Since the beginnings of history, people in China have recognized that an unbridled obsession for food, like an unbridled obsession for sex, our other great appetite, can be destructive. A person’s approach to eating has always been seen as a reflection of moral character, revealing piety or depravity, frugality or extravagance, self-cultivation or recklessness. The debate over where to draw the line winds like silk through the fabric of history, from the time of Confucius to the present day. But attempts to deny the joy of eating are futile.