Review: Food in Chinese Culture

adminwarden

Published Date

Title: Food in Chinese Culture

Anthropological and Historical Perspectives

Author: K. C. Chang

Host: Clyde Warden

Recommend

Published in 1977, this book is on the shelf of every serious China researcher. For marketing researchers, the key concept is consumptionâfood consumption. Food is vital to life, and for Chinese it is surrounded by so many other aspects of business, and behavior. This is THE seminal book on the topic. It is about so much more than food.

Chang's classic includes many of the very well known China scholars. For marketers though, what is important here is the link between food and other Chinese behaviors. Food marketers obviously need this book as a primer to understand the context their products need to fit in to. Other marketers need this book to understand the context their marketing messages will be interpreted in. Food is just that central to Chinese life! I have referenced this book in nearly all my work, even when not researching food. For me, the best part of the book is its historical emphasis. Nothing is new. Take away food, small specialized stalls, night markets, this book has it all, and we see the exact same retailing when we are out shooting TAM video.