Awards

• Short-listed for Best in the World Food Culture Spices category, Gourmand Awards 2021

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9780231195331

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Reviews

Extensive source materials in both Chinese and English form the bedrock for this impressive study into how a relatively unassuming American import so radically changed one country’s cuisines and traditional pharmacopoeia. The history of the humble chile in China is a fascinating one, especially as viewed through Brian R. Dott’s affectionate yet scholarly lens. -- Carolyn Phillips, author of <i>All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China</i> A learned as well as lively book with many surprises. How chile peppers came to China from the New World just starts a story involving taste, regionalism, adaptation, and folklore. Chiles were key to Chinese cuisine’s subtlety and variety, and not just in Sichuan and Hunan either. -- Paul Freedman, author of <i>Food: The History of Taste</i> and <i>Ten Restaurants That Changed America</i> This is an absolutely wonderful book. It combines scholarship and good food writing—the enormous amount of effort in compiling the databases is duly and modestly cloaked in good prose. -- Eugene Anderson, author of <i>The Food of China</i> A valuable resource for anyone interested in Chinese culinary culture or the global history of the chilli as symbol — ‘vitamin, vegetable, preservative and spice’. Dott’s research is extensive, while his writing is entertaining, digestible and peppered with much fascinating information. -- Fuchsia Dunlop * Spectator * It reminds us to look for culinary innovation not only where we often do, in the flashy kitchens of professional chefs, but also in the long-term historical processes of everyday life, the contributions to which, like the chile in China, may be ‘found everywhere.’ * Gastronomica * A book that can be easily understood and enjoyed by casual readers, something not all academic non-fiction books can say. -- Jason Flatt * But Why Tho? * There is much to praise about the book: its painstaking research, its sensitivity to the diversities of regional and historical contexts within China, and the top-notch storytelling. On the last point, Dott deserves special mention. The Chile Pepper in China will be one of the few books that will be read and savored by academics and civilians alike. * Twentieth-Century China * With its lucid, lively style, copious illustrations, and recipes this book could be a model for studies of the assimilation of other New World ingredients, especially in India and China. It will be of great value to students and academics and anyone with an interest [in] Chinese cuisine and culture. * Food, Culture, and Society * A satisfying history to [chiles] origins as well as their cultural significance in China. * Asian Review of Books * The definitive English-language study of how the pepper arrived in China, how it became part of local cuisine and medical practice, and how it even established itself as a core part of identity formation in southwest China. But one of its most provocative contributions has little to do with China and everything do with the chili pepper's unique relationship to globalization. * The Cleaver and the Butterfly * It all adds up to a compelling case for how a foreign plant became a national spice. * Economic Times * An informative book, which should be very useful for students of all college levels and for readers, who are interested in Chinese cuisine and food culture. * African and Asian Studies *

Extensive source materials in both Chinese and English form the bedrock for this impressive study into how a relatively unassuming American import so radically changed one country’s cuisines and traditional pharmacopoeia. The history of the humble chile in China is a fascinating one, especially as viewed through Brian R. Dott’s affectionate yet scholarly lens. -- Carolyn Phillips, author of <i>All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China</i> A learned as well as lively book with many surprises. How chile peppers came to China from the New World just starts a story involving taste, regionalism, adaptation, and folklore. Chiles were key to Chinese cuisine’s subtlety and variety, and not just in Sichuan and Hunan either. -- Paul Freedman, author of <i>Food: The History of Taste</i> and <i>Ten Restaurants That Changed America</i> This is an absolutely wonderful book. It combines scholarship and good food writing—the enormous amount of effort in compiling the databases is duly and modestly cloaked in good prose. -- Eugene Anderson, author of <i>The Food of China</i> A book that can be easily understood and enjoyed by casual readers, something not all academic non-fiction books can say. -- Jason Flatt * But Why Tho? * A satisfying history to [chiles] origins as well as their cultural significance in China. * Asian Review of Books * The definitive English-language study of how the pepper arrived in China, how it became part of local cuisine and medical practice, and how it even established itself as a core part of identity formation in southwest China. But one of its most provocative contributions has little to do with China and everything do with the chili pepper's unique relationship to globalization. * The Cleaver and the Butterfly * A valuable resource for anyone interested in Chinese culinary culture or the global history of the chilli as symbol — ‘vitamin, vegetable, preservative and spice’. Dott’s research is extensive, while his writing is entertaining, digestible and peppered with much fascinating information. -- Fuchsia Dunlop * Spectator * It all adds up to a compelling case for how a foreign plant became a national spice. * Economic Times * It reminds us to look for culinary innovation not only where we often do, in the flashy kitchens of professional chefs, but also in the long-term historical processes of everyday life, the contributions to which, like the chile in China, may be ‘found everywhere.’ * Gastronomica * There is much to praise about the book: its painstaking research, its sensitivity to the diversities of regional and historical contexts within China, and the top-notch storytelling. On the last point, Dott deserves special mention. The Chile Pepper in China will be one of the few books that will be read and savored by academics and civilians alike. * Twentieth-Century China * With its lucid, lively style, copious illustrations, and recipes this book could be a model for studies of the assimilation of other New World ingredients, especially in India and China. It will be of great value to students and academics and anyone with an interest Chinese cuisine and culture. * Food, Culture, and Society *

Extensive source materials in both Chinese and English form the bedrock for this impressive study into how a relatively unassuming American import so radically changed one country’s cuisines and traditional pharmacopoeia. The history of the humble chile in China is a fascinating one, especially as viewed through Brian R. Dott’s affectionate yet scholarly lens. -- Carolyn Phillips, author of <i>All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China</i> A learned as well as lively book with many surprises. How chile peppers came to China from the New World just starts a story involving taste, regionalism, adaptation, and folklore. Chiles were key to Chinese cuisine’s subtlety and variety, and not just in Sichuan and Hunan either. -- Paul Freedman, author of <i>Food: The History of Taste</i> and <i>Ten Restaurants That Changed America</i> This is an absolutely wonderful book. It combines scholarship and good food writing—the enormous amount of effort in compiling the databases is duly and modestly cloaked in good prose. -- Eugene Anderson, author of <i>The Food of China</i> A valuable resource for anyone interested in Chinese culinary culture or the global history of the chilli as symbol — ‘vitamin, vegetable, preservative and spice’. Dott’s research is extensive, while his writing is entertaining, digestible and peppered with much fascinating information. -- Fuchsia Dunlop * Spectator * It reminds us to look for culinary innovation not only where we often do, in the flashy kitchens of professional chefs, but also in the long-term historical processes of everyday life, the contributions to which, like the chile in China, may be ‘found everywhere.’ * Gastronomica * A book that can be easily understood and enjoyed by casual readers, something not all academic non-fiction books can say. -- Jason Flatt * But Why Tho? * There is much to praise about the book: its painstaking research, its sensitivity to the diversities of regional and historical contexts within China, and the top-notch storytelling. On the last point, Dott deserves special mention. The Chile Pepper in China will be one of the few books that will be read and savored by academics and civilians alike. * Twentieth-Century China * With its lucid, lively style, copious illustrations, and recipes this book could be a model for studies of the assimilation of other New World ingredients, especially in India and China. It will be of great value to students and academics and anyone with an interest [in] Chinese cuisine and culture. * Food, Culture, and Society * A satisfying history to [chiles] origins as well as their cultural significance in China. * Asian Review of Books * The definitive English-language study of how the pepper arrived in China, how it became part of local cuisine and medical practice, and how it even established itself as a core part of identity formation in southwest China. But one of its most provocative contributions has little to do with China and everything do with the chili pepper's unique relationship to globalization. * The Cleaver and the Butterfly * It all adds up to a compelling case for how a foreign plant became a national spice. * Economic Times *

Author Information

Brian R. Dott is Robert Allen Skotheim Chair of History at Whitman College. He is the author of Identity Reflections: Pilgrimages to Mount Tai in Late Imperial China (2004).

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