What a gorgeous book! Sharing with you a very delectable book I'm reading now, Yeshi (edit note: original name Jiu Huang Ben Cao 救荒本草, Materia Medica for the Relief of Femine) by Zhu Su 朱橚, the fifth son of Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋, the founder and first emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China.
The book showcases over 400 kinds of edible wild greens. While Ben Cao Gang Mu (The Compendium of Materia Medica) written by Li Shizhen was the representative work of that era by collecting almost every plants of medicinal value, Jiu Huang Ben Cao picks up the slack by recording by what matters most to us: what greens in the wild is edible.
Another cool thing about this book is the briefing that goes with each greens. Read it and you'll see the book is doing every foodie a biblical favor. Dietary guide, check. Medicinal value, check. Easy to follow recipes, check and, even if the greens is poisonous in the first place, the book shows you how to get around it and eat the rugged thing all the same like it's nobody's business!
Yet, the most beautiful thing of Yeshi has got to be the famous artwork that goes into it. Being the son of tyrant, Zhu Su certainly has the kind of wealth that only the richest oil mogul of modern days can match with. Not afraid to flaunt it when he has it, he hires a shoal of painters to do the artwork. So not only book is packed with crafty writings for wild greens, there is also some of the most beautiful classic illustrations ever done for them.
