The Cleaver and the Butterfly

Sichuan food, globalization, and the Dao.

By Andrew Leonard

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The Impossible Dictionary of Truth

Or: How everything I knew about hogs in Chinese homes was wrong. The Cross-stitched Pig, Part III

Jun 23, 2022•Andrew Leonard

The Road to Shu is Hard

The road to Shu is hard.

Oct 17, 2019•Andrew Leonard

Tapping the Mapo Doufu Source

A dish that contains multitudes, collapses peripheries and explains the rise and fall of empires.

Apr 11, 2021•Andrew Leonard

Cool Footnote # 2: Pertaining to the promiscuity of rice

Dec 15, 2023•Andrew Leonard

The Mystery of the Returned Pearl

Jan 3, 2025•Andrew Leonard

In Praise of Taiwan

Mar 12, 2020•Andrew Leonard

The Road to Shu is Hard

Oct 17, 2019•Andrew Leonard

Black Chariots of Pepperoni Fire

Oct 21, 2024•Andrew Leonard

Latest

Cool Footnote: From Leibniz to Scallion Pancakes to Huanzhulouzhu

A Rare Book Room visit unearths unexpected space-time interconnectivity.

21 hrs ago•Andrew Leonard

At the Summit, I Eat a Peach

Seeking a cuisine most transcendent. The conclusion of Climbing Mount Emei.

Jun 22•Andrew Leonard

Daoist Drone Theory

How does a record setting aerial drone display in Sichuan connect to Daoist hydrological management?

May 26•Andrew Leonard

The Wuxia Gateway Drug

Fact or fantasy? In the 1960s, repeated instances of Taiwanese students running off into the mountains in search of immortality helped justify a…

May 23•Andrew Leonard

Mapo Doufu on top of Mt. Emei

Today’s revelation about Li Shoumin, aka “Huanzhulouzhu” (還珠樓主), the author of The Knight-Errants of the Shu Mountains, is that, according to his sons…

May 14•Andrew Leonard

An Episode of Unspeakable Chili Pepper Villainy

This morning’s agenda was to finish working my way through a “remembrance” of Li Shoumin, author of The Knight-Errants of the Shu Mountains, co-written…

Apr 23•Andrew Leonard

Dungeon Crawler Carl and The Devil's Cave

How best to cope with a "non-stop plague of catastrophes?" Re-enchantment, or rejection? Climbing Mount Emei, Part VII

Apr 19•Andrew Leonard