***SOLD***

How to Cook and Eat in Chinese 
Buwei Yang Chao
New York, 1945
 
First edition, first printing. A milestone of Chinese cookbooks published in America – “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.”(Mendelson)
 
Text block a bit age toned, pages vi & vii with significant offsetting from an inserted clipping. Black and red lettered yellow cloth bright and clean. A bit of darkening to the top edge of the dust jacket, spine lightly sun faded, small perforation to front panel at lower spine. Withal Very Good, in a Very Good scarce dust jacket.
 
"To create the book, Buwei collected over 200 recipes with the assistance of her oldest daughter Rulan Chao, later Professor Rulan Chao Pian, Professor Emerita of East Asian Studies and Music at Harvard. Her husband helped to write the text for the book. With his linguist background, his choice of American phrases for the cookbook helped to coin terms still in use today, such as pot sticker and stir fry." (Brown University)
 
For those with a deep affection for Chinese food, particularly the non-Cantonese styles that are still just now spreading to wider audiences.