This trip through 300 years of Chinese culinary history presents the theories and beliefs of the sages, philosophers, politicians, literary figures and poets who, rather than the labouring cooks, forged the patterns of eating and set culinary conventions. Including more than 150 recipes, which cross the boundaries from region to region and range between regal court dishes and earthly peasant fare, it brings to life centuries of Chinese tradition with recipes newly interpreted for present-day tastes. Illustrated with specially commissioned photographs, it covers the whole gamut of Chinese cookery techniques, from steaming to stir-frying and from pickling to reconstructing and encompasses the wealth of ingredients, indigenous and foreign, that give Chinese cooking its distinctive flavour.