Book review: Fuschia Dunlop's Invitation to a Banquet

I listened to the audiobook version of Fuschia Dunlop's Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food in a course of two or three days. It has been one of my bigger accomplishments recently: listening to the 19-ish hours of audiobooks within several books. Yet another notch in the post for audiobooks, had I found myself dealing with 500 pages of interesting but still not absolutely addictive reading, this book might have gone unread, but here we are!

No review of the book can begin without discussing Dunlop's work. She's a trained cook in  traditional Chinese cooking, having taken courses with Chinese cooks in the academy in Sichuan. She is not the first person to write on Chinese cooking or write Chinese recipes in English, but she's most certainly the most prolific and the best. Her knowledge of Chinese cuisine encompasses not just the techniques and ingredients, but the history and cultural context of the concept of Chinese cooking. Food for her is not just about putting something on the fire, it's a philosophy of life.

The book is the culmination of all the research and cooking she has done over the last 40 years in China, a distillation of her lessons and impressions from the massive country, infinitely rich in the art and craft of preparing food. I'm a lot more enriched, informed, and humble after reading (heh) the book. To say anything else would be unnecessary: the book is fuckin' fantastic, and anybody interested in cooking or understanding cooking cultures, even if not necessarily of China, should read it. Ten out of ten stars, easy.

One slight issue I have had with the book, and she throws disclaimers after disclaimers, and undermines her own statements immediately, but that still has to be mentioned is that she tends to hmmm how do I put it...go along with the entrenched Chinese understanding of themselves as the center of the world, even today. The universe, really. The need to be defensive about Chinese cuisine and medicine using ingredients from endangered animals, turning creatures extinct was questionable. So was the need to point out other cultures doing the same: very few people surely support the capture and killing of Blue Whales by the Norwegians and the Japanese, but oppose the Chinese doing the same. She acknowledges all of this, but still, something that needs to be pointed out anyway. The other thing I disliked was how the book started, with a very defensive stance on Chinese food....is it possible she doesn't understand her cosmopolitan readership, or is trying to target a readership population who's never heard good things about Chinese food??!? Either way, it is an interesting editorial decision for sure.

All things considered, one of the best books I've encountered in recent times, I would happily buy multiple copies of the book to give as gifts.