Bamboo Shoots, Sugar and Mushrooms

Three Song dynasty treatises on bamboo shoots, rock sugar and mushrooms. The Song dynasty was an age of specialists. Scholars, monks and officials wrote short, focused books called pu 譜 on single subjects: peonies, inkstones, tea, crabs. This volume brings together three of them, all on food, spanning almost the whole of the Song. The Bamboo Shoot Manual (Sun Pu 筍譜, c. 1000), by the learned monk Zan Ning 贊寧, covers the names, kinds, eating and lore of bamboo shoots, with the tale of Meng Zong, whose tears raised shoots in winter. The Sugar Treatise (Tangshuang Pu 糖霜譜, 1154), by Wang Zhuo 王灼, describes how the cane growers of Suining in Sichuan made "sugar frost," rock sugar crystals, from planting to crystallizing jars, with the legend of the Reverend Zou and his white donkey. The Mushroom Catalogue (Jun Pu 菌譜, 1245), by Chen Renyu 陳仁玉, ranks eleven mushrooms of Taizhou in Zhejiang. This edition includes: The complete original Chinese text of all three treatises, with a faithful new English translation Modern notes for every entry, clearly marked Cook it today, Needs a substitute, or Read, don't cook, with honest food-safety advice Color paintings and food photographs of dishes you can make today An introduction to the three authors and the food culture of the Song For food historians, home cooks, lovers of Chinese culture, and anyone curious about the history of the Chinese table. The Imperial Kitchen Library brings the forgotten cookbooks of imperial China to English readers, one complete text at a time. For food historians, cooks, foragers, and anyone curious about the stories behind everyday ingredients.