ACCORDING to the charming Dissertation upon Roast Pig (《烤猪试论》) by the English author Charles Lamb (1775 -1834), an ancient Chinese farmer’s son called Bo-bo was the first to taste roast pig. This happened after he accidentally set his house on fire, and burnt their pigs to death. But according to Chinese legend, as told by Han Feizi（韩非子）, it was Sui Ren (燧人) who discovered how to make fire, and also found that cooking food before eating it was much healthier for people. Nevertheless, at the banquet in Hongmen (鸿门宴) just before the Han dynasty was founded, Fan Kuai (樊哙) was still eating his pig shoulder raw（生的）, even though he was said to have been very good at cooking dog meat.
All the world agrees that Chinese cuisine（烹饪） is one of the best. Chinese cuisine is concerned about appearance and smell, as well as taste and nutrition（营养）. But what about shape? One of China’s greatest contributions to the art of cooking must surely be “ge peng” (割烹) - cut and cook. Cutting food, and especially meat, into various（不同的） sizes and shapes before cooking makes it possible not only to cook things much faster, but also to give the food a much greater variety of flavor and texture（口感）. It also makes it much easier to eat: no need to set the table with forks and knives to cut big pieces of food into bite-sized chunks（块）! Chopsticks are sufficient（满足需要的、足够的）.
