A fascinating culinary memoir with occasional historical blind spots.
A man sets off on a culinary journey across China to trace the history of one of the world’s most enduring cuisines in this nonfiction work.
Inspired by his love of Taiwan, where he still lives today, in this work, Jack delves into the culinary history of China over the course of four distinct “Journeys” that cover specific chronological and regional spans, including the initial appearance of Homo erectus in North China 800,000 years ago (Journey One), the Sui and Tang dynasties (Journey Two), the Yuan and Ming dynasties (Journey Three), and the modern-day People’s Republic of China (Journey Four). Jack connects the land’s cultural, geographical, and religious history to the establishment of its distinctive ingredients and dishes: “Most of the foundational ingredients of Chinese cuisine can be traced to the Neolithic (11500–2000 B.C.), when millet, rice, pigs, poultry and fish were domesticated.” Anecdotes from the author’s travels are sprinkled throughout the text; in one, Jack is informed by a Buddhist monk that smoking is discouraged. (“Haven’t you heard? Smoking is bad for your health.”) The culinary timeline concludes with modern-day China as the author explains how watered-down versions of its cuisine became popular in Western cultures. With a no-frills narrative voice, Jack delves so deeply into the region’s food culture that even those well versed in authentic Chinese cuisine will likely learn something new. Fans of stinky tofu, for example, might not know that a special type made south of Kunming literally grows a furlike substance. When it comes to broader history, however, the book has one glaring understatement that’s sure to rankle anyone with basic knowledge of human rights: The author reductively states that “the full might of the constabulary [has been] brought to bear” in response to Uyghurs (Muslims) protesting their circumstances. This throwaway statement glosses right over the Uyghurs’ atrocious mistreatment at the hands of the Chinese government; in a book that includes plenty of history that’s not strictly food-related, this seems like a mind-boggling omission. Still, as a chronicle of Chinese food both familiar and surprising, the narrative hits the spot.
A fascinating culinary memoir with occasional historical blind spots.Pub Date: April 9, 2026
ISBN: 9786269969425
Page Count: 398
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: tomorrow
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
HISTORY | WORLD | FOOD & DRINK
A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.
A harrowing expedition to Antarctica, recounted by Departures senior features editor Sancton, who has reported from every continent on the planet.
On Aug. 16, 1897, the steam whaler Belgica set off from Belgium with young Adrien de Gerlache as commandant. Thus begins Sancton’s riveting history of exploration, ingenuity, and survival. The commandant’s inexperienced, often unruly crew, half non-Belgian, included scientists, a rookie engineer, and first mate Roald Amundsen, who would later become a celebrated polar explorer. After loading a half ton of explosive tonite, the ship set sail with 23 crew members and two cats. In Rio de Janeiro, they were joined by Dr. Frederick Cook, a young, shameless huckster who had accompanied Robert Peary as a surgeon and ethnologist on an expedition to northern Greenland. In Punta Arenas, four seamen were removed for insubordination, and rats snuck onboard. In Tierra del Fuego, the ship ran aground for a while. Sancton evokes a calm anxiety as he chronicles the ship’s journey south. On Jan. 19, 1898, near the South Shetland Islands, the crew spotted the first icebergs. Rough waves swept someone overboard. Days later, they saw Antarctica in the distance. Glory was “finally within reach.” The author describes the discovery and naming of new lands and the work of the scientists gathering specimens. The ship continued through a perilous, ice-littered sea, as the commandant was anxious to reach a record-setting latitude. On March 6, the Belgica became icebound. The crew did everything they could to prepare for a dark, below-freezing winter, but they were wracked with despair, suffering headaches, insomnia, dizziness, and later, madness—all vividly capture by Sancton. The sun returned on July 22, and by March 1899, they were able to escape the ice. With a cast of intriguing characters and drama galore, this history reads like fiction and will thrill fans of Endurance and In the Kingdom of Ice.
A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984824-33-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A valuable contribution to our understanding of one of history’s most vital figures.
An epistolary memoir of Nelson Mandela’s prison years.
From August 1962 to February 1990, Mandela (1918-2013) was imprisoned by the apartheid state of South Africa. During his more than 27 years in prison, the bulk of which he served on the notorious Robben Island prison off the shores of Cape Town, he wrote thousands of letters to family and friends, lawyers and fellow African National Congress members, prison officials, and members of the government. Heavily censored for both content and length, letters from Robben Island and South Africa’s other political prisons did not always reach their intended targets; when they did, the censorship could make them virtually unintelligible. To assemble this vitally important collection, Venter (A Free Mind: Ahmed Kathrada's Notebook from Robben Island, 2006, etc.), a longtime Johannesburg-based editor and journalist, pored through these letters in various public and private archives across South Africa and beyond as well as Mandela’s own notebooks, in which he transcribed versions of these letters. The result is a necessary, intimate portrait of the great leader. The man who emerges is warm and intelligent and a savvy, persuasive, and strategic thinker. During his life, Mandela was a loving husband and father, a devotee of the ANC’s struggle, and capable of interacting with prominent statesmen and the ANC’s rank and file. He was not above flattery or hard-nosed steeliness toward his captors as suited his needs, and he was always yearning for freedom, not only—or even primarily—for himself, but rather for his people, a goal that is the constant theme of this collection and was the consuming vision of his entire time as a prisoner. Venter adds tremendous value with his annotations and introductions to the work as a whole and to the book’s various sections.
A valuable contribution to our understanding of one of history’s most vital figures.Pub Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63149-117-7
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Liveright/Norton
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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