1945 · New York
by Chao, Buwei Yang (1889-1981)
New York: The John Day Company, 1945. An Asia Press Book. Octavo (21 x 14 cm.), xviii, 262 pages. Illustrated. Index. Stated Ninth Printing of the Revised and Enlarged second edition which was issued in 1949 (see preface). An early printing of the milestone of Chinese cookbooks published in America, a fact established in Anne Mendelson's terrific Chow Chop Suey, where she calls the work "the first work in the field by a home cook who knew what other home cooks were up against. She was neither a restaurateur, journalist, nor test-kitchen flack like those hired to crank out American soy sauce manufacturer's recipe brochures. Hers was also the first work by anyone acquainted with a broad spectrum of culinary styles beyond Cantonese... But her book also stood apart for two other reasons. One was the unspoken matter of social and educational status. The second, perhaps more crucial, was the participation of uniquely qualified translators" (see especially page 150 ff.). The book is divided into three parts: Cooking and Eating, about foodstuffs and eating utensils; Recipes and Menus; and Meals and Menus. Light age-toning throughout and some offsetting to front pastedowns, likely from clippings laid-in; in black- and red-lettered tan cloth with dampstain to bottom edge. Still, near very good. The dust jacket, printed in red, black, and green, is edgeworn and rubbed. Good only. [Newman, Chinese Cookbooks 103; Newman, Melting Pot 84]. (Inventory #: 9936)
