For many, our knowledge of Chinese cuisine is rooted in what’s familiar: dumplings, General Tso’s chicken, broccoli beef, fried rice, and other menu holdovers from an era when America’s awareness of the country and its food traditions was extremely limited. Luckily, immigrants from many parts of China have been busy opening restaurants over the past few decades. Proud of their heritage and hungry for the foods that they grew up with, these cooks often showcase dishes from their home towns, and so offer a taste of places and cultures that have until only recently remained firmly under even the most sophisticated of culinary radars.
Aficionados have begun to discover a whole new world—actually, worlds—of authentic Chinese foods. Carolyn Phillips, author and illustrator of the new All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China (McSweeney's and Ten Speed Press), offers an overview of the country’s richly diverse cooking traditions. She has mapped out five major culinary regions, where distinctive dishes and cooking styles have been shaped by common lineages, history, culture, climate, geography, and traditions.
Phillips serves as a knowledgeable culinary guide to many of the previously unknown delights we’ve been missing. Among them are Shandong's arrestingly delicious cold garlic chicken, Jiangsu's creamy Dongpo pork, the luscious silk gourd crêpes of Chaozhou, and rose-scented lotus patties from the desert Northwest. She discusses how the cuisines within these regions interact with each other, as well as the ways in which invaders, travelers, and Silk Road traders have influenced China’s cuisines to give us one of the most extensive, amazing, and ancient of culinary cultures.
After introducing the sweeping story of the country’s food traditions, Phillips offers a closer look at a more bite-sized topic: dim sum. Drawing on her book The Dim Sum Field Guide: A Taxonomy of Dumplings, Buns, Meats, Sweets, and Other Specialties of the Chinese Teahouse (Ten Speed Press), she demystifies the popular culinary institution of teahouse snacks and explains how they are closely intertwined with China’s delicious history. A dim sum tasting concludes the evening.
Both of Phillips’ books are available for purchase and signing.
