Ten years ago, Sasha Gong and Scott D. Seligman collaborated on a groundbreaking cookbook that told the story of China's chaotic Cultural Revolution (1966-76) through its cuisine. During that period, approximately 17 million city youth were "sent down" to the countryside to "learn from the peasants," and they discovered that toil in the communes was arduous and food was scarce. But many also learned that remarkably tasty and healthy dishes could be prepared with the fresh, wholesome ingredients available down on the farm. They learned to coax peak flavors and maximum nourishment out of unprocessed foods, fresh from the fields, ponds and streams and devoid of artificial preservatives.
The Cultural Revolution Cookbook, which told their stories, immediately became the best-selling Chinese cookbook on Amazon.com and quickly sold out its first print run. The authors were not prepared for the incredible success it has enjoyed since then.
Now, in a Tenth Anniversary Edition, the authors have taken suggestions from readers and added new material. The recipes are all entirely authentic and easy to prepare in an American kitchen. Many are vegetarian, and none of them requires exotic ingredients. You can find everything you need in a well-stocked grocery store. The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow, and short cuts and substitutions are suggested.
Readers are also treated to many inspirational stories - about Chinese food, about the Cultural Revolution and about living in the Chinese countryside - bringing the wonderful recipes, and that extraordinary era, to life.
Gong, Sasha: - Sasha Gong, born and raised in China, was forced with her family from their home in Guangzhou at age nine and sent to a small village in Hunan Province. When she was permitted to return to Guangzhou, it was to a job in a candy factory. She joined the underground protest movement, and because of her "counterrevolutionary" writing, the Chinese government sent her to prison for a year. After China emerged from its madness, she earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees in history at Peking University. In 1987, she fulfilled a lifelong dream and went to the United States to study. She earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University and has held teaching posts at UCLA, George Washington University and George Mason University. She worked with Voice of America for some years, and served as head of its Chinese section. She is also the author of Born American: A Chinese Woman's Dream of Liberty (Nimble Books, 2009). Sasha is an accomplished Chinese cook, and can whip up a feast for two or two hundred with ease.
Seligman, Scott D.: - Scott D. Seligman is a writer, a historian, a retired corporate executive and a career "China hand." Fluent in Mandarin and conversant in Cantonese, he lived in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China for eight years and reads and writes Chinese. He has an undergraduate degree in history from Princeton University and a master's degree from Harvard University. He has managed a multinational public relations agency in China and served as communications director for a Fortune 50 company. He is the author of The First Chinese American: The Remarkable Life of Wong Chin Foo, Three Tough Chinamen and Chinese Business Etiquette and coauthor of Chinese at a Glance and Now You're Talking Mandarin Chinese. He has also published articles in the Asian Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Seattle Times, the China Business Review, China Heritage Quarterly, the Forward and other publications.
