China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History
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Thomas David DuBois, a professor in the Folk Culture Research Center at Beijing Normal University, offers a quick tt our through Chinese culinary history by recreating seven meals from literature, film, and contemporary sources, demonstrating the evolution of technique, changing access to ingredients, and the evolution of Chinese food culture.
DuBois pays attention to what change meant: the arrival of a new, easily-grown food might displace an ingredient with a long traditions. Technological advances might transform a laborious preparation into something humdrum.
At the same time, he alerts us to whom a meal was served to, who prepared it, who might have recorded it for posterity, and what the meal was meant to convey when it was recounted.
There are recipes, some translated from sources nearly two thousand years old, others adapted from modern works, whether socialist pamphlets or modern restaurant chains. But the value here is what DuBois tells us about how change occurs within China.
Hardcover. Black-and-white photographs.
