China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West. By J.A.G. Roberts [London: Reaktion Books, 2002. 256 pp. £19.95. ISBN 1-86189-133-4.]

Extract

Following his earlier publication of three volumes of China through Western Eyes (1991–96), Roberts now concentrates on the Western perception of Chinese food and eating behaviour. In the first half of the present book, Roberts quotes travellers' tales from Marco Polo and other adventurers, personal journals of European missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries, reports of English envoys such as Lord Macartney, merchants of the 19th century, and journalists' accounts from the Second World War to the Cultural Revolution. Part one, “West to East” starts with a succinctly written introduction and a chapter that draws from anthropological works on Chinese diet, food beliefs, and table manners. Roberts then discusses Western perceptions (more often imaginations) of Chinese food, which transformed from curiosity to aversion, rejection, and eventual popular acceptance.