Invitation to a Banquet

A brilliant, passionate and spellbinding tour de force – Claudia RodenFuchsia Dunlop is one of the world’s best writers on Chinese food. This book is ample proof of that. Each chapter becomes a course, written in her usual erudite manner but entertaining and informative at the same time. I found the book irresistible, addicting and mouth-watering. If you love Chinese food then you must accept the invitation to her banquet! – Ken Hom CBE, author of CHINESE COOKERYFuchsia Dunlop is such a gifted writer that the reader cannot help being swept along by her masterful, yet intimate, account of a cuisine that is unmatched not only in its refinement and diversity, but also in the richness of its history of nutritional experimentation and speculation. Invitation to a Banquet is destined to become a classic of travel literature and ethnography as well as food writing – Amitav Ghosh, author of SMOKE AND ASHESA brilliantly informative appreciation of Chinese food past and present, told through a series of essential ingredients and dishes… Her sensory writing is so vivid that I felt I was actually there with her in the food markets of China – Bee Wilson * Sunday Times *Dunlop’s erudite historical account tells the story of China’s multifarious cuisine in lip-smacking detail… A compelling blend of scholarship and passion – Isabel Hilton * Financial Times *Dunlop travels from the wheat-eating north to the rice-loving south, dishing up meaty nuggets of history, morsels of politics and, above all, lip-smacking descriptions of food… A paean to Chinese gastronomy as refreshing as a bowl of grandma’s bitter melon and pork rib soup – Tom Miller * Spectator *In 30 years of exploring and documenting the country, Fuchsia Dunlop has done for China what Elizabeth David did for Mediterranean food and Claudia Roden did for the Middle East – Tim Lewis * Observer *An authoritative new book… Dunlop makes a compelling case for the superiority of Chinese cuisine, but in a delighted and expansive rather than a chauvinistic way * Economist *A vivid account of China’s food culture, going back to its mythical past to trace the diversity of flavours, textures and techniques that blossomed in the millennia that followed – Andrew Irwin * TLS *Hailed as one of the finest food writers, Dunlop understands that to simply describe food is stagnant. Her style is wickedly erotic… While one is lulled by her words, it is easy to forget how clever her construction. Like a fugue, her motifs echo and dance us to the end – Mei Chin * Irish Times *

Fuchsia Dunlop was the first Westerner to train as a chef at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine, and has been travelling around China, researching and cooking Chinese food, for some 30 years. Her award-winning and bestselling books include The Food of Sichuan, Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper, Every Grain of Rice and Land of Fish and Rice, several of which are now published in translation in China. Based in London, she speaks, reads and writes Chinese.