Recipes from the Garden of Contentment is the first English edition of one of the world’s most famous books about food. (It is the big sister edition of Berkshire’s English-only popular version of the book, which is published as The Way of Eating.) This famous book is a treatise, a cookbook, and a memoir, written in the late eighteenth century by the Qing dynasty poet Yuan Mei 袁枚. It includes recipes for well-known dishes such as birds nest and sharks fin, and offers modern readers an appealing perspective on Chinese history and culinary culture.

  • “Like everyone else with a serious interest in Chinese food, I’ve long heard rumors of Yuan Mei and his seminal book. The Way of Eating is food history at its finest, a window into a fascinating and long-lost world.” —Ruth Reichl
  • “This new translation of Yuan Mei’s legendary book is cause for celebration because Sean Chen so beautifully captures the author’s lyricism, humor, and opinionated pronouncements.” — Darra Goldstein, Founding Editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture
  • “Finally: a lively, scholarly, and usefully-annotated English translation of Yuan Mei’s seminal cookbook and culinary treatise that captures the spirit of the original work. Sean Chen and the Berkshire team have performed a great service for the world of gastronomy by making this fascinating text accessible to English-speaking readers.”— Fuchsia Dunlop, author of Land of Fish and Rice and other cookery books
  • “The publication of the bilingual edition of Recipes from the Garden of Contentment is indeed a landmark event and not only in culinary scholarship. Yuan’s wit and love of food is an added bonus and greatly enhances our understanding of one of the world’s greatest cuisines.” —Ken Hom, OBE, author of My Stir-fried Life and many cookery books
  • “The Suiyuan Shidan is a classic and two centuries later it still sparkles with Yuan’s irascible charm, his epic passion for food, and his near-religious devotion to the pleasures of the senses.” —Nicole Mones, author of the novel The Last Chinese Chef
  • “Yuan Mei is the Brillat-Savarin of Chinese cuisine and is equally opinionated and funny.” —Ken Albala, author of Three World Cuisines
  • “Chinese cuisine is often misunderstood, mistaking one of the most delicate, beautiful, and tasty cuisines for Americanized semi-fast food. This books explains the complexities and delicacies of Chinese food.” —Kai-Fu Lee, former president of Google China
  • “Sean Chen’s faithful and stimulating rendering of Yuan Mei’s 18th century book of classic Chinese recipes and cooking techniques will greatly interest lovers of Chinese cuisine as well as readers of gastronomic history. If you are either or both then you should own it. Reading Yuan’s book and trying out the recipes for dishes that were prepared for him and his guests at his garden villa in old Nanjing open a door to a time and place of unsurpassed good taste and refinement in Chinese history.”  —Jeffrey K. Riegel, University of Sydney
  • “Yuan Mei is one of those Qing cultural giants we shouldn’t be able to get enough of.  Sean Chen’s contribution here is unexpected yet indispensable, an inexhaustibly delightful excursion with a true 18th century genius.” —Pamela Kyle Crossley, Collis Professor of History, Dartmouth College
  • “The Suiyuan Shidan is one of China’s greatest classical cookbooks. It is also unique in that it beguiles its readers with wit, intelligence, and brevity, much like Fernand Point’s Ma Gastronomie. Translating something as difficult as this is therefore an event worth celebrating, and kudos go out to Sean Chen for his meticulously scholarly approach. Open the cover and prepare to be enchanted.” —Carolyn Phillips, author of All Under Heaven
  • “Like everyone else with a serious interest in Chinese food, I’ve long heard rumors of Yuan Mei and his seminal book.  Alas, there was no English translation. Now there is – and it’s even better than anticipated. This is far more than a cookbook: The Way of Eating is food history at its finest, a window into a fascinating and long-lost world.” —Ruth Reichl
  • “This new translation of Yuan Mei’s legendary book is cause for celebration, not only because the complete text is finally available in English, but because Sean Chen so beautifully captures the author’s lyricism, humor, and opinionated pronouncements.” — Darra Goldstein, Founding Editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture
  • “Finally: a lively, scholarly, and usefully-annotated English translation of Yuan Mei’s seminal cookbook and culinary treatise that captures the spirit of the original work. Sean Chen and the Berkshire team have performed a great service for the world of gastronomy by making this fascinating text accessible to English-speaking readers.”— Fuchsia Dunlop, author of Land of Fish and Rice and other cookery books
  • “The publication of the bilingual edition of Recipes from the Garden of Contentment is indeed a landmark event and not only in culinary scholarship. Yuan’s wit and love of food is an added bonus and greatly enhances our understanding of one of the world’s greatest cuisines.” —Ken Hom, OBE, author of My Stir-fried Life and many cookery books
  • “The Suiyuan Shidan is a classic and two centuries later it still sparkles with Yuan’s irascible charm, his epic passion for food, and his near-religious devotion to the pleasures of the senses.” —Nicole Mones, author of the novel The Last Chinese Chef
  • “Yuan Mei is the Brillat-Savarin of Chinese cuisine and is equally opinionated and funny.” —Ken Albala, author of Three World Cuisines
  • “Chinese cuisine is often misunderstood, mistaking one of the most delicate, beautiful, and tasty cuisines for Americanized semi-fast food. This books explains the complexities and delicacies of Chinese food.” —Kai-Fu Lee, former president of Google China
  • “Sean Chen’s faithful and stimulating rendering of Yuan Mei’s 18th century book of classic Chinese recipes and cooking techniques will greatly interest lovers of Chinese cuisine as well as readers of gastronomic history. If you are either or both then you should own it. Reading Yuan’s book and trying out the recipes for dishes that were prepared for him and his guests at his garden villa in old Nanjing open a door to a time and place of unsurpassed good taste and refinement in Chinese history.”  —Jeffrey K. Riegel, University of Sydney
  • “Yuan Mei is one of those Qing cultural giants we shouldn’t be able to get enough of.  Sean Chen’s contribution here is unexpected yet indispensable, an inexhaustibly delightful excursion with a true 18th century genius.” —Pamela Kyle Crossley, Collis Professor of History, Dartmouth College
  • “The Suiyuan Shidan is one of China’s greatest classical cookbooks. It is also unique in that it beguiles its readers with wit, intelligence, and brevity, much like Fernand Point’s Ma Gastronomie. Translating something as difficult as this is therefore an event worth celebrating, and kudos go out to Sean Chen for his meticulously scholarly approach. Open the cover and prepare to be enchanted.” —Carolyn Phillips, author of All Under Heaven

GET NEWS ABOUT NEW BOOKS & SPECIAL OFFERS

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR OCCASIONAL EMAILS

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.