The world-renowned expert in Chinese cuisine, chef Fuchsia Dunlop, presents her latest book Invitation to a Banquet at the MAO Museum of Oriental Art in Turin.

Fuchsia Dunlop arrives in Turin at the MAO – the Museum of Oriental Art – following her appearance on 20 October at La Sapienza University in Rome, as part of the Museum’s wider cultural outreach programme aimed at making it a lively and multifaceted public space.

The celebrated British food writer Fuchsia Dunlop presents her latest book, Invitation to a Banquet (add editore publishing company), a journey through the history, philosophy, and aromas of Chinese cuisine, guided by one of the most authoritative voices in the world of gastronomy.

Stefania Stafutti, sinologist, professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the University of Turin and Director of the Confucius Institute of Turin, highlights the central role of food in Chinese culture as a social, aesthetic, and spiritual act. Davide Quadrio, Director of the MAO, then engages in conversation with Dunlop, weaving together travel anecdotes, tales of dining tables and markets, and broader reflections.

Dunlop evokes some of the dishes that appear throughout her book as if they were characters in a gastronomic novel: mapo tofu, with its perfect balance between heat and softness; Chongqing-style chicken, where crispness meets the fiery power of chilli; aubergines with garlic and bean sauce, a staple of home cooking and of simple elegance; and Buddhist vegetarian dishes, embodying a philosophy of harmony and moderation. Each dish tells a fragment of the world – a memory of travel, an encounter with a cook or a family preserving a tradition. Invitation to a Banquet is not a cookbook: it is a narrative essay, an autobiography in which food becomes a key to understanding Chinese civilisation. Dunlop takes the reader on a journey from the pungent flavours of Sichuan to monastic kitchens, from communal dining rituals to everyday gestures, revealing the extraordinary complexity of a rich gastronomic heritage.

The author recalls her early years in Chengdu, when she became the first Westerner to be admitted to the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. That experience marked the beginning of a thirty-year career devoted to the study of Chinese food. With books such as Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper and Every Grain of Rice (winner of the James Beard Award in 2017), Dunlop has given voice to a cultural heritage that is often reduced to stereotypes in the West. Her writing—precise yet deeply passionate—combines anthropological rigour with literary sensitivity.

In a world inclined to simplify cultural differences, Invitation to a Banquet is a work that embraces complexity. With grace and curiosity, Fuchsia Dunlop reminds us that cooking and eating together are acts of recognition, listening, and understanding—and that every mouthful, if savoured mindfully, can become an act of knowledge.

About Fuchsia Dunlop

Fuchsia Dunlop is a British writer and chef specialising in Chinese cuisine, with a particular focus on the Sichuan region. Born and raised in Oxford, she studied English Literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge (BA 1991), and later attended the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London to pursue Chinese studies.

In 1994, she was awarded a British Council scholarship for postgraduate research in China, choosing the Sichuan province (in south-western China) as her base. During that time, she became the first Westerner to be admitted to the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine in Chengdu, where she trained in professional Chinese cookery. This combination of literary, linguistic, and culinary study made Dunlop a unique figure: a Westerner seeking to understand Chinese cuisine as a cultural language, a philosophy of the table, and a form of history.

She has written numerous books and contributed articles to international publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Financial Times, Lucky Peach, and Saveur.

Among her most notable works:

• Sichuan Cookery (2001, UK) / Land of Plenty (US) – introducing Western readers to authentic Sichuan recipes.

• Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook (2007) – exploring the cuisine of Hunan province.

• Every Grain of Rice (2012) – a celebration of simple home-style Chinese cooking, winner of major awards.

• The Food of Sichuan (2019) – a deepened and updated exploration of the region’s cuisine.

• Invitation to a Banquet (2023) – her latest work, blending essay and narrative.

According to The New York Times, Dunlop “has done more to explain real Chinese cooking to non-Chinese cooks than anyone.”

She has explained how kou gan—“mouthfeel”—is as essential to Chinese cooking as flavour itself: a vital part of the dining experience. Dunlop often emphasises that traditional Chinese cuisine should not be seen merely as “spicy”, “exotic”, or “strange” through Western eyes, but as a vast and diverse gastronomic universe, rich in history, regional identities, and ritual meaning, deserving to be appreciated without stereotype.

“I eat to understand,” she says, describing her curiosity for Chinese textures, ingredients, and foodways.

For Invitation to a Banquet, Dunlop drew on over 150 notebooks filled over thirty years of research and travel. In an age of globalised and standardised food culture, she stands as a model of resistance to culinary homogenisation: an advocate for discovery, understanding, and respect for gastronomic diversity. Her work helps ensure that Chinese cuisine is recognised as a vital part of humanity’s cultural heritage, with profound historical, social, and environmental significance.

British chef and write Fuchsia Dunlop