China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the WestChina to Chinatown tells the story of one of the most notable examples of the globalization of food: the spread of Chinese recipes, ingredients and cooking styles to the Western world. Beginning with the accounts of Marco Polo and Franciscan missionaries, J.A.G. Roberts describes how Westerners’ first impressions of Chinese food were decidedly mixed, with many regarding Chinese eating habits as repugnant. Chinese food was brought back to the West merely as a curiosity. The Western encounter with a wider variety of Chinese cuisine dates from the first half of the 20th century, when Chinese food spread to the West with emigrant communities. The author shows how Chinese cooking has come to be regarded by some as among the world’s most sophisticated cuisines, and yet is harshly criticized by others, for example on the grounds that its preparation involves cruelty to animals. Roberts discusses the extent to which Chinese food, as a facet of Chinese culture overseas, has remained differentiated, and questions whether its ethnic identity is dissolving. Written in a lively style, the book will appeal to food historians and specialists in Chinese culture, as well as to readers interested in Chinese cuisine. |
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 7 |
INTRODUCTION | 9 |
West to East | 13 |
Chinese Food | 15 |
The Western Discovery of Chinese Food | 28 |
Nineteenthcentury Reactions to Chinese Food | 53 |
190049 Western Impressions of Chinese Food in China | 82 |
Westerners and Food in Communist China | 110 |
East to West | 133 |
The Globalization of Chinese Food the Early Stages | 135 |
The Globalization of Chinese Food since 1945 | 161 |
On the Globalization of Chinese Food | 204 |
REFERENCES | 229 |
| 242 | |
| 245 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American attitudes bamboo banquets bean sprouts beef began Beijing bird's nest soup boiled bowl Britain British catering cats century chicken China China London Chinatown Chinese community Chinese cookery Chinese cuisine Chinese dishes Chinese food Chinese meal Chinese population Chinese restaurants Chinese takeaways Chongqing chop suey chopsticks chow Communist consumed consumption culinary cultural customers delicacies described diet dogs drink duck dumplings eaten eating Chinese food eating habits eggs embassy Emily Hahn English European example exotic feast fish flavour foodstuffs foreign French fried Globalization of Chinese Guangzhou guests Hong Kong Indian food ingredients Ken Hom kitchen lived meat menu millet missionaries nests noodles number of Chinese offered opened palate peasants pork rants recipe books references restaurants and takeaways rice roast San Francisco sauce served Shanghai Sichuan soup soy sauce steamed Street taste tinned tion travelled treaty ports vegetables West wine York Zhou Enlai
References to this book
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend Graham Russell Hodges No preview available - 2004 |