When Fuchsia Dunlop was a kid, she and her family really loved Chinese take-up.

Sweet and sour pork balls with an absolutely bright red sweet and sour sauce were the favorite dish and also sort of chalmayne, chop suey, that sort of thing.

But when Fuchsia was a teenager, she went to dim sum in London with a friend who was Singaporean Chinese. And that was a complete revelation. The food was totally different,

and it was really exciting. So, over the years, Fuchsia went deep. She moved to Chengdu

and became the first foreigner to ever study at this prestigious cooking school there called the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine.

She started cooking Chinese food in her hometown of London and doing demos on TV.

She wrote four cookbooks, a memoir, tons of articles.

She won awards.

And now, more than three decades later, Fuchsia has become really the go-to translator of

Chinese food to a Western audience. As far as she's concerned, this is the best cuisine in the

world. You know, whatever you like, China has it. You know, fantastic roast meats, soups and stews, stir fries. I mean, after sort of 30 years of

traveling around China and eating, every time I go back, I'm coming across new ingredients,

cooking methods, even, you know, new cuisines, local cuisines. It's endlessly thrilling.

Fuchsia has just come out with her sixth book, which I really couldn't put down.

It's called Invitation to a Banquet, the Story of Chinese Food.

And it's not a cookbook.

It's really more of a culture and history book.

It dispels the many misconceptions and prejudices that the West has about Chinese food,

like that it's unhealthy or cheap or that you don't know what's in it.

And it teaches us what Chinese food really is.

This week, Fuchs is on the show to teach us what we can learn from Chinese cuisine.

And there's a lot to learn because, in her words, good food in China is about how it makes you feel,

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