Invitation to a banquet: the story of Chinese food

PROLOGUE: A kind of Chinese food : sweet-and-sour pork balls

HEARTH: THE ORIGINS OF CHINESE FOOD

Naked flame: cha siu pork

Sacred grain: steamed rice

The harmonious geng: Mrs Song's fish stew

The nourishment of life: bitter melon and pork rib soup

FARM: CHOOSING INGREDIENTS

Farm to chopsticks: Anji bamboo shoots with Jinhua ham

The joy of vegetables: stir-fried Chinese broccoli with ginger

Farming the water: sliced perch and water shield soup

The miraculous bean: mapo tofu

The whole pig: Dongpo pork

Food without borders: rinsed mutton hotpot

The marvels of qu: drunken crabs

What is an ingredient? Braised pomelo pith with shrimp eggs

Tongue and teeth: "catfish basking in honours"

The lure of the exotic: "surpassing bear's paw"

KITCHEN: CULINARY TECHNIQUES

Tasting the invisible: "top-ranking pot"

The bold and the bland: sweet-and-sour Yellow River carp

The subtle knife: shunde raw sliced fish

The power of steam: steamed reeves shad

Fire and time: stir-fried "jade" shrimps

A vocabulary of methods: Shandong guota tofu

Transforming dough: knife-scraped noodles

Kindling the spirits: steamed "soup" dumplings

TABLE: FOOD AND IDEAS

There is no dessert: Chaozhou "mother duck" twists

The impossible map: Chongqing chicken in a pile of chillies

Food without a meal: dry-fired "eels"

Rural idylls: stir-fried sweet potato leaves

Cultural appropriation, Chinese-style: "Russian soup"

Food and the heart: loving mother's red-braised pork

EPILOGUE: Past and future : chop suey.