Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China - Hardcover

Fuchsia Dunlop

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393066576 ISBN 13: 9780393066579

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008

Synopsis

A new memoir by the most talented and respected British food writer of her generation.

Award-winning food writer Fuchsia Dunlop went to live in China as a student in 1994, and from the very beginning she vowed to eat everything she was offered, no matter how alien and bizarre it seemed. In this extraordinary memoir, Fuchsia recalls her evolving relationship with China and its food, from her first rapturous encounter with the delicious cuisine of Sichuan Province to brushes with corruption, environmental degradation, and greed. In the course of her fascinating journey, Fuchsia undergoes an apprenticeship at China's premier Sichuan cooking school, where she is the only foreign student in a class of nearly fifty young Chinese men; attempts, hilariously, to persuade Chinese people that "Western food" is neither "simple" nor "bland"; and samples a multitude of exotic ingredients, including sea cucumber, civet cat, scorpion, rabbit-heads, and the ovarian fat of the snow frog. But is it possible for a Westerner to become a true convert to the Chinese way of eating? In an encounter with a caterpillar in an Oxford kitchen, Fuchsia is forced to put this to the test.From the vibrant markets of Sichuan to the bleached landscape of northern Gansu Province, from the desert oases of Xinjiang to the enchanting old city of Yangzhou, this unique and evocative account of Chinese culinary culture is set to become the most talked-about travel narrative of the year.

About this title

Book Description:

Literary, entertaining and almost anthropological.

About the Author:

Fuchsia Dunlop has appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “Science Friday,” and “America’s Test Kitchen Radio,” and is a regular contributor to publications including the Financial Times, Saveur, the Wall Street Journal, Lucky Peach, and The New Yorker. She trained as a chef in China and has won four James Beard Awards for her writing about Chinese food. She lives in London.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0393066576
• ISBN 13: 9780393066579
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320