Introduction In ancient China, recipes were not written by chefs but by literary gourmets, such as Li Yu (1611–80), a playwright, and Ni Zhan (1301–74), a painter and poet, who both wrote well-known recipes that are yet to find their way into English translation. In addition, most men of letters wrote about vegetarian food, such as Chen Dasou, a poet in the Song Dynasty, who, legend has it, decorated his residence only with winter plum patterns, cooked tea only with the stone ding, and whiled away his time reading only The Book of Changes. Yuan Mei (1716–97) was a well-known…