Hi -

I just finished reading Fuchsia Dunlop's "Shark's Fin and Sichuan
Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China", and I found it much
more engaging and funny than I expected it to be. It was also a little
bittersweet & elegaic in some ways.

I loved her descriptions of how she was seduced by the food of Sichuan,
and her adventures in Chengdu and beyond. I envied her the opportunities
she was able to wangle to spend time there, and the culinary education
she was able to acquire while there. She throws in a recipe per chapter,
though many of them have appeared in one or the other of her cookery books.

The core of the book is perhaps in her growing understanding of how
Chinese people experience the taste and texture of food, and how it
differs to what westerners are looking for.

Its a very interesting book, and well worth reading. (And I have no
connection to her or her publisher, I swear!).

Incidentally, she has her won blog site now: http://www.fuchsiadunlop.com/

Cheers,

Ian

wrote:

> Its a very interesting book, and well worth reading. (And I have no
> connection to her or her publisher, I swear!).

yes sure is. have been to Chengdu and all over Sichuan 3 times i can
smell the food now back in Europe.

i sort of believe ya lol

cheers