The magic flavours of China, in your kitchen

When people in ancient China spoke of the ‘five tastes’, they were talking not only literally about the five tastes recognized in Chinese gastronomy – sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty – but also metaphorically about all the ingredients and flavours at a cook’s disposal. They were part of the dynamic process of the cosmos, like the five elements and the constant flux of yin and yang. A chef was a kind of magician, someone able to harness the virtues of the five tastes and combine them harmoniously in a dish.

You don’t need to be a Chinese cook to find inspiration in the Chinese arts of flavour. With a few core seasonings, flavour combinations and techniques, you can conjure up delicious dishes from whatever ingredients you have to hand, whether seasonal treats from a farmers’ market, specialist produce or basic vegetables from a supermarket. These recipes – which celebrate the Chinese philosophy that good health and pleasure are inseparable when it comes to food – will show you how to celebrate the irresistible flavours of China in your own kitchen.

Fuchsia Dunlop is one of the world's best writers on Chinese food -- Ken Hom CBE
As a young Chinese food writer, Fuchsia Dunlop's books were my Harry Potter. She introduced me to the vibrant, expansive, magical world of Chinese gastronomy beyond the four walls of my Cantonese home. Next to my parents, there's no person I've learned more about the cooking of my people than Fuchsia Dunlop -- Kevin Pang, author of A VERY CHINESE COOKBOOK
Fuchsia has a rare ability to convey an encyclopaedic knowledge of Chinese cuisine in a compelling and totally delicious way -- Heston Blumenthal
Every time I think I've finally started to get Chinese cuisine, Fuchsia seems to come around and point me towards a little door that opens up onto a whole new world of flavors and techniques -- J. Kenji López-Alt
Fuchsia Dunlop is such a gifted writer that the reader cannot help being swept along by her masterful, yet intimate, account of a cuisine that is unmatched not only in its refinement and diversity, but also in the richness of its history of nutritional experimentation and speculation -- Amitav Ghosh
Fuchsia understands Chinese cuisine better than any other foreigner I know -- Chen Xiaoqing, director of FLAVORFUL ORIGINS, A BITE OF CHINA, and ONCE UPON A BITE
Fuchsia Dunlop is a fascinating writer. She’s engrossed herself in Chinese culture and her writing comes from a unique standpoint – not so much a Western perspective on the East, but an Eastern one on the West. She will talk about the Western understanding of what something is, but then her description of food is very Chinese – the mouthfeel of a dish, the spices at play. It creates such a clever dynamic -- Andrew Wong
Fuchsia Dunlop's expertise in Chinese cuisine is both remarkable and enlightening. She has devoted her life to intricately intertwining China's rich history with its culinary traditions, making significant contributions in sharing this delicious knowledge -- René Redzepi, co-owner and chef of noma
One of our very finest chroniclers of food cultures, I want to read everything Fuchsia Dunlop writes -- Caroline Eden, author of RED SANDS

Fuchsia Dunlop was the first Westerner to train as a chef at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine, and has been travelling around China, researching and cooking Chinese food, for some 30 years. Her award-winning and bestselling books include The Food of Sichuan, Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, Every Grain of Rice and Land of Fish and Rice, several of which are now published in translation in China. Based in London, she speaks, reads and writes Chinese.