{"product_id":"9780393867138","title":"Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eFinalist for the 2024 IACP Award for Literary or Historical Food Writing A \u003cem\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/em\u003e Nonfiction Pick for Summer 2024 • An NPR \"\u003cem\u003eBooks We Love\u003c\/em\u003e\" Pick • A \u003cem\u003eFood \u0026amp; Wine\u003c\/em\u003e Best Food of 2023 • A \u003cem\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/em\u003e Best Food and Drink Book of 2023 • One of \u003cem\u003eSmithsonian\u003c\/em\u003e's Ten Best Books About Food of 2023 The world’s most sophisticated gastronomic culture, brilliantly presented through a banquet of thirty Chinese dishes.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003eChinese was the earliest truly global cuisine. When the first Chinese laborers began to settle abroad, restaurants appeared in their wake. Yet Chinese has the curious distinction of being both one of the world’s best-loved culinary traditions and one of the least understood. For more than a century, the overwhelming dominance of a simplified form of Cantonese cooking ensured that few foreigners experienced anything of its richness and sophistication—but today that is beginning to change.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eInvitation to a Banquet\u003c\/em\u003e, award-winning cook and writer Fuchsia Dunlop explores the history, philosophy, and techniques of Chinese culinary culture. In each chapter, she examines a classic dish, from mapo tofu to Dongpo pork, knife-scraped noodles to braised pomelo pith, to reveal a distinctive aspect of Chinese gastronomy, whether it’s the importance of the soybean, the lure of exotic ingredients, or the history of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. Meeting food producers, chefs, gourmets, and home cooks as she tastes her way across the country, Fuchsia invites readers to join her on an unforgettable journey into Chinese food as it is cooked, eaten, and considered in its homeland.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWeaving together history, mouthwatering descriptions of food, and on-the-ground research conducted over the course of three decades, \u003cem\u003eInvitation to a Banquet\u003c\/em\u003e is a lively, landmark tribute to the pleasures and mysteries of Chinese cuisine.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Norton, W. W. \u0026 Company, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47917844955376,"sku":"9780393867138","price":32.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780393867138_p0.jpg?v=1763697761","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780393867138","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}