IAC Culture Talks – Thomas David DuBois: 1000 Years of Chinese Food: What to Do with All These Recipes?
China’s culinary tradition is both profound and well-documented. Chinese food writings going back to the sixth century recall the etiquette of the table, the customs of the kitchen, and the musings of generations of taste-makers. But more than anything else, they contain recipes. Sometimes simple, sometimes detailed, these thousands of recipes are an archive of tastes and techniques that call out to us to explore.
What exactly are all these recipes good for and what does the evolution of China’s tastes, ingredients, and techniques tell us about deeper currents of cultural interaction and economic change? This talk will start with the question of how cookbooks are a source for understanding changing culinary fashions, prices and budgets, and the changing social figure of the cook. We will then focus our attention on technique, cuisine and authenticity by examining the evolution of particular dishes from the Song dynasty to the present day. We close with a few thoughts on the tools and perspectives needed to conduct a genealogy of culinary craft.
Date: Thursday 30 May 2024
Time: 4:00pm – 5:00pm (Sydney time)
Zoom webinar
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