Chile Pepper in China - A Cultural Biography

Brian R. Dott explores how the non-native chile went from obscurity to ubiquity in China, influencing not just cuisine but also medicine, language, and cultural identity. The Chile Pepper in China sheds new light on the piquant cultural impact of a potent plant and raises broader questions regarding notions of authenticity in cuisine.

List of contents

Acknowledgments
Chinese Dynasties and Regimes
Introduction
1. Names and Places: How the Chile Found Its Way “Home” to China
2. Spicing Up the Palate
3. Spicing Up the Pharmacopeia
4. Too Hot for Words: Elite Reticence Toward Chile Peppers
5. Chiles as Beautiful Objects and Literary Emblems
6. Mao’s Little Red Spice: Chiles and Regional Identity Conclusion
Appendix A. Late Imperial Recipe Collections
Appendix B. Medical Texts Consulted
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Color Plates

About the author

Brian R. Dott is Robert Allen Skotheim Chair of History at Whitman College. He is the author of Identity Reflections: Pilgrimages to Mount Tai in Late Imperial China (2004).

Summary

Brian R. Dott explores how the non-native chile went from obscurity to ubiquity in China, influencing not just cuisine but also medicine, language, and cultural identity. The Chile Pepper in China sheds new light on the piquant cultural impact of a potent plant and raises broader questions regarding notions of authenticity in cuisine.

Additional text

There is much to praise about the book: its painstaking research, its sensitivity to the diversities of regional and historical contexts within China, and the top-notch storytelling. On the last point, Dott deserves special mention. The Chile Pepper in China will be one of the few books that will be read and savored by academics and civilians alike.

Product details

• Authors: Brian R. Dott, Dott Brian R.
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.05.2020
• EAN: 9780231195324
• ISBN: 978-0-231-19532-4
• No. of pages: 296
• Series: Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Cultural history; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; China, History: specific events & topics, HISTORY / Asia / China, COOKING / History, Cookery / food & drink etc, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Agriculture & Food, Food & society, History: specific events and topics, Asian History, Cultural studies: food and society, Cookery / food and drink / food writing, COOKING / Regional & Cultural / Chinese, cooking; history; China