Editing Wok (section)

==History==
The origin of the wok is unclear, but most scholars believe it originated from the [[karahi]], as well as the [[Southeast Asian]] ''kuali'' (believed to be the [[etymology]] of Mandarin [[wikt:𡆇|𡆇]]). These cooking vessels are universal in South and Southeast Asian cuisine for stewing and quick evaporation. They likely entered China via [[Central Asia]] from [[India]] where it evolved into the wok.<ref name="Anderson"/><ref name="Symons">{{cite book |last1=Symons |first1=Michael |title=A History of Cooks and Cooking |date=2003 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=9780252071928 |page=78}}</ref><ref name="López-Alt">{{cite book |last1=López-Alt |first1=J. Kenji |title=The Wok: Recipes and Techniques |date=2022 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=9780393541229}}</ref><ref name="Knipple">{{cite book |last1=Knipple |first1=Paul |last2=Knipple |first2=Angela |title=The World in a Skillet: A Food Lover's Tour of the New American South |date=2012 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=9780807869963 |page=178}}</ref>	 	
In his 1988 book ''The Food of China'', E.N. Anderson writes:<ref name="Anderson">{{Cite book|title=The Food of China|last=E.N.|first=Anderson|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|year=1988|isbn=0300047398|location=New Haven|pages=184–5}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=Wok is a Cantonese word; the Mandarin is Guō. The wok appears to be a rather recent acquisition as Chinese kitchen furniture goes; it has been around for only two thousand years. The first woks are little pottery models on the pottery stove models in Han Dynasty tombs. Since the same sort of pan is universal in India and Southeast Asia, where it is known as a Kuali in several languages, I strongly suspect borrowing [of the word] (probably from India via Central Asia)--kuo must have evolved from some word close to Kuali.}}
The first possible depictions of woks in China appeared in the [[Han dynasty]] (c. 202 BCE - 220 CE). But these are conjectural, since these "woks" were made of clay and were only used to dry [[grain]]s.<ref name=wil-647>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ERnrQq0bsPYC&pg=PA647|title=Chinese History: A Manual|last=Wilkinson|first=Endymion Porter |date=2000|publisher=Harvard University Asia Center|isbn=9780674002494|page=647}}</ref> Metal woks only started to appear in China in the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368 - 1644), where it was first used for [[stir frying]] (an original Han Chinese innovation).<ref name=wil-647/><ref name="Symons"/>