"China in Seven Banquets is in part a condensed account of Chinese foodways from antiquity to the present, using descriptions of dishes from the menus of actual, fictional and conjectural banquets to illustrate crucial moments in Chinese history. But at least as importantly, it is also an account of how China’s cultural identity has been progressively shaped and reshaped by encounters with non-Chinese geopolitical realities over some four millennia. . . . The latter part of the book, which examines the past 150 or so years of Chinese socioeconomic history through the lens of food, [is] . . . energized, focused, incisive."

Wall Street Journal

"A magic-lantern show of richly animated dining scenes through the ages."

World of Fine Wine

"A ‘flavorful history’ of 500 years of Chinese cuisine via seven storied dinners. Food historian DuBois shares his findings from decades of travelling around China, revealing the country’s culinary character through meals including the ‘tail-burning’ banquet of the Tang dynasty, plus insights into food featured in Chinese literature and film, a New Year’s buffet from 1920s Shanghai and a twenty-first-century delivery menu."

National Geographic Traveler

"An energetic survey of Chinese culinary history. Ranging from the country’s prehistoric agricultural systems to Western influences on twenty-first-century cuisine, DuBuois uses seven banquets to highlight the foods and cultural attitudes that defined different eras of Chinese history. . . . Throughout, DuBois debunks the idea that there is one 'traditional' Chinese cuisine, explaining how ingredients, dishes, and techniques evolved as a result of imperial expansion, globalization, and industrialization. . . . The detailed recipes and chatty tone make this an accessible overview of Chinese cuisine. Readers will be satisfied."

Publishers Weekly

"[An] accessible, riveting history of Chinese food."

Spectator

"DuBois’s deceptively chatty introduction to China in Seven Banquets artfully digests a bunch of important food-studies concepts for the general reader, including the nature of sources, the metadata of meals, and precedents in the study of foodways. . . . With only seven meals to distil the 5000-year span of Chinese history, DuBois takes what I suspect to be a tutorial delight in using different research methods."

Jonathan Clements | The Distracted Diner

"China in Seven Banquets is a fascinating book. DuBois promises to provide scholarly insights without the dry prose or interminable footnotes that might stop you from turning to the next page. He succeeds very well in balancing depth and accessibility. . . . The text is liberally seasoned with recipes, which give a sense of not just what was prepared, but how, and with what ingredients. . . . The food is the focus, of course, but not necessarily for its own sake. DuBois links changes in Chinese cuisine to broader themes. You end up learning a lot more about China (and the world) than you thought you would. . . . Thanks to Professor DuBois for a delicious and thought-provoking book. Highly recommended."

Wine Economist

"Take a seat at some of the greatest banquets in the history of China! Using resources from the period and first-hand accounts, this book brings the history and culture of China to life."

Max Miller, New York Times–bestselling author of “Tasting History”

"China in Seven Banquets is a wonderfully pleasurable insight into the long history of Chinese food. DuBois’s delightful prose is quite a banquet to feast on. This book will take pride of place in my library of cookery books, as it will in yours!"

Ken Hom OBE, author, chef, and TV presenter

"Anyone who wants to understand China's food culture needs to read this book. With the eye of a historian and experience in the kitchen, DuBois strips away the myths of China's culinary history, not only showing the evolution of recipes but explaining the problems that modernization has brought to China's diet. Much more than a history of food, this book is a history of China with a seat at the dining table."

Rongguang Zhao, author of "A History of Food Culture in China"

"A brilliant piece of food history by a scholar who knows all about changes in commodities, tastes, values and techniques, but also conveys his love and first-hand experience of cooking in China. It powerfully debunks prejudices and preconceptions that there is one unique Chinese cuisine, and opens worlds of exquisite differences."

Vincent Goossaert, professor of Daoist studies, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Université PSL, Paris

"This book confronts the undoable—it characterizes China through several thousand years of changing foodways. The seven banquets selected—historical, literary, imagined and filmic, even a fast-food delivery feast—make for a micro-history of excess in a culture which famously celebrates its myriad regional cuisines. The writing bristles with menus, recipes and tales of ordinary and unlikely ingredients. DuBois is a great storyteller. What I love the most is his joyous engagement in the kitchen, with records of his experiments with the culinary unknown, both successful and not quite so."

Vivienne Lo, director, UCL China Centre for Health and Humanity