Mark Mardell

Journalist

Fuchsia Dunlop My first experiments in cooking were with Chinese food, and it is still my default setting. Any of her books would do really but I love the spicy tingle of this cuisine and have fond memories of squatting on plastic chairs with all the family eating street food there. Fuchsia used to work for the BBC world service, and I remember being thrilled ringing from some assignment and her answering the phone - a bit like booking a satellite truck though Elizabeth David.

Nik Sharma

Food writer

It gives you an appreciation of the enormous task of what it takes to write a book on regional cooking of a country. Interspersed within the recipes are helpful snippets of information on how to cook with ingredients while revealing what the method actually does.

Thomas Dubois

Historian

Fuchsia is regarded in Sichuan with equal parts awe and delight.

Tim Hunt

Biochemist

Jay Rayner

Food writer and broadcaster