中式菜肴早已火遍全球，在国外很多城市都能找到一些中餐厅。有人专门为中餐著书立说宣扬中国美食，例如英国作家邓扶霞，被称为是“有着四川灵魂的”作家。

Chinese cuisine has been popular all over the world,and some Chinese restaurants can be found in many cities abroad.Some have written books about Chinese cuisine,such as Deng Fulu,a British writer who has been described as a writer with a Sichuan accent.

她曾经写过《鱼翅与花椒》《川菜》《厨房革命》等多部作品受到热捧。最近又有了新的作品《宴请》。在这本书中，邓扶霞收录了三十道经典中国菜，阐述了美味佳肴背后的故事。

She has written “Shark Fin and Sichuan Pepper”,“Sichuan Cuisine”, “Kitchen Revolution” and other works have been popular. Recently, there is a new work “wear please”. In this new book, Deng Fuxia has included 30 classic Chinese dishes to explain the stories behind the delicious dishes.

在《宴请》一书中，扶霞-邓洛普赞美了菜肴的传播和美味。大约十年前， 这位作者在广州参加了一次宴会。燕窝汤温和爽滑，海参浓郁弹滑，鱼肉闪亮鲜嫩，清蒸得恰到好处。不过， 最令人难忘的还是最后上桌的那杯白汤。 这道菜用鸡肉做成，可能还加了火腿和干贝，简单、 朴素而完美。

In "Invitation to a Banquet" Fuchsia Dunlop celebrates the cuisine's spread and savour. About a decade ago, this correspondent attended a banquetin Guangzhou. The bird's nest soup was gentle and slithery, the sea cucumber rich and gelatinous and the fish sparklingly fresh and perfectly steamed.The most memorable dish, however, was the plain white cup of broth served at the end. Made from chicken, probably with ham and dried scallop as well, it was simple, austere and perfect.

对西方人来说，用汤来结束一场宴会似乎有些奇怪， 因为他们习惯在用餐结束时吃甜食。但是， 正如英国美食作家扶霞-邓洛普 在一本权威新书中解释的那样， 汤汁是厨师艺术的一种独特的内在表现形式，就像歌声对于歌手一样。

Ending abanquet with soup may seem odd  to Westerners,accustomed as they are to sweets at a meal'sclose. But, as Fuchsia Dunlop, an English foodwriter, explains in an authoritative new book, stockis a unique, intrinsic expression of a chef's art,much as a voice is for a singer.

《宴请》是邓洛普女士的第七本书。与她最著名的 《四川美食》和《革命厨房》(关于湘菜) 等作品不同，这不是一本烹饪书。相反，她精选了30道菜肴， 用每一道菜阐明了中国菜的不同方面， 相应地阐明了中国人的生活和历史。对于邓洛普女士来说， 这并不像看上去那样偏离。

"Invitation to a Banquet" is Ms Dunlop's seventh book. Unlike those for which she is best known,including “The Food of Sichuan” and“RevolutionaryKitchen" (about Hunanese cuisine), this is not a cookbook. Instead, she has chosen 30 dishes and used each to illuminate different aspects of Chinese cuisine and, in turn, Chinese life and history. This is less of a departure for Ms Dunlop than it seems.

与其他终生专注于外国美食的外来者一样，英国美食作家戴安娜-肯尼迪在墨西哥、美国人宝拉-沃尔弗特在中东都是如此，她与其说是食谱的发明者， 不如说是食谱的收集者。邓洛普女士的烹饪书经过精心研究， 读起来就像一本微型民族志。

Like other outsiders who spend their lives focusedon a foreign cuisine-as Diana Kennedy, an Englishfood writer, did in Mexico, or Paula Wolfert, anAmerican, did in the Middle East-she is more agatherer than an inventor of recipes. Ms Dunlop'swell-researched cookbooks read as mini-ethnographies.

读者将学到的不是如何烹饪柚子皮炖虾籽， 而是为什么中国厨师长期以来一直珍视不寻常的 (对于西方人的口味来说有时是令人反感的)食材， 例如巨大柑橘类水果的苦涩果皮。红烧鲤鱼尾这道菜看似不起眼， 实际上却异常费工， 它是讨论口感在中国菜中的重要性的起点。

Readers will not learn how to make braised pomelo pith with shrimp eggs but how and why Chinese chefs have long prized unusual (and to Western palates, sometimes off-putting) ingredients, such as the bitter pith of a giant citrus fruit. An apparently humble, but in fact exceptionally laborious, dish of braised carp's tail is a jumping-off point for a discussion of the importance of kougan,or mouth-feel, in Chinese cuisine.

邓洛普女士认为， 西方人传统上认为中国人是出于贫穷和绝望，才食用动物的边角料部位，但实际上， 对鸡胗、软骨和海蜇的嗤之以鼻， 会使人错过一系列美味的食物，这些食物非常美味， 常常是“滑溜而脆脆的，通常有湿润的口感".

Westerners, MsDunlop argues, "have traditionally assumed that theChinese eat marginal animal parts out of povertyand desperation", when in fact turning up one's noseat gizzards, cartilage and jellyfish shuts the dooron a range of foods that is wonderfully cui("slippery and crunchy, often in a wet way").

总之，邓洛普女士为中国菜的优越性提出了令人信服的论据，但她的论据是令人愉悦的、全面的， 而不是沙文主义(盲目推崇)的。 她展示了中国菜是如何吸收外来影响的(就像其他菜系一样)， 中国菜是如何随着中国的日益富强而变化的， 以及中国菜在中国的思想和文化史上的核心地位。

In aggregate, Ms Dunlop makes a compelling case for the superiority of Chinese cuisine, but in a delighted and expansive rather than chauvinistic  way. She shows how it has assimilated foreign influences (as other cuisines have, too), how it has changed with China's increasing wealth and how central it is to the country's intellectual and cultural history.

她同样令人信服地指出， 西方人眼中的"中国菜"， 也就是大多数人在当地外卖店能吃到的中国菜，既不是不正宗的，也不是错误的。相反， 它是一种散居海外的分支，反映了当地人的口味， 但它代表了美食的多样性，就像冷冻披萨代表意大利一样。 移民和冒险精神使真正的美食在中国 以外的地方比以往任何时候都更容易获得。吃货们应该好好品味。

She makes an equally compellingcase that what Westerners think of as "Chinesefood", meaning what most can find at their localtakeaway, is neither inauthentic nor wrong. Instead,it is a diasporic offshoot that reflects local tastesbut is about as representative of the cuisine'sdiversity as a frozen pizza is of Italy's. Immigrationand adventurousness have made the real thing moreaccessible than ever outside China. Eaters should savour that.