Brian R. Dott is associate professor of history at Whitman College (Washington) with a focus on East Asia. Researching pilgrimages in China, he chanced upon the chilli… and finally dove into the topic more deeply than anyone ever before, writing “The Chile Pepper in China. A Cultural Biography.”
Of course I had to talk with Brian when I found out that he was writing about (the history of) the chilli in China – not least, to see if the book on the topic I am working on still made sense. As it turned out, it makes all the better sense now!
Listen in to learn about how the chilli spread through China, what made it popular – and how difficult it is to really know about such things!
Or find heatstories on Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts or Spotify
More about Brian and his book:
The Chile Pepper in China, publisher’s page
Brian’s university page: https://www.whitman.edu/academics/departments-and-programs/history/history-faculty/brian-r-dott
The book on amazon.com (affiliate link):