Fuchsia Dunlop in conversation with Angus Phillips

Specialist in Chinese cuisine Fuchsia Dunlop talks about her life as a chef and food writer and about how she is inspired by the tastes Chinese cuisine.

Fuchsia’s Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food won the Fortnum and Mason Food Book award. Her new book, The Five Tastes, is published in 2026 and is about the five tastes recognised in Chinese gastronomy, sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty. Dunlop explains how these can be used to create irresistible flavours of China in your kitchen.

Dunlop trained as a chef at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine in the 1990s and has been researching Chinese culinary culture ever since. She is a regular contributor to FT Weekend and other publications and to radio and TV shows including Ugly Delicious, Chef’s Table and Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. Here she talks to Professor Angus Phillips, director of the Oxford International Centre for Publishing and Journalism at Oxford Brookes University, and co-author of Inside Book Publishing.

Presented by the Confucius Institute of Oxford Brookes University. Previous Confucius Institute events at the festival have included include Man Asian Literary Prize Winner Su Tong, the novelist and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo, and the bestselling author of Yellowface, Rebecca Kuang.