Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food

Chinese food is one of the world's favorite cuisines but also one of the least understood. For more than a century, western misconceptions about the way Chinese people cook and eat have clouded appreciation of an ancient and sophisticated culinary culture. How many outsiders know that the Chinese have been deeply concerned with the links between diet and health for more than two millennia, or that there was a glittering restaurant scene in 13th century Hangzhou? Rather than a cookbook, Invitation to a Banquet is award-winning writer Fuchsia Dunlop's engaging and richly informative exploration of the history, techniques and philosophies of Chinese cuisine. Through a 'menu' of thirty dishes from Mapo tofu to knife-scraped noodles, drunken crabs to stir-fried greens, Dunlop illuminates some of the key themes of Chinese gastronomy and invites you to taste Chinese food as you've never tasted it before.