Recipes from the Garden of Contentment: Yuan Mei’s Manual of Gastronomy

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Recipes from the Garden of Contentment: Yuan Mei"s Manual of Gastronomy (Suiyuan Shidan) is, remarkably, the first English edition of one of the world’s most famous books about food. Recipes from the Garden of Contentment is a treatise and a cookbook, written in the late eighteenth century by the Qing dynasty poet Yuan Mei. It includes recipes for well-known dishes such as birds nest and sharks fin, and offers modern readers an appealing perspective on Chinese history and culinary culture. It was translated and annotated by Sean J. S. Chen with editorial advice from E. N. Anderson and Jeffrey Riegel.

This edition is bilingual (English-Chinese) and extensively annotated, and 428 pages in length. The team’s aim was to convey the charm, humor, and erudition of one of China’s greatest writers. Also included are a glossary and a bibliography of additional sources. Chinese food expert Nicole Mones, author of the novel The Last Chinese Chef, has contributed an engaging introduction to Yuan Mei and his work. The cover illustration is by Lichia Liu.