Customer Reviews

The Food and Cooking of China: An Exploration of Chinese Cuisine in the Provinces and Cities of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

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Behind this book is a great concept - do a culinary tour of China, write up your experiences, and include 100 authentic recipes gathered on the road. And so I bought it with great anticipation. Well, the result has things to commend it, and I want to like it. But there are just two things preventing me from liking it a lot more, one annoying, the other, odious.

The author, Francine Halvorsen travels to a handful of cities (she does not venture into the countryside) and meets with mainly professional catering-type people. We do learn some interesting things about the cuisine, but if you expect a colourful portrait of how people cook and eat in China, you won't find it here.

So what is annoying about the book? The present tense, mock diary-style, used by the author. Bad choice. Perhaps a magazine article in the present tense would be OK, but in my experience it takes a very fine writer to pull this off book-length. Now the odious: Halvorsen could have journeyed the Silk Road, instead she followed the Sheraton Circuit. It appears the author's tour was sponsored by China Airlines and the Sheraton Hotel group. That's fine if you want to go that route; maybe. But please have some subtlety about it! Pages of blatant advertorial on the splendours of airline food, and endless interviews with Sheraton managers and chefs damage Halvoren's credibility.

There is a useful glossary of terms in English and Hanyu Pinyin, though some may be of dubious accuracy. The author has done sufficient research, but is let down by the quickie feel of the actual trip and the sloppy work at the back of the book.

If you're having trouble getting past the combination plate, this book will teach your palate how to tickle. I've tried three recipes and look forward to the next as soon as my internist gives the okay. Two chopsticks up!