Recipes from the Garden of Contentment () is a work on

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...

and

gastronomy Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastr ...

written by the

Qing-dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

painter and poet

Yuan Mei Yuan Mei (; 1716–1797) was a Chinese painter and poet of the Qing Dynasty. He was often mentioned with Ji Yun as the "Nan Yuan Bei Ji" (). Biography Early life Yuan Mei was born in Qiantang (, in modern Hangzhou), Zhejiang province, to a cu ...

. It is known in English under various titles, including ''Food Lists of the Garden of Contentment'', ''Menus from the Garden of Contentment'', ''Recipes from Sui Garden'' and ''The Way of Eating''. It was originally published in 1792 (the 57th year of

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...

), and contains instructions and critiques on

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many ot ...

as well as a large number of recipes of dishes from the period. It was updated by Xia Chuanzheng in the late 19th century, and not translated into English in complete form until 2018.

Content

The work reflects Yuan's "orthodox" literati stance on Chinese cuisine, which derided the opulent displays and dishes in banquets of his time. Yuan also resented what he regarded as the corruption of Chinese food by Manchu cooks. The work contains a preface, two chapters on gastronomy, and 12 chapters on recipes using various ingredients: #"Preface" () #"Essential Knowledge" (): 20 sections #"Things to Avoid" (): 14 sections #"Seafood" (): 9 sections #"River Delicacies" (): 9 sections #"Sacrificial Animal"

ork Ork or ORK may refer to: * Ork (folklore), a mountain demon of Tyrol folklore * ''Ork'' (video game), a 1991 game for the Amiga and Atari ST systems * Ork (''Warhammer 40,000''), a fictional species in the ''Warhammer 40,000'' universe * ''Ork!'' ...

(): 43 sections #"Various Animals"' (): 16 sections #"Poultry" (): 56 sections #"Scaled Fish" (): 17 sections #"Scaleless Fish" (): 28 sections #"Various Vegetable Dishes" (): 47 sections #"Small Dishes" (): 41 sections #"Appetizers and Dim Sum" (): 55 sections #"Rice and

Congee Congee or conjee ( ) is a type of rice porridge or gruel eaten in Asian countries. It can be eaten plain, where it is typically served with side dishes, or it can be served with ingredients such as meat, fish, seasonings and flavourings, most o ...

" (): 2 sections #"Tea and Wine" (): 16 sections

Foods and theory

A wide variety of foods and recipes are presented in the ''Recipes from the Garden of Contentment'' that show the gustatory preferences of Yuan Mei and people during the mid-18th century. For instance, a particular recipe to imitate

roe Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked in ...

-filled

mitten crab The Chinese mitten crab ('; , "big sluice crab"), also known as the Shanghai hairy crab (, p ''Shànghǎi máoxiè''), is a medium-sized burrowing crab that is named for its furry claws, which resemble mittens. It is native to river ...

s, shows that the demand and intense fondness for crab and crab-roe in Chinese cuisine goes back several centuries, and that people have also actively attempted to find a substitute for it when it is unavailable:

Annotated manuscript

More than half a century after the publication of the ''Recipes from the Garden of Contentment'', Xia Chuanzheng (, 1843–1883) annotated and expanded the contents of the original work and published it as the ''Recipes from the Garden of Contentment, Extended and Rectified'' (; ). The modified work contains two additional chapters: *"Sweeteners and colourants" () *"Condiments" () The original text was also thoroughly annotated with reference to Chinese historical and philosophical works, and listed therapeutic effects of the food based on

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...

. Correction to errors in ''Recipes from the Garden of Contentment'' were also provided by Xia along with sometimes humorous anecdotes about the foods.

Bilingual translation

A bilingual Chinese and English version was published in 2018 as ''Recipes from the Garden of Contentment'', translated by Sean J. S. Chen. It is 428 pages in this hardback edition, with extensive annotations, illustrations, and a glossary. In 2019, it was republished in trade-paperback form as ''The Way of Eating''. The book was developed from the author's online translation project, ''Way of the Eating'', developed from 2013 through 2017.

References

External links