A civilizing process under way for some 7,000 years, cooking and eating in China is not limited to a simple chronicle of daily behavior supported by a set of objects. In addition to the mirror of time there appears an impressive chain of discoveries, implications and investigations.

The exhibition, The Seductions of the Palate, at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, presents the traditions of the Chinese table through a hundred objects, mainly from the collections of the National Museum of China and complemented by a selection of works from The Musee des Arts Asiatiques Guimet.

The exhibition is divided into two main phases: an initial sequence that solidly anchors the phenomenon in its historical context, while describing the main stages of its chronological development through different types of tableware, various inventions (including those of pasta and the introduction of tea), the many foodstuffs and preparations etc, followed by a second movement employing a different approach to Chinese cuisine, examining its geographical distribution.

Date: Until Sept 30

Venue: Quai Branly Museum

Website: www.quaibranly.fr

(China Daily 08/31/2012 page31)