Michael Zee is the creator of the online sensation SymmetryBreakfast, which has been featured in the Guardian, Washington Post, Telegraph and many others. Being British-Chinese, growing up helping out in his parents’ Chinese restaurants and spending five years living in Shanghai, he is uniquely placed to document the huge variety of Chinese breakfast foods and to break down any barriers to Chinese cooking, making the recipes as accessible as possible. Zao Fan: Breakfast of China is his third book after SymmetryBreakfast: Cook Love Share (2016) named one of the Guardian's best food books of the year, and Eat Like a Local: Shanghai (2019). He lives in Bologna with his husband.
Zao Fan warped me back to the streets of China. His intricate descriptions of the breakfast eating culture and recipes of China take you on an irresistible, winding, delectable adventure -- Jeremy Pang I cannot remember the last time a book made me feel this hungry. Every photograph, every recipe, every word is so sumptuous and inviting. Michael Zee has done something incredible here, which is to capture the complexity of Chinese breakfast while also making it accessible to complete novices such as myself. I cannot wait to cook from it. And to go to China * Tim Anderson * A mouthwatering and beautifully photographed exploration of the dazzling diversity of Chinese breakfasts, offering glimpses of many parts of the country which are scarcely known abroad. * Fuchsia Dunlop * Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, and I alternate between Levantine, American and Asian breakfasts depending on where I am in the world. And now that I have Michael’s enchanting book with its irresistible photos and recipes, I will start making my own Chinese breakfast rather than wait until I am in a hotel that serves it! * Anissa Helou *