A good book is like the oxygen I can’t live without. If I ever carelessly leave a good book on the bench in the park, the first thing that pops up in my mind is to instantly click my way to Amazon to get a new copy. There’s  no question of that.

My fascination with a really good book does not end there. Even though I have barely gulped down half of the chapters when I lose the book, I would place another order for the author’s Sichuan cookery book- just because I’m totally all over the author’s impressive descriptions on Sichuanese cuisine in the good book.

I acquainted with Mr A Bourdain’s  Shark’s Fin & Sichuan Pepper during my monthly visit to the Foyles. There were the expected ‘venturous’ meals along  with lip-smacking food diary and interesting traveling tales, but the book didn’t really satisfy my hunger because the details were rather skin-deep.

The name- Fuchsia Dunlop once flashed in my mind. I knew that she had stayed in China for some time and that she was known reputably as the Chinese food expert in the UK. But I was rather skeptical about Dunlop and doubted her knowledge about Chinese food. In fact, as a British-born Chinese,  I was rather annoyed by the absence of a well-known Chinese cook to represent Chinese food in UK.

To my astonishment, Dunlop is a great writer with substance. It didn’t take me long to grow affectionate toward her clear and approachable tales. I looked up to her even more when she depicted her  one year-and-a-half long stay in Sichuan in 1994 which was supported by the British Council China easy scholarships. She was extremely devoted in discovering the age-old food culture in Chengdu as she immersed herself amongst the chefs and the locals. She even went the extra mile in her quest of learning by coaxing for a 3-month professional chef’s training course in Chinese.