Story of Chinese Food

Author: Tang Lusan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: "Chidao" (the art of dining) is a second only to the Confucian Way, yet if you ask foreigners unfamiliar with Chinese culture, "Chixue" (the study of eating) might surpass Confucianism. However, it's strange that despite the availability of books on everything else in China, there are few books dedicated to "eating." Such a grand lacks a classic to follow. I spent several months in a grand library searching for records about "eating," with the oldest being the Qimin Yaoshu—written by Jia Sixie during the Northern Wei Dynasty. It contains many cooking methods, but back then, materials like sand grain and soy sauce had not yet been invented, so the dishes were not very refined. The next was the Shanfu Jing written by Tang Dynasty scholars, consisting of only a few dozen words, with fragmented information and little practical reference. Over centuries, there was a gap until the Yuan Dynasty, when the Yinshanjuezhao was finally compiled, its content entirely focused on dishes used for making tonics.