A new memoir by the most talented and respected British food writer of her generation.

Award-winning food writer Fuchsia Dunlop went to live in China as a student in 1994, and from the very beginning she vowed to eat everything she was offered, no matter how alien and bizarre it seemed. In this extraordinary memoir, Fuchsia recalls her evolving relationship with China and its food, from her first rapturous encounter with the delicious cuisine of Sichuan Province to brushes with corruption, environmental degradation, and greed. In the course of her fascinating journey, Fuchsia undergoes an apprenticeship at China's premier Sichuan cooking school, where she is the only foreign student in a class of nearly fifty young Chinese men; attempts, hilariously, to persuade Chinese people that "Western food" is neither "simple" nor "bland"; and samples a multitude of exotic ingredients, including sea cucumber, civet cat, scorpion, rabbit-heads, and the ovarian fat of the snow frog. But is it possible for a Westerner to become a true convert to the Chinese way of eating? In an encounter with a caterpillar in an Oxford kitchen, Fuchsia is forced to put this to the test.

From the vibrant markets of Sichuan to the bleached landscape of northern Gansu Province, from the desert oases of Xinjiang to the enchanting old city of Yangzhou, this unique and evocative account of Chinese culinary culture is set to become the most talked-about travel narrative of the year.

Fuchsia Dunlop was the first Westerner to train at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine, China's leading cooking school. A fluent Mandarin speaker, she has been researching Chinese culinary culture for more than a decade. She is the author of two acclaimed cookbooks, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook and Land of Plenty, which won the Jeremy Round Award for Best First Book in 2002. Fuchsia writes about Chinese food and culture for Gourmet, Saveur, Financial Times, and Time Out, and she appears as a guest chef and commentator on radio and television. In 2006, the British Guild of Food Writers named her Journalist of the Year. She lives in London, where she is a consultant for the popular Bar Shu Sichuanese restaurant.

Publisher: W. W. Norton
Distributor: W. W. Norton
Publication Date: 04-14-2008
Pages: 352
Measurements: 9in X 6in