the author

Fuchsia Dunlop earned a master's in Chinese Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. In 1994, she moved to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, under a scholarship, where her research on racial minorities was quickly supplanted by a passion for the food. She was the first Westerner to attend the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. Currently she splits her time between London, where she writes about food and works for the BBC World Service, and China, where she hones her craft cooking side by side with professional and domestic cooks.

Dunlop is the author of three previous volumes: "Land of Plenty, Authentic Recipes From Sichuan," "The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Dishes From Hunan Province" and "Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper," an award-winning memoir about living and eating in China. Her blog is www.fuchsiadunlop.com.