To Eat or Not to Eat: The Curious Affair of Western Missionaries with Chinese​ Food
Piotr Gibas, PhD
6 December, 2025      ​
​9:30 am - 11:00 am, PT 
11:00 - 11:30am PT - Teahouse
What did Western Christian missionaries eat in China and why, for the most part, was it ​not Chinese food? First Saturday PDX invites you to join us with Dr Piotr Gibas as this presentation focuses on two groups of missionaries and their foodways: the Portuguese Jesuits (Catholics) based in Macau between the 16th and 17th centuries, and the British and American Protestants in Hong Kong and Shanghai in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Dr Gibas will reveal what they ate, what they refused to eat, and why. While examining ideological and cultural factors that shaped the dietary choices of Christian missionaries, this talk also engages with enduring Western attitudes, perceptions, and phobias regarding Chinese food more broadly.
About the speaker:
Piotr Gibas is Associate Professor of Chinese at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. He received his PhD in Chinese language from UC Berkeley in 2009, and specializes in Chinese literature and thought with a focus on historiography. His research includes disciplines of literature, religion, history, visual arts, philosophy, archaeology, language and anthropology. Gibas teaches courses in Asian Studies, Chinese language, food culture and literature, and leads study abroad in China and Southeast Asia.
As a literary critic and author with a keen research interest in food history, his book, "Eat Mountain, Eat Sea: The History of Food in China" is forthcoming in 2026. He eats Chinese food, with abandon.

​Join us after the webinar from 11 - 11:30am in our First Saturday PDX Tea House to further the discussion.   Bring a cup of tea! 
​(Separate  access link for this will be provided in your single registration for this event.)
Our instructive program series has been developed with support by 
Reed College, Northwest China Council, Lan Su Chinese Garden 
​and Portland Chinatown Museum. 
Our programs are always free and open to the public.  ​