This volume is a study of Chinese food from a cultural and historical perspective. Its focus is on traditional China before establishment of the People's Republic. It identifies and provides comprehensive information on a broad range of Chinese food plants and animals for general readers, as well as for specialists whose interests have led them to questions relating to the food of China. Readers will find discussions regarding origins, how things came to be, time and place of food-plant and animal domestication, the spread of plants and animals from and to China, and other historical questions regarding the foods used by the Chinese people. The book is written with Canton and the southeast as points of departure, but embraces all of China and is directed towards people unfamiliar with China.