The Chile Pepper in China by Brian R Dott

The Chile Pepper in China (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary H) (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)

by Brian R Dott

Chinese cuisine without chile peppers seems unimaginable. Entranced by the fiery taste, diners worldwide have fallen for Chinese cooking. In China, chiles are everywhere, from dried peppers hanging from eaves to Mao's boast that revolution would be impossible without chiles, from the eighteenth-century novel Dream of the Red Chamber to contemporary music videos. Indeed, they are so common that many Chinese assume they are native. Yet there were no chiles anywhere in China prior to the 1570s, when they were introduced from the Americas.

Brian R. Dott explores how the nonnative chile went from obscurity to ubiquity in China, influencing not just cuisine but also medicine, language, and cultural identity. He details how its versatility became essential to a variety of regional cuisines and swayed both elite and popular medical and healing practices. Dott tracks the cultural meaning of the chile across a wide swath of literary texts and artworks, revealing how the spread of chiles fundamentally altered the meaning of the term spicy. He emphasizes the intersection between food and gender, tracing the chile as a symbol for both male virility and female passion. Integrating food studies, the history of medicine, and Chinese cultural history, The Chile Pepper in China sheds new light on the piquant cultural impact of a potent plant and raises broader questions regarding notions of authenticity in cuisine.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

5 of 5 stars

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Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Chile Pepper in China is an academically rigorous and worthwhile cultural examination of the chile pepper's history and use in Chinese cuisine and culture. Written by Dr. Brian Dott, it's part of a series edited by Dr. Albert Sonnenfeld. Due out 12th May from Columbia University Press, it's 296 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

According to the author, in his introduction, this book has two main focus questions: "How did chile peppers in China evolve from an obscure foreign plant to a ubiquitous and even “authentic” spice, vegetable, medicine, and symbol? And how did Chinese uses of chiles change Chinese culture?" I found the answers interesting and unexpected. The book is full of interesting cultural asides and unexpected quirky history.

The author is an academic and this is what I would call a layman accessible academic treatise of the chile pepper in all its incarnations as they intersect with Chinese culture and history. As an academic work, it is *full* of tables and statistics and maps and minutiae (in a good way). The author definitely "shows his work" in full. I loved poring over the notes from pharmacopeia published in the 16th century along with an exhaustive bibliography and full chapter notes and annotations (did I mention that this is an academic work?). The notes and references are likely worth the price of admission for anyone interested in the subject and there's obviously been a faint-inducing amount of time spent on research and resource gathering on the part of the author. There's an exhaustive glossary (including many of the Chinese hanzi) suited for western readers - no Chinese language proficiency is needed to read and enjoy the book.

I found the entire book quite interesting and fascinating. It is admittedly a niche book and will appeal to readers interested in cultural anthropology, but might not appeal to readers looking for recipes or an easy read. I found this one so interesting that I'm going back to try to acquire some earlier volumes in the series.

Five stars. This is well and deeply researched and interesting.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 6 May, 2020: Finished reading
  • 6 May, 2020: Reviewed