A Hundred Notes on Food and Time cover

A Hundred Notes on Food and Time

Rating 3.8
Word count
114K words
Chapters
106
ISBN
9787521230710

Tags

Summary

Mr. Xiao Fuxing's prose has influenced generations of Chinese readers, and decades of writing have brought his craft to ever greater refinement. In recent years his works Our Old Courtyard, So Near Yet So Far, and Blues of the Southern City have all achieved enormous success. Our press has previously published four volumes of his selected prose, A Passing Glance and Gleanings. The present volume, A Hundred Notes on the Light of Food, recounts the author's stories with one hundred kinds of food. In these concise pieces, each one ingenious in its own way, food is brought vividly to life, and feeling is lodged in the things themselves; every piece leaves the reader with something to savor and ponder. This set of one hundred short essays has a clear theme and graceful prose, and is a "small book" of genuine depth and weight.

Editor's review

Xiao Fuxing's prose is known for its warmth and restraint. This collection of one hundred short pieces, each centered on a different food, continues his characteristic approach: never long, yet each one ingenious, rendering food vividly alive while reaching beyond mere appetite. Here food is a point of departure, drawing out the relationships between people and time, people and place, people and one another; the reading leaves both aftertaste and reflection. The book has a clear theme and prose polished clean and flowing—well suited to reading one piece at a time in spare moments, and equally suited to slow savoring of its feeling. For readers familiar with Xiao Fuxing's prose, this is a reunion along the thread of food; for newcomers, it is a light but not slight introduction. It wins not through novelty or intensity but through plain narration and understated emotion, giving everyday eating warmth and weight—a "small book" made for the bedside or the journey.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers who enjoy Xiao Fuxing's prose and want to read his writing on food
  • Literature lovers who prefer short essays and fragmented reading
  • General readers interested in the human stories behind food
  • Office workers seeking a soothing reading experience amid busy days

Not a good fit for

  • Readers expecting a systematic culinary history or practical recipes
  • Readers who prefer strong plot and fast-paced narrative

Reading tips

  1. Read one or two pieces a day; don't rush—let each piece's aftertaste settle naturally.
  2. When you encounter a familiar food, recall your own memories connected to it and compare them with the text.
  3. Jump between pieces by theme or season, grouping those about similar foods to compare the author's approaches.
  4. Keep a pen handy and mark lines that move you; look back at these marks after finishing.

About the publisher

Writers Publishing House China · Founded in 1953

Writers Publishing House is a Chinese publisher focused mainly on literary publishing. Its output covers classical literature, foreign literature, folk literature and Eastern philosophy, with some extension into popular reading such as social fiction and parenting books. Its catalogue contains more than 900 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber and its edited editions, Shakespeare's Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and foreign literary classics such as The Brothers Karamazov and Lost Illusions. In terms of authors, it includes classical writers such as Cao Xueqin and Gao E, foreign masters such as William Shakespeare, Dostoevsky and Balzac, and translations by translators such as Zhu Shenghao, Geng Jizhi and Fu Lei. Overall, its publishing profile balances Chinese and foreign literary classics, emphasizes quality translations, and serves both academic and general readers; publicly available information on its specific publishing plans is limited.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 辑一 苦瓜酸菜
  3. 苦瓜
  4. 酸菜
  5. 豆包儿
  6. 腊八蒜
  7. 酒心巧克力
  8. 豆腐渣
  9. 菜粥
  10. 月饼
  11. 金糕
  12. 炸糕
  13. 盖浇饭
  14. 芝麻酱
  15. 黑枣
  16. 酸枣面
  17. 柿子
  18. 黑崩筋儿
  19. 冰核儿
  20. 羊羹
  21. 螺丝转
  22. 三花酒
  23. 褡裢火烧
  24. 鳝鱼
  25. 味美思
  26. 西餐三式
  27. 肉丝面
  28. 疙瘩汤
  29. 白牌啤酒
  30. 腊肠
  31. 菠菜宴
  32. 辑二 奶酪核桃酪
  33. 核桃酪
  34. 奶酪
  35. 酸梅汤
  36. 果子干
  37. 爱窝窝
  38. 绿豆糕
  39. 翻毛月饼
  40. 秋梨膏
  41. 爆肚和卤煮
  42. 豆汁儿
  43. 芥菜疙瘩
  44. 烤白薯和烀白薯
  45. 糖炒栗子
  46. 酒酿饼和藤萝饼
  47. 冬菜包子
  48. 葱烧海参和油爆肚仁
  49. 四吃鱼
  50. 烧羊肉
  51. 全聚德烤鸭
  52. 便宜坊烤鸭
  53. 北京小吃
  54. 辑三 北大荒之味
  55. 扁豆
  56. 黄豆
  57. 土豆
  58. 大酱
  59. 辣椒
  60. 狍子肉
  61. 熊肉
  62. 烧鸟
  63. 大雁蛋
  64. 野葡萄
  65. 冰猪头
  66. 冻酸梨
  67. 熬茄子
  68. 水芹菜
  69. 火柿子
  70. 葱油饼
  71. 香瓜
  72. 烤南瓜
  73. 烀苞米
  74. 鲫鱼汤
  75. 挠力河鱼
  76. 辑四 栀子花煎
  77. 栀子花煎
  78. 红薯排叉
  79. 西瓜皮
  80. 丝瓜
  81. 分手菜
  82. 竹笋炒肉
  83. 手抓羊肉
  84. 芭乐
  85. 莲雾
  86. 苹果
  87. 煮栗子
  88. 生日蛋糕
  89. 子儿莲蓬
  90. 干烧鱼
  91. 糟熘三白
  92. 狮子头
  93. 羊肉泡馍
  94. 茶馆泡茶
  95. 洗脚泡菜
  96. 枫糖
  97. 烤猪肘
  98. 考帕尼克风味汤
  99. 爱因斯坦冰激凌
  100. 响着音乐的冰激凌
  101. 巴黎芥末
  102. 牛肉粥
  103. 辑五 萝卜白菜赋
  104. 大白菜赋
  105. 萝卜笺
  106. 饺子帖

FAQ

Is this book about food or about human feeling?
Both, but the emphasis is on human feeling. Each piece begins with a food and stays concise; the food is vividly rendered, but the real landing point is often the people, places, and years connected to it. The author lodges feeling in the object, and what lingers after reading is usually not a recipe-like impression but a mood and an aftertaste.
Is one hundred short pieces meant to be read in one sitting?
Not really. These pieces stand independently, with prose that prizes aftertaste; reading quickly in succession dulls the sensibility. It is better to read one or two a day, or to jump around by interest, giving each piece room to settle—reading becomes more relaxed, and the flavor easier to appreciate.
I haven't read other works by Xiao Fuxing—can I start with this book?
Yes. This is a collection of standalone short essays that does not depend on prior reading. With its clear theme and short pieces, it serves well as an entry point to Xiao Fuxing's prose style; if you enjoy it, you can seek out his collections on other subjects afterward.

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About the author

Xiao Fuxing Author · Chinese · 1947

Xiao Fuxing was born in Beijing in 1947, with his ancestral home in Cangzhou, Hebei. He graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 1982. A contemporary writer, he has long been active in essays, fiction, and reportage. He served as deputy editor of People's Literature and Selected Stories, and as vice president of the Chinese Prose Society. He has published more than one hundred works and has repeatedly received the Bing Xin Prose Award, the Lao She Prose Award, and the Zhu Ziqing Prose Award. His essays often draw on everyday observations and personal memory, written in a plain, warm style that values natural expression of detail and feeling; his work also has wide influence in middle-school Chinese-language reading. This library holds 25 of his titles, covering classic essays, prose collections, film and television, and social fiction, including lyrical pieces such as Mother by the Window and When Plums Ripen and Gardenias Bloom, as well as sustained reflections on life and time in The Distance of Time and My Interesting Days in Boring Times.

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