A rare book on Chinese food will be published in English

2019-1-23     Source：China Daily

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) poet and scholar Yuan Mei's 1792 manual of gastronomy, Suiyuan Shidan, or Recipes from the Garden of Contentment, will soon have an English edition.

A bilingual version of the book will be released in the United States on Feb 5.

The English version has been translated and annotated by Sean Chen, a Canadian scientist who develops algorithms for computer-assisted, minimally invasive neurosurgery.

Karen Christensen, founder of Berkshire Publishing Group, says: "Chefs can get new ideas about Chinese food, and readers who have a general interest in Chinese culture or simply in global cuisine will find Yuan Mei's writing and Sean Chen's wonderful and lively annotations shed new light on Chinese cuisine."

The bilingual version will be valuable to students and scholars, and the English-only version is coming in April, she says.

Chen, who was born in Singapore but grew up in North America, was initially exposed to Chinese cuisine at home and in Chinese-American restaurants. But he deepened his knowledge about it during his university years. And he soon found himself obsessed with Chinese cuisine and food history.

Soon, he was reading works on Chinese cuisine and gastronomy, but one name just kept popping up-Yuan Mei and his Suiyuan Shidan.

The book contains instructions for, and critiques of, Chinese cuisine as well as more than 300 recipes from the period.

Chen tried to find an English copy but discovered it had been translated only in bits and pieces.

"The expressions were different, and there was no punctuation, "says Chen, who learned classical Chinese using the Kangxi Dictionary along with other online resources.

However, as he became more proficient in classical Chinese, Chen began spending more time figuring out the recipes and their ingredients.

"There was this 'white tendon' that had to be cleaned from fish. That took a lot of research," says Chen.

"A lot of time was also spent figuring out the scientific names of the animals and plants referred to in the book."

The task of translating the book was split into multiple chapters and sections, which made it easier.

Each day, when he finished dealing with his work and family responsibilities, he picked up where he had left off.

"Basically, it involved doing the translation and research work whenever I had free time, which included commuting to work, "says Chen.

Chen says he has a deeper understanding of Chinese cuisine after translating the book.

"I notice what was eaten and cooked in the past is very similar to what is eaten now, and there is something of an unbroken lineage."

He also says there are huge influences of other cultures-Central Asian, Middle Eastern and European-on Chinese food.

"Fusion cuisine is not something new and modern but has been alive for centuries," says Chen.

He began translating Suiyuan Shidan on his blog called The Way of the Eating in 2013. Christensen saw the blog a year later.

Christensen, who is committed to introducing Chinese works to a global audience, says: "I learned that it was a very important work, well-known to culinary experts, but had never before been translated into English. What a thrilling discovery for a publisher!"

She reached out to Chen, asked him to complete the translation and offered to publish the work.

Tracking down copies of the 1792 edition of the book was a big challenge for Chen. But he finally located two copies.

Chen initially found the classical Chinese text tough to translate.

For Chen, the first two chapters of do's and don'ts in Chinese gastronomy and cuisine shine a lot of light on what makes Chinese cuisine unique.

"It is the 'must-read' section of this book," says Chen.

"Very few people talk about the mechanics of Chinese cuisine, but this book tells you how to cook Chinese food and how to appreciate what is cooked.

"It's more than just a cookbook. It's more like a window to the past."

Chen says that overseas Chinese, who grow up or are born in North America, don't understand Chinese cuisine and its complexity.

"I plan to write something that lets children of Chinese ancestry reconnect with their culture through food and cooking."