Dunlop - Sharks Fin and Sichuan Pepper

Note from the author: Some names and details in this book have been changed to
protect the identities of various people. I have also played fast and loose with
chronology in a few places, for the sake of narrative structure.

Copyright 2008 by Fuchsia Dunlop
First published by Ebury Publishing, one of the publishers in
The Random House Group Ltd.
First American Edition 2008

All rights reserved
First published as a Norton paperback 2009

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Dunlop, Fuchsia.
Sharks fin and Sichuan pepper : a sweet-sour memoir of eating in China / Fuchsia Dunlop.1st American ed.

p. cm.
Originally published: London : Ebury, 2008.

Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-393-06657-9 (hardcover)

1. Cookery, Chinese. 2. Food habitsChina. 3. Dunlop, FuchsiaTravelChina.

4. ChinaDescription and travel. I. Title.
TX724.5.C5D868 2008

641.5951dc22

2007050283

ISBN 978-0-393-33288-9 pbk.
ISBN 978-0-393-24898-2 (e-book)

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com

W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT

CONTENTS

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I couldnt have written this book without Gwen Chesnais, who gave me a room of my own in Shanghai; Zo Waldie, who is the best agent anyone could possibly have; Mike Finnerty, who let me take six months sabbatical from my job at the BBC; Rebecca Carter, whose ingenious editing helped me to pull the whole thing together; my US editor Maria Guarnaschelli, whose encouraging emails always seem to arrive at the right moments; and Phil Parker, who gave me so many inspiring ideas. Shao Wei has been an incredibly generous friend and colleague, and Liu Yaochun has helped me to answer countless vital questions. I am grateful also to Sarah Lavelle and Carey Smith at Ebury Press for their enthusiasm for this book.

Mara Baughman, Penny Bell, Bess Frimodig, Seema Merchant and Francesca Tarocco read early versions of the manuscript and held my hand through various book-related crises. My parents, Bede and Carolyn Dunlop, and my brother and sister-in-law Merlin and Charlotte have been supportive as always, and my parents have given me many useful comments on the manuscript. Some of the stories in this book grew out of pieces I wrote for the Financial Times, Gourmet, Saveur, Observer Food Monthly and the BBCs From Our Own Correspondent, so thanks very much to my various editors, Richard Addis, Lorna Dolan, Tony Grant, Rahul Jacob, Nicola Jeal, Margo True and Jocelyn Zuckerman. I am very grateful to Per-Anders Jrgensen for the use of the photograph on the cover, and to Sebastian Wilkinson for his beautiful illustrations.

I owe more than I can express to the friends in China and in England who have helped me with my writing and my culinary explorations over the years: Bian Jiang, Winnie Chan, Ian Cumming, Volker Dencks, Du Li, Fan Qun, Fan Shixian, Feng Quanxin, Feng Rui, Andrew Flower, Rob and Nancy Gifford, Gan Guojian, Rachel Harris, He Caiping, Aziz Isa, Annabel Jackson, Jiang Yuxiang, Edward Jia, Nikki Johnson, Susan Jung, Nigel Kat, Rob and Leslie Kenny, Rebecca Kesby, Lai Wu, Lan Guijun, Liliane Landor, Lau Kin Wai, Rose Leng, P.K.Leung, Willie Mark, Li Rui, Li Shurong, Li Xiaorong, Liu Guochu, Michelle Liu, Liu Wei, Liu Xinjun, Liu Yi, Long Qingrong, Lu Maoguo, Luo Jixiang, Luo Leiguang, Luo Suizu, Hugo Martin, Mao Anping, Mao Yushi, Graham Nash, Qin Lingzhi, Qiu Rongzhen, Qiu Yangyi, Davide Quadrio, Sansan, Shi Zhitang, Tang Huaping, Tao Ping, Tian Zhengtian, Wang Tao, Wang Xudong, Sebastian Wilkinson, Wu Xiaoming, Xia Yongguo, Xiao Changan, Xiao Jianming, Xie Laoban, Xiong Sizhi, Yu Bo, Yuan Yuan, Zhang Wenjie, Zhang Xiaozhong, Zhou Xun, and Zhou Yu. Thanks also to Mark and Rebecca Bethell and Sam Chatterton Dickson for their comments on various chapters.

In particular, I must thank Liu Wei and Sansan in Changsha, and Xia Yongguo in Yangzhou, for reasons that I think are clear in my narrative!

A BRIEF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF WRITTEN SOURCES

In writing this memoir, I have consulted a great variety of sources, most of which are in Chinese. It seemed inappropriate to list them all in a book that is intended to be fun rather than academic. I would however, like to acknowledge a few English-language sources that I have found particularly useful: Anderson, E.N., The Food of China, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1988; Chang, K.C. (ed.), Food in Chinese Culture, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1977; Knechtges, David R., A Literary Feast: Food in Early Chinese Literature, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 106, No.1, Jan-Mar 1986), pp.49-63; Roberts, J.A.G., China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West, Reaktion Books, London, 2002; So, Yan-kit, Classic Food of China, Macmillan, London, 1992

Readers who wish to cook some of the dishes mentioned in the Sichuan and Hunan chapters might like to read my two previous books: Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Ebury Press, London, 2006, and Sichuan Cookery, Penguin Books, London, 2003

The author and publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce copyright material. Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders. In the event of any omissions, please contact the publishers:

The Felicity Bryan Literary Agency for the extracts from Classic Food of China copyright Yan-kit So 1992 (pp1-2 and pp12-13)

Penguin Books for extracts from The Book of Chuang Tzu, translated by Martin Palmer with Elizabeth Breuilly, 1996 (pp22-23); The Songs of the South: An Ancient Chinese Anthology of Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets, translated by David Hawkes, Penguin Classics, 1985 (p107); and Marco Polos The Travels translated by Ronald Latham, 1958 (p206)

Oxford University Press for an extract from Confucius: The Analects, translated by Raymond Dawson, 1993 (p36)

David R. Knechtges for a translated quotation from A Literary Feast: Food in Early Chinese Literature, in Journal of the American Oriental Society (Vol. 106, No1, Jan-Mar 1986, pp49-63)

Portions of originally appeared in the April 2007 issue of Gourmet. Text 2007 Cond Nast Publications.

J.A.G. Roberts for permission to use various quotations from China to Chinatown Chinese Food in the West (Reaktion Books, London, 2002)

Waitrose Food Illustrated for kind permission to reproduce my recipe for Yangzhou fried rice

Yale University Press for the extract from Food in Chinese Culture by K.C. Chang, 1977 (page 49).

Praise for

Sharks Fin and Sichuan Pepper

Since her first Sichuan cookbook came out several years ago, Fuchsia Dunlop has been a particular hero of mine, on par with Paula Wolfert and David Thompsonpart anthropologist, part gourmet.