Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives

by Kwang-chih Chang

China's natural resources and distinctive methods of producing, prepapring, and serving food have played an essential role throughout history in shaping Chinese culture. This wide-ranging anthropological study of hte Chinese food tradition presents a unique analysis of a culture through its eating habits. "This is so far, in English, no such comprehensive treatment of the subject of food in china. The rich information provided by the authors opens a new direction of research, analysis, and interpretation in both sinological studies and comparative studies on various cultures." -- Cho-yun Hsu

Genres: Food, China, History, Nonfiction, Food History, Cooking

429 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Hock Tjoa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a worthy book even though it does not rate high in terms of readability--it is a book by academics on a topic that I find fascinating, part anthropology, part food criticism. It is somewhat amazing that Chinese cooking is so well documented historically as well as regionally.

[Keenan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An impressive anthropological collection of Chinese food throughout the years, but certainly lacking in necessary context when compared to Anderson's "The Food of China" masterpiece. Most interesting was following the patchwork collection of poetry, stories, and artifacts to build up a sort of narrative of how people ate and why they ate the things they do. The Tang dynasty seemed to have the most unique difference in food styles and customs from the modern day (live frogs, anybody?), and as a result this served as the most interesting section of the book. It was also surprisingly interesting to see what "Modern China" from a food historian's perspective was back in 1975 when this book came out. Definitely a good read for the more academically minded reader.

[Katharine Holden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, detailed read.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best studies of food anthropology in English.