A memorable and mouthwatering cook s tour of today s China

As a freelance journalist and food writer living in Beijing, Jen Lin-Liu already had a ringside seat for China s exploding food scene. When she decided to enroll in a local cooking school held in an unheated classroom with nary a measuring cup in sight she jumped into the ring herself. Progressing from cooking student to noodle-stall and dumpling-house apprentice to intern at a chic Shanghai restaurant, she finds poor young men and women streaming in from the provinces in search of a rice bowl (living wage); a...