"In this creative and thoroughly researched book, Seung-joon Lee explores a vitally important but largely ignored topic in Chinese history: rice. Lee situates the marketing and consumption of rice at the intersection of major forces in the early twentieth century, from imperialism and revolution, to regionalism and nationalism, to urban modernization."
Steven B. Miles
author of The Sea ... Read moreof Learning: Mobility and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Guangzhou
"Gourmets in the Land of Famine is a solid and intriguing piece of scholarship. The sources the author draws on are not in the main archival but they are comprehensive: contemporary newspapers, customs reports, handbooks, policy analysis, surveys and gazetteers all feature, as do memoirs and the occasional piece of fiction. The arguments and narrative line are clear. But perhaps the most substantial contribution of this work on the Republican era is to offer a kind of history that will appeal broadly to other scholars in quite different sub-fields: economic history, food and consumption, state building in the early 20th century, and of course Cantonese regional and local history. This is a tall order indeed, and Gourmets in the Land of Famine will rightly find its way onto the bookshelves of many."
Julia C. Strauss
China Quarterly
"Seung-joon Lee examines how rice became the foundation for entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors as well as nation-making. The story of rice in Canton offers gripping insights into the lives of ordinary citizens as well as increasing nationalism during the early revolutionary and then Nationalist periods in China . . . In sum, the story of rice in Canton offers a unique window into local knowledge and taste vis-à-vis Chinese technocratic authority. Lee illustrates that the state focus on food security and self-sufficiency overlooked the persistence of regional foodways and specific tastes which have the paradoxical power to overturn governmental infrastructures and national campaigns."
Nancy N. Chen
The China Journal
"Recently, one can notice an increasing amount of literature on food and nutrition from the perspective of the history of technology. Most studies are still done by Western scholars on 'Western' foods . . . Lee's book is a valuable addition, especially in that it supplements the current research with his new insights on rice from a bottom-up perspective."
Tae-Ho Kim
Technology and Culture
"In his contribution to the study of food insecurity, Seung-joon Lee shows that hunger can sometimes be unexpectedly productive. . . Gourmets in the Land of Famine provides a valuable case study of food shortages in southern China that complements recent studies. . . The book should be of keen interest to specialists in both modern Chinese history and comparative famine studies."
Erica J. Peters
Gastronomica
"[Seung-joon Lee] focuses on popular culture and on the tension between the political authorities and the people. Guangzhou is famous for its cuisine and its discerning and adventurous eaters. Seung-joon Lee examines one component of the cuisine, rice, and its consumption . . . This is a fascinating, somewhat offbeat story that is well told."
Edward Rhoads
China Review International
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