Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China
Fuschia Dunlop (2008)

THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

One of our favorite travel books on China is Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China, a book by Fuchsia Dunlop on her passionate quest to understand this country’s vibrant, bizarre, and delicious culinary culture.  It is often easiest to appreciate another culture through its food and Dunlop gives it her best, valiantly attempting to try anything and everything.  Dunlop was the first Westerner to train at one of China’s leading cooking school, and she is the author of several Chinese cookbooks.  In this narrative, she shares her experience as the only non-Chinese student in the school in the Sichuan Province and as a single woman traveling around the country, providing not only insights into the cuisine but also a very authentic and interesting view into the effects on China’s turbulent history on everyday life.  Dunlop is a talented writer, and this book is recommended for anyone curious to simply know more this part of the world.
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ABOUT FUCHSIA DUNLOP

Fuchsia Dunlop is an English cook and writer, and one of the top authorities on Chinese cooking in the West.   Dunlop speaks, reads and writes Chinese, and she is perhaps most famous for her award winning cookbooks on Chinese cuisine.  Her first book, Land of Plenty (2003), stems from her time living in the Sichuan region.  She then continues on to add a book on Hunan cooking, a collection on everyday Chinese dishes called Every Grain of Rice,, and more recently a book on the Lower Yangtze / Shanghai region called The Land of Fish and Rice (2016). 

GREAT QUOTES:

“So this is a book about the unexpected wonders of Chinese cuisine.  It is also about the tale of an English girl who went to China, ate everything, and was sometimes surprised at the consequences."
- Fuchsia Dunlop, Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China

INTERESTING LINKS:

  • Read "Anyone for Caterpillars?", a 2008 review from the Guardian on Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper​.
  • Those who want to know more about the author should visit her personal website, fuchsiadunlop.com.
  • This book is one of our favorite new travel books.  Click here to see the full list of our top recommendations.

CHENGDU'S STREET FOOD, WITH FUCHSIA DUNLOP