China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West

The book is a valuable and timely account of the West’s strange love-hate relationship with Chinese food, and a stimulating read, provoking as it does so many challenging questions about how we perceive and adapt to other cultures The Times Informative and readable The Independent The style and presentation, as well as the topic, make this a very good addition to the literature on the history of food. Recommended. All levels Choice J.A.G. Roberts has penned an absorbing account. China to Chinatown probably tells us as much about our own attitudes as host community as it does about food. A worthwhile read. A wonderful history that is also a fascinating account of the way we eat today, shedding light on our understanding of society as well as its food habits. – Ken Hom, chef and author A fascinating study of the way attitudes of Westerners to Chinese food in China changed in relation to the nature of political situations and to the role of Western commentators, missionaries and aesthetes. – Jack Goody, author of Food and Love: A Cultural History of East and West

J.A.G. Roberts is a lecturer in the School of Humanities at the University of Huddersfield, and is author of China Through Western Eyes (3 vols, 1991-6) and A History of China (1999).