State banquet and family banquet

Author: Wang Xuanyi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-02-01
Features: This book is a recollection of childhood, a longing for those bygone days (apologies, the author is unwilling to say it is a longing for his mother; how could he use such humble writing to honor her?). The nostalgia centered around a kitchen or dining table is essentially the atmosphere of a typical Chinese family, isn’t it? We discuss the dishes his mother cooked, we reminisce about the endless banquets she hosted, large or small, Chinese or Western. The cuisine may not have been outstanding dish by dish, but the atmosphere never wavered. Whenever his mother was present, guests and hosts alike were filled with joy, and that joy and warmth were never hollow social rituals—rather, they were relaxed, ordinary, and full of happiness. Wang Xuanyi published a column titled "State Banquets and Family Feasts" in a supplement, stringing together many people’s memories through the Jiangzhe cuisine, earning widespread acclaim. Starting from his mother and family stories, Wang Xuanyi writes not just about food but also about the human world, as if reading Lin Wen Yue’s Notes on Feasts from that era. After the serialization in the newspaper, the author received numerous letters and calls from friends and readers, some asking for secret recipes or inviting him over for a meal, while others, with backgrounds similar to his, discussed the many familiar scenes from their family dining tables. After the column articles were compiled into a book, in addition to inviting the seasoned advertiser Zhu Shougu to illustrate it, a recipe book for the eleven dishes from "State Banquets and Family Feasts" was included at the end.