China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History

Thomas David DuBois. Reaktion, $25 (256p) ISBN 978-1-78914-861-9

Historian DuBois (Religion and the Making of Modern East Asia) takes an energetic tour of Chinese culinary history. Ranging from the country’s prehistoric agricultural systems to Western influences on 21st-century cuisine, DuBuois uses seven banquets to highlight the foods and cultural attitudes that defined different eras of Chinese history. For example, the Eight Treasures of Zhou feast—described in the Book of Rites,a second-century BCE Confucian text— showcases Bronze Age beliefs that food could help the body reach a harmonious equilibrium mirroring that of nature and the cosmos (“Just like the change in seasons, the human body sought a state of active equilibrium”). Elsewhere, a contemporary hot-pot delivery meal (frozen beef, servings of cabbage, and a “plug-in chafing dish”) reflects how the nationwide spread of chains and franchises after China’s 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization popularized “a food experience that was cheaper and more convenient, but also less local.” Throughout, DuBois debunks the idea that there is one “traditional” Chinese cuisine, explaining how ingredients, dishes, and techniques evolved as a result of imperial expansion, globalization, and industrialization. While Fuschia Dunlop’s Invitation to a Banquet covers similar ground in more depth, the detailed recipes and chatty tone make this an accessible overview of Chinese cuisine. Readers will be satiated. (June)