Hungry For More

jacket and goes off to apply for a job as a security guard at a five-star hotel. There he is mistaken for a journalist and whisked into a press banquet, one of many held in today's China to launch everything from literacy campaigns to property developments. After a splendid meal — with an envelope of cash "for your troubles" — Dan has a revelation: all he needs to continue this charmed life is a fake business card and a nonexistent website.

Thus begins Dan's career in journalism — and Geling Yan's shark-fin-sharp satire on cuisine and...