Thirty Years Ago I wrote in My Country and My People that “if there is anything [the Chinese] are serious about, it is neither religion nor learning, but food,” and I added that “preachers should not be afraid to condemn a bad steak from their pulpits and scholars should write essays on the culinary art as the Chinese scholars do.” My opinion has not changed since. I suppose that the pleasures of the table can be called “carnal” pleasures, and the Chinese people with their down-to-earth philosophy have always regarded eating, as one of the things which reconcile us to this earthly life. It is this philosophy which enables the Chinese to discuss pork and philosophy under the same rubric and praise a man’s philosophy but condemn his fillet. It takes a Latin temperament to appreciate this.
