Culinaria China Hardcover – Import, 27 October 2010

Great packaging. Immaculate condition. THANKS!!

A really great book and the best in this series. Chinese cuisines I'd never even heard of and certainly nothing like your local takeaway.

Not as well done as other Culinaria country specific books. I bought it to complete my collection. Move travelogue than cookbook.

The "Culinaria" series became a reference for two reason : the first one is the regional cooking. Even for countries such as Germany or Hungary, which aren't famed for their cuisine, the authors look for everything in every region. The second one is authentic apetizing recipes. That isn't the case here.First of all, it's the first of the series to be so focused on people, their history, and photos. Recipes are secondary. So much that you get bored browsing through this book looking for them. But the final nail in its coffin is the recipes themselves. They're very short, so short that they lack description. And having read many Chinese cookbooks, I can say that the best ones are from Fuschia Dunlop. She explains clearly that the Chinese kitchen should have base of ingredients (soy sauces, dried chiles, oils, sauces etc...), and what vegetables the Chinese use, what's available in Europe, and what you can substitute them with. Nothing here, in many recipes, the Chinese chives or garlic shoots are simply replaced by regular leeks and green bell peppers... Many sauces or seasonings are omitted too : it's too simplistic. Yes you'll be able to do this at home then, but it won't be even close to the real thing.For the last Culinaria book, it was a disappointment then. The balance between recipes and the cooking history of China is completely wrong, and the few recipes included aren't very good.

Whenever the publisher Ullmann (formerly Köneman?) comes out with a new book on country and cuisine, I am sure to get it. Overall, this book does not let the reader down. However, that said, it is more a book on the history and culture of China through food than an actual cookbook. Turn to a number of other books if you wish to learn Chinese cuisine. What I really appreciate about this series is the depth of investigation on various food products (e.g., vinegar and its importance in Chinese cuisine). On the down side, some of the distinctions of the regional cuisines are rather blurred and overlapping, particulary if the regions are neighbors. I had the sense that several regions claim a lake crab as their speciality. Nonetheless, this is the book for people who want to go beyond "sweet and sour pork" recipes (even though it too is included here) because it points out with little prejudice (though some, especially on the touchy subject of eating dog meat) what Chinese people eat and not what is found in Chinese restaurants around the world (very often completely different foods). Advice to editors - number the images! The upper, lower, center, left, right, etc. is terrribly confusing. On a lasting note, when I was in Germany I first spotted the book in German (naturally) and the English edition had not yet come out, but knowing the quality of the book, I just had to get it and reactivate my German reading skills. Gladly it is now in English, and I'm anticipating a similar book on the cuisine of Japan....