Anthropological and Historical Perspectives

“This book is certainly the best place to absorb solid facts and insight into the meaning and historical background of Chinese dishes, food customs and symbolism, utensils, culinary esthetics. lndeed, read straight through, this symposium offers a panorama of all Chinese social history, viewed from the kitchen door.”
Raymond A. Sokolov, New York Times Book Review

“A delightful book for the general reader, and an important monograph for sinologists and social historians. It is a cooperative effort by many Chinese scholars, who discuss food in its nutritional, social, economic, and even cosmological aspect—food as a nutrient, as an artifact, asan idea.”
David Hackett Fischer, The New Republic

“It is a book which is long overdue… a most welcome volume to the devotee of the arts of the Chinese kitchen and the art of dining.”
James A. Beard

“This excellent series of scholarly essays by tenleading historians and anthropologiste relates food—its gathering and preparation—to the history and culture of China from ancient to modern times… This pioneer work is an indispensable addition to China studies.”
James Nesi, New China

“A milestone in cultural history, one as important as Lévi-Strauss’s earlier structuralist studiesof food.”
The Virginia Quarterly Review

“A nourishing and varied meal of five dynastie courses with archaeological hors d’oeuvres and a modern dessert.”
Mark Elvin, The Times Literary Supplement

K. C. Chang is professor of anthropology at Harvard University.