significance, and ingredients. I really enjoyed the parts where the author discussed the differences between westernized Chinese food and authentic and the opposite! I was surprised to learn how different the order dishes are eaten is and how important texture is in deciding the menu. Im really glad the author narrated the audiobook because you could really tell how much she enjoys researching and discussing this topic.
November 1, 2023
My first introduction to Fuchsia Dunlop was many years ago, watching the late Anthony Bourdain on an episode [of Parts Unknown] where she talked him through, of all things, a Chinese banquet menu. Her explanation was thorough without being boring, bridging cultural gaps for "westerners" without talking down to the audience and immediately conveying the respect and admiration she has for the Chinese culture generally and their foods in particular. I soon sought out her cookbooks and have a couple on my shelf that I turn to whenever I want a faithful recipe for a "Chinese" dish. This book was a longer reprise of the "introduction" to Chinese cuisine that she provided to Bourdain and his audience all those years ago. Each chapter is designated by a dish in her banquet menu and quickly opens into a broader topic. A bit of anthropology, some history, some debunking of myths and prejudices, and a number of personal stories that convey her affection for the land and its foods were spread across the many "courses" of prose that the author served in this well written "banquet".
I listened to this book as an audiobook with the narration provided by the author herself, and though not every author has the clear and steady vocal presence to do their own narration, in this case it was very masterfully done. The audiobook has the advantages of not only conveying the tone of the author but also having anything that was written in Chinese pronounced correctly. The only drawbacks were that I would have liked a map of China to better picture the areas that she referenced as she spoke of them and pictures of the foods as they were discussed that I'm assuming would be provided in a physical book.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who is fascinated by China and its cooking.
I received advanced access to this audiobook thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, HighBridge Audio) in exchange for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.
I listened to this book as an audiobook with the narration provided by the author herself, and though not every author has the clear and steady vocal presence to do their own narration, in this case it was very masterfully done. The audiobook has the advantages of not only conveying the tone of the author but also having anything that was written in Chinese pronounced correctly. The only drawbacks were that I would have liked a map of China to better picture the areas that she referenced as she spoke of them and pictures of the foods as they were discussed that I'm assuming would be provided in a physical book.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who is fascinated by China and its cooking.
I received advanced access to this audiobook thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, HighBridge Audio) in exchange for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.
Read
January 21, 2025Exhaustive (literally almost took me a year to read, albeit with lots of breaks) account of the diversities in Chinese cuisine and its cultural, historical, and societal contexts. I appreciated the author's knowledge and admiration for the cuisine, her passion is evident in her prose.
I learned a lot on things I never thought too hard about while growing up and eating my family's version of Chinese food. My favourite fun fact I learned is that the southern term for spoon - 调羹 (tiáo gēng) - is literally defined as a tool to mix & blend (tiáo), soups 羹 (gēng).
Will definitely be revisiting certain chapters, as each of them are pretty self contained. Dreaming about the day I can travel/eat my way across China / East Asia.
My only qualm is that I still kind of wish this book was written by someone at least ethnically Chinese. I guess it's the whole debate on who is allowed to tell what stories... While I feel grateful to the author for immersing herself into a culture that she is likely more knowledgable of than most ABC's like me are, I still feel confused.
Would still recommend to anyone remotely interested in Chinese food though.
I learned a lot on things I never thought too hard about while growing up and eating my family's version of Chinese food. My favourite fun fact I learned is that the southern term for spoon - 调羹 (tiáo gēng) - is literally defined as a tool to mix & blend (tiáo), soups 羹 (gēng).
Will definitely be revisiting certain chapters, as each of them are pretty self contained. Dreaming about the day I can travel/eat my way across China / East Asia.
My only qualm is that I still kind of wish this book was written by someone at least ethnically Chinese. I guess it's the whole debate on who is allowed to tell what stories... While I feel grateful to the author for immersing herself into a culture that she is likely more knowledgable of than most ABC's like me are, I still feel confused.
Would still recommend to anyone remotely interested in Chinese food though.
October 16, 2024
It seems this book is defensive and self conscious protecting the idea of good Chinese good, and a tough read if you already like Chinese food and want to learn more. It seems geared at a thick British person who might have only the worst negative stereotypes against Chinese food to begin with. It's written with passion of course, but it's probably not great if you already think Chinese is diverse and great.
April 28, 2024
Fuschia Dunlop changed my life, and continues to do so. No food writer comes close to capturing the sensual delights of a nation's cuisine, and she does it all while weaving in a broad and fascinating historical narrative. I am both thrilled and in awe.
Read
September 7, 2023Listened to this, abridged, on BBC R4. Mouthwatering for anyone with a Chinese food penchant.
April 3, 2024
Read for the Booktube prize as the member of the jury
My Ranking - 6th out of 6 books (last and least liked)
Rating - 3 stars
NPS - 7 (Neutral)
The book is an interesting read, about the history of Chinese food as consumed in China today. I liked that the misconceptions of the cuisine are squashed and called out while calling out those in power in the country for having exotic animals and the problematic charades.
However, the writing was bland for me and after a period of time I was tired of hearing about bear’s claw and pig brain.
This was clearly not written for me.
My Ranking - 6th out of 6 books (last and least liked)
Rating - 3 stars
NPS - 7 (Neutral)
The book is an interesting read, about the history of Chinese food as consumed in China today. I liked that the misconceptions of the cuisine are squashed and called out while calling out those in power in the country for having exotic animals and the problematic charades.
However, the writing was bland for me and after a period of time I was tired of hearing about bear’s claw and pig brain.
This was clearly not written for me.
December 22, 2023
A wholehearted, fascinating, and enjoyable history of Chinese cooking. I don’t eat many of the foods discussed in this book but I was so interested in each chapter! Will appeal to those who enjoy cultural histories or the writing of Bee Wilson
August 23, 2025
Pluses and minuses.
Plus: Fantastic interplay of Chinese history through many millennium and explanations enlightening the reader on how differently Chinese culture thinks, views, and enjoys eating.
- texture is everything
- true flavors
- process is vital
- author definitely is an authority on Chinese cuisine
- absolutely loved the historical content and views on how regions of the country strongly differ from one another.
Cons: At times it was structurally tiring to read, often feeling more like a series of essays not aware of each other. Maybe the essays were written over a broad period of time then collected into a book format?? This resulted in multiple repetitions of thesis statements.
I found the information fascinating, especially since I’ve spent a lot of time in China. But the flow was so challenging that I kept thinking it could have been edited into a smaller length and still been super informative.
Still, major props to Fuschia Dunlop for her encyclopedic knowledge and curiosity-driven travels.
Plus: Fantastic interplay of Chinese history through many millennium and explanations enlightening the reader on how differently Chinese culture thinks, views, and enjoys eating.
- texture is everything
- true flavors
- process is vital
- author definitely is an authority on Chinese cuisine
- absolutely loved the historical content and views on how regions of the country strongly differ from one another.
Cons: At times it was structurally tiring to read, often feeling more like a series of essays not aware of each other. Maybe the essays were written over a broad period of time then collected into a book format?? This resulted in multiple repetitions of thesis statements.
I found the information fascinating, especially since I’ve spent a lot of time in China. But the flow was so challenging that I kept thinking it could have been edited into a smaller length and still been super informative.
Still, major props to Fuschia Dunlop for her encyclopedic knowledge and curiosity-driven travels.
abandoned
August 24, 2025Lascio al 67%
Io mi interesso alla cucina più che altro dal punto di vista antropologico; posso reggere un numero limitato di volte la descrizione di come si preparano zuppe superbe o di come trasmutare ingredienti improbabili, perché la cucina cinese è ‘la più avanzata al mondo’ scritto in seimila modi diversi.
Citando in un capitolo come abbia assorbito le influenze della cucina uigura, ma glissando sul genocidio di quel popolo - questo sì, mi ha infastidito profondamente.
E lascio qui, altrimenti mi perdo nei mille dettagli che non mi hanno convinto o che mi hanno lasciato perplessa in un libro che è fondamentalmente un poema sulla superiorità cinese in tutto.
Io mi interesso alla cucina più che altro dal punto di vista antropologico; posso reggere un numero limitato di volte la descrizione di come si preparano zuppe superbe o di come trasmutare ingredienti improbabili, perché la cucina cinese è ‘la più avanzata al mondo’ scritto in seimila modi diversi.
Citando in un capitolo come abbia assorbito le influenze della cucina uigura, ma glissando sul genocidio di quel popolo - questo sì, mi ha infastidito profondamente.
E lascio qui, altrimenti mi perdo nei mille dettagli che non mi hanno convinto o che mi hanno lasciato perplessa in un libro che è fondamentalmente un poema sulla superiorità cinese in tutto.
January 26, 2025
An absolutely incredible read which blew out my expectations. Ms. Dunlop is clearly so knowledgeable and passionate about her subject and each dish was a joy to read about. This also meaningfully helped me understand more some of my own dietary patterns and feelings, and also encouraged me to try more dishes from all the many regions of China.
October 19, 2024
Fascinating history of how cooking evolved over time and in different parts of China.
September 11, 2025
Thoroughly enjoyed this ode to Chinese cuisine that sparkles with an informed and infectious enthusiasm for its subject.
May 26, 2025
Wow I’m hungry. Delightful! 4.5
April 28, 2024
A really well written book on Chinese food with fascinating examples and concepts. As a primer I felt it did a great job.
My only criticism is that the author repeatedly seemed unable to celebrate Chinese food without talking down about other cuisines, which felt unnecessary.
My only criticism is that the author repeatedly seemed unable to celebrate Chinese food without talking down about other cuisines, which felt unnecessary.
April 23, 2025
how'd she make chinese food sound so sexy
August 6, 2025
This is one of the most negative three star reviews I will ever write.
Reasons I debated between 3 and 4: this book does exactly what it wants to do. Dunlop makes a convincing case for her knowledge of Chinese cuisine(s). The book is more about food than it is about the author.
Reasons the book is obnoxious: Fuchsia Dunlop is an annoying, judgmental person. In her opinion, the Chinese did everything first and it is the most flavor-est, most inventive-est, most local-est and seasonal-est most bestest food that ever fooded in the world, especially in comparison to all of “Western” food, which, to her knowledge, consists of hamburgers, chop suey, French food, and home dinners made of a meat and two veg, unseasoned, unsauced.
Some of her claims are obviously completely uninformed, such as when she claims the Chinese invented restaurants first—hundreds of years before the French.
Neither of these nations invented restaurants. There are restaurant-like businesses in archaeological ruins from—oh just about every single f’n place that had both cities and currency. Home kitchens are pretty modern.
She hates on any Chinese food outside of China. It’s all bastardized, especially American Chinese, because no person from China would eat it. But then there’s a chapter on food cultural appropriation—the Chinese have restaurants with mish-mash menus from all of Europe and the USA put together in wild ways that none of us would eat. But that is objectively good. Because the Chinese have taken it and made it suit them. Dunlop sees no irony in this.
Actually that chapter made me laugh—at one point, I was thinking that the funniest thing she could do right now is to say that the Chinese were the first and best at cultural appropriation��and then there it is, a page later.
There is only one thing that “all of western cuisine” does better (although—spoiler alert!—China is catching up), and it’s dessert. But in Dunlop’s opinion, us unwashed, uncultured swine are “addicted” to having dessert after every meal.
But the chapter about the elite preference for exotic and sometimes endangered food is the most cringe-inducing, full of all sorts of logical fallacies and what about-isms. “Why point the finger at eating endangered pangolins when foie gras is cruelty??!?”
Well first, we have more than one finger to point with. Also, these are two completely separate issues.
“Western food culture is causing ecological destruction and deforestation, which is way worse!” Okay and the Chinese also have issues with pollution and bottom trawling and etc.
Overall, I DO feel informed. Not sure what to do with any of this information. But I certainly do have some of it now.
But god, Dunlop is as snobby and impractical as Michael Pollan in Slow Food.
Reasons I debated between 3 and 4: this book does exactly what it wants to do. Dunlop makes a convincing case for her knowledge of Chinese cuisine(s). The book is more about food than it is about the author.
Reasons the book is obnoxious: Fuchsia Dunlop is an annoying, judgmental person. In her opinion, the Chinese did everything first and it is the most flavor-est, most inventive-est, most local-est and seasonal-est most bestest food that ever fooded in the world, especially in comparison to all of “Western” food, which, to her knowledge, consists of hamburgers, chop suey, French food, and home dinners made of a meat and two veg, unseasoned, unsauced.
Some of her claims are obviously completely uninformed, such as when she claims the Chinese invented restaurants first—hundreds of years before the French.
Neither of these nations invented restaurants. There are restaurant-like businesses in archaeological ruins from—oh just about every single f’n place that had both cities and currency. Home kitchens are pretty modern.
She hates on any Chinese food outside of China. It’s all bastardized, especially American Chinese, because no person from China would eat it. But then there’s a chapter on food cultural appropriation—the Chinese have restaurants with mish-mash menus from all of Europe and the USA put together in wild ways that none of us would eat. But that is objectively good. Because the Chinese have taken it and made it suit them. Dunlop sees no irony in this.
Actually that chapter made me laugh—at one point, I was thinking that the funniest thing she could do right now is to say that the Chinese were the first and best at cultural appropriation��and then there it is, a page later.
There is only one thing that “all of western cuisine” does better (although—spoiler alert!—China is catching up), and it’s dessert. But in Dunlop’s opinion, us unwashed, uncultured swine are “addicted” to having dessert after every meal.
But the chapter about the elite preference for exotic and sometimes endangered food is the most cringe-inducing, full of all sorts of logical fallacies and what about-isms. “Why point the finger at eating endangered pangolins when foie gras is cruelty??!?”
Well first, we have more than one finger to point with. Also, these are two completely separate issues.
“Western food culture is causing ecological destruction and deforestation, which is way worse!” Okay and the Chinese also have issues with pollution and bottom trawling and etc.
Overall, I DO feel informed. Not sure what to do with any of this information. But I certainly do have some of it now.
But god, Dunlop is as snobby and impractical as Michael Pollan in Slow Food.
November 9, 2023
Fuchsia Dunlop’s Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food is a wide ranging survey of the history, traditional recipes and current practices of Chinese food. Dunlop is an English Writer and cook specialized on Chinese cuisine, while clearly an outsider, she is very open and respectful in her treatment of the subject.
While the book ends with a timeline, the chapters do not follow a chronological development. Instead they focus on a particular food preparation method, ingredient or dish. Dunlop details the difficulties of describing a large geographic region with a single description, even noting where the Chinese have been debating how to divide and name their food regions. Dunlop draws from her own experiences, historic research and interviews in the various sections.
A key consideration and is addressing our understanding of Chinese food, as represented in most American towns and cities as the inexpensive takeaway. And of course this is not considered healthy as it is considered fast food. If one to eat in the more traditional Chinese manner as Dunlop details, one would eat seasonally, with a lower emphasis on meat and much more rice or other starches.
One should avoid as much as possible to generalize, and here Dunlop avoids that pitfall, instead giving a wide ranging history and descriptions of the ingredients and tastes. Not a book one sets down without the desire to eat.
As an audiobook, the author read the work and remains steady and engaging throughout. Though I do not have the language knowledge to address the accuracy of the Chinese.
A great read for those interested in food history looking for a more general work, not those looking for a more traditional chronological history of development.
I received a free audio version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
While the book ends with a timeline, the chapters do not follow a chronological development. Instead they focus on a particular food preparation method, ingredient or dish. Dunlop details the difficulties of describing a large geographic region with a single description, even noting where the Chinese have been debating how to divide and name their food regions. Dunlop draws from her own experiences, historic research and interviews in the various sections.
A key consideration and is addressing our understanding of Chinese food, as represented in most American towns and cities as the inexpensive takeaway. And of course this is not considered healthy as it is considered fast food. If one to eat in the more traditional Chinese manner as Dunlop details, one would eat seasonally, with a lower emphasis on meat and much more rice or other starches.
One should avoid as much as possible to generalize, and here Dunlop avoids that pitfall, instead giving a wide ranging history and descriptions of the ingredients and tastes. Not a book one sets down without the desire to eat.
As an audiobook, the author read the work and remains steady and engaging throughout. Though I do not have the language knowledge to address the accuracy of the Chinese.
A great read for those interested in food history looking for a more general work, not those looking for a more traditional chronological history of development.
I received a free audio version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
January 16, 2024
This felt epic. I usually listened to it while I was in the kitchen myself, as inspiration. I'm interested in learning more about Fuchsia Dunlop now. Her narration of this audiobook was excellent. I appreciated her pronunciation of words in Mandarin, too.
🥢
85.90% Meaning of 素
76.90% Origin of dim sum. Tang dynasty. In between meals. With tea.
75.50% Re: Xiao long bao
61.30% The Chinese cleaver
50.50% “What could be more grotesque than seeking out the rarest creatures for the purpose of eating them, just for kicks?”
47.80% Penises of wild stags……..
39.30% Oh I think I know these rice balls in soup
39.40% Shiaoshing wine. I missed this whole “qu” importance though.
26.20% Mrs Chen, inventor of the Mapo tofu
23.20% The # of vegetable species cultivated and consumed in China greatly exceeds all the vegs and fruits consumed in the west
21.60% Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon the bamboo shoots scene
20.40% Recipes from the garden of contentment
19.60% Chinese = insisted food to be seasonal for practicality and health. Harmony of body with nature. Ancient texts specify when to eat what in which season.
17.20% Restaurant, from French word for restore, also focused on health and healing with broths
14.90% People see food and medicine as inseparable. Earliest Chinese recipes are actually prescriptions like Recipes for 52 Ailments written in silk.
11.60% Two categories of soup: light (tang) clearer type, one more dense like stew
8.30% Do not waste a single grain of rice
7.90% Where white rice came from, in terms of importance. Seen as civilized to eat rice rather than meat (?)
3.80% Chapter 1 begins
2.60% Addressing COVID-19, wet markets, “bat soup”, maelstrom of erroneous info
🥢
85.90% Meaning of 素
76.90% Origin of dim sum. Tang dynasty. In between meals. With tea.
75.50% Re: Xiao long bao
61.30% The Chinese cleaver
50.50% “What could be more grotesque than seeking out the rarest creatures for the purpose of eating them, just for kicks?”
47.80% Penises of wild stags……..
39.30% Oh I think I know these rice balls in soup
39.40% Shiaoshing wine. I missed this whole “qu” importance though.
26.20% Mrs Chen, inventor of the Mapo tofu
23.20% The # of vegetable species cultivated and consumed in China greatly exceeds all the vegs and fruits consumed in the west
21.60% Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon the bamboo shoots scene
20.40% Recipes from the garden of contentment
19.60% Chinese = insisted food to be seasonal for practicality and health. Harmony of body with nature. Ancient texts specify when to eat what in which season.
17.20% Restaurant, from French word for restore, also focused on health and healing with broths
14.90% People see food and medicine as inseparable. Earliest Chinese recipes are actually prescriptions like Recipes for 52 Ailments written in silk.
11.60% Two categories of soup: light (tang) clearer type, one more dense like stew
8.30% Do not waste a single grain of rice
7.90% Where white rice came from, in terms of importance. Seen as civilized to eat rice rather than meat (?)
3.80% Chapter 1 begins
2.60% Addressing COVID-19, wet markets, “bat soup”, maelstrom of erroneous info
February 22, 2024
This book obviously took an extraordinary amount of research, travel, and experience to write. The historical, social, and political aspects are well accounted for in this discussion of China’s deeply complex cuisine. Unfortunately I felt like the frequent comparisons to the West detracted from this otherwise transportive analysis of Chinese food. We know that in the West there is a Euro-centric view of absolutely everything. In many ways our entire cultural understanding of the world is backwards and ignorant. Hopefully that will change at the hands of books, tv, movies, etc. coming out of the Eastern world. However, I just felt like it being repeated so many times when that wasn’t the main theme of the book was somewhat redundant.
“Ironically, however, just as western chefs and food producers are jumping on to the particular bandwagon of imitation meat, those at the cutting edge of Chinese catering are exploring the possibility of jumping off.”
“Amid all this innovation by western food manufacturers, few int he west seem to realize that he Chinese have been devising ways of using plant foods to mimic meat for more than a thousands years.”
“It’s worth nothing that all of this was going on more than five hundred years before the appearance of the restaurant in eighteenth-century Paris.”
“Ironically, however, just as western chefs and food producers are jumping on to the particular bandwagon of imitation meat, those at the cutting edge of Chinese catering are exploring the possibility of jumping off.”
“Amid all this innovation by western food manufacturers, few int he west seem to realize that he Chinese have been devising ways of using plant foods to mimic meat for more than a thousands years.”
“It’s worth nothing that all of this was going on more than five hundred years before the appearance of the restaurant in eighteenth-century Paris.”
January 2, 2025
This book combined personal anecdote with historical arguments from a bird’s eye view seemingly without realising that the former makes poor evidence for the latter. All the evidence for the historical argument have biases not tackled (why primarily quotes from literature, not analysis of material production?), and are heavily cherry picked instead of statistical. Evidence essentially boils down to “trust me, bro”. I have no doubt the author is an excellent chef, but excellent culinary researcher she is not. This does not pass muster as research.
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