"revolution is not a dinner party."

Written by Sasha Gong and Scott D. Seligman

This past Christmas, one of the best gifts I received was the book, China in Ten Words, by Chinese novelist Yu Hua. The book is a non-fiction departure for Yu Hua and as the title suggests, stitches together ten personal essays using ten distinct words as chapter titles (People, Writing, Disparity, for example).

The book acts as a literary time machine, transporting the reader back to the China of 1966-1976, in the midst of Chairman Mao Zedong's "Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution," one of the most disruptive and damaging eras in contemporary Chinese history. Propaganda in all forms was a key feature of the Cultural Revolution, from enormous banners emblazoned with Chairman Mao's teachings, down to small details on everyday items. As Yu Hua writes:

"Mao's poems and quotations were everywhere, then. From city to village, from mud walls to brick walls, interior walls and outside walls, every space was covered with them, along with the gleaming image of Mao Zedong. On the bowls out of which we ate our rice was printed Mao's maxim, "Revolution is not a dinner party."

That's an understatement.

For millions of young urbanites, the Cultural Revolution demanded their rural relocation, and many spent the decade struggling to survive the scarce conditions of the countryside. Sociologist, activist, and author Sasha Gong remembers that experience vividly.

Gong spent much of the Cultural Revolution toiling as a subsistence farmer in Hunan Province, attempting to coax food for survival from the inhospitable land. Her new publication, The Cultural Revolution Cookbook, is not meant to romanticize this dark time in Chinese history. (This has become a current trend in China, as cities like Beijing now boast upscale Cultural Revolution-themed restaurants, a surreal and sanitized version of the historical reality.) Instead, the cookbook reveals the powerful tether that food--even in its most simple forms--can provide those of any society experiencing nightmarish upheaval. They become an act of survival, not just as pure sustenance, but a preservation of identity and normalcy.

National Public Radio recently interviewed Gong and co-author Scott D. Seligman, which included a selection of recipes that are accompanied by Gong's personal narrative.

Revolution is certainly not a dinner party, but no matter the circumstances, we all sit down for meals. The meaning and the message of the meals is up to those who create and consume them.