Invitation To A Banquet: The Story Of Chinese Food

Fuchsia Dunlop Particular Books €29

Growing up in the 1980s, sweet-andsour pork balls from the local Chinese takeaway were a novelty greedily devoured by Fuchsia Dunlop and her sister.

It wasn’t until a scholarship took her to Sichuan University that she realised how distant those battered spheres were from authentic Chinese cuisine.

In the decades since, Dunlop has devoted herself to learning about a culinary tradition that ranks among the world’s most sophisticated yet remains one of its least understood. Training with top chefs (she was the first Westerner at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine), she’s shared her expertise in cookbooks and a memoir. Now comes Invitation To A Banquet. Each of its 30 chapters focuses on a classic dish, chosen to illuminate an aspect of the cuisine. Dunlop is a fearless eater, shivering with pleasure while consuming the flesh and ovaries of (now banned) drunken crabs – ‘ice-cold and vividly slimy, with a scintillating kick of liquor’ – and finding the ‘thrilling, fair-foul aroma’ that stinky tofu exudes every bit as seductive as the scent of a ripe Camembert.

Her immersion in all things Chinese isn’t without drawbacks. Yes, this is a food book, but less appetising aspects of the broader culture, such as the plight of the Uyghurs, may as well not exist. Dunlop’s case for there being much we can learn from this cuisine remains a powerful one, however, including that its sparing use of meat and fish can help us combat our own unsustainable habits. Also inspiring is the attention that goes into balancing health and happiness on each plate.