How chile peppers transformed China’s cuisine and culture

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When considering Sichuan or Hunan dishes, it’s impossible to eliminate the role of the chile pepper. History professor Brian Dott explores how the non-native pepper went from obscurity to ubiquity. They influence not only a country’s cuisine, but its language, medicine and cultural identity. He explains all this in his forthcoming book titled “ The Chile Pepper in China .”

The cover of “The Chile Pepper in China.” Photo courtesy of Columbia University Press

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Evan Kleiman