In a world where smog has caused a multi-year famine, a chef receives an opportunity to cook at a mysterious mountaintop community. While the set-up promises a celebration of rediscovering the joy of food and other pleasures, the prose fails to make an impact. Zhang seems to be purposely obscure, without enhancing the mystery. Her story is well constructed (save an unnecessary epilogue) but she her delivery makes what should be impactful moments nearly slip by. I wasn’t particularly struck by any of the characters and really doubt I’ll remember anything about this book in 6 months other than the premise. I can’t think of a fictional book that I would consider a foodie book, but off the top of my head I can recall passages from Murakami, Pynchon, and Eco that celebrated food far more memorable than anything in this book.