THE DEVIL'S CHOW

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.