Chinese Foods and Health

Chinese Foods and health

The Chinese food culture places great importance on backbone-therapy by diet. The tradition of using foods alongside herbal medicine has existed since archaic times. According to Chinese legends, the god of agriculture, Shennong, tasted hundreds of kinds of herbs to determine the effects of these herds. He not only taught people to grow crops but was also the master of medicine. Although it is a mere legend, it reflects an important idea in traditional Chinese medicine - "food and medicine share the same roots." Therefore, in Chinese culture, people's dietary habits, disease prevention, and treatment are all interconnected.

The Chinese concept of foods and health

Since the Chinese civilization began, the Chinese have paid close attention to the preservation of health and prolonging of life. The book of Huangdi Neijing first introduced a dialectic and a comprehensive view of diet. Only when a dish contains various kinds of ingredients can its nutrition be complete and balanced. The “five tastes” should also be all included in the diet so that no particular taste would be excessive and hurt internal organs. Relying on your daily diet to improve physique, health, and fight sickness is the essence of the Chinese food culture.

Different from medicine, food doesn’t cause any side-effects to the body. Every type of food contains certain “fine extract” that can exert different effects on the body. If one wants to relieve excess heat in his body, Chinese doctors would recommend pears for the lungs, bananas for the rectum, and kiwis for the bladder. Different tastes also have different influences on the body. Usually, sourness goes to the liver; pungency goes to the lungs, bitterness into the heart, saltiness into the kidneys and sweetness goes to the spleen. Different elements are absorbed by various internal organs and have different effects on the body. Relying on the diverse and nutritional contents of Chinese food to improve one’s physical body is a unique feature of Chinese food culture.

Hot and spicy foods can facilitate the flow of qi (chi) in the five organs. In Summer, with high humidity and heat, beverages such as mung bean soup, sweet-sour plum juice, lily bulb soup, chilled tea and so on, are very effective in reducing the heat in the human body. In the dry autumn air, it would be beneficial to consume foods that moisten the lungs, such as pear, persimmon, olive, turnip, and tremella. In daily life, Chinese folks prefer turnip since it is inexpensive and has visible health-improving effects. Turnip cooked with braised ribs or with simmered lamb has tonic effects. Chinese chestnut, Chinese yam, and river snails are popular and healthy food for the fall. Winter is the best time for “tonic intake.” Upon entering winter, the Chinese like to eat chicken, pig feet, beef, lamb, longan, walnuts, sesame and other high-fat and high-calorie foods.

People of different ages have different kinds of food preferences. Middle-aged people inevitably experience a period of time in their life when their bodies gradually become weak. They like high-energy foods with protective properties as well as certain foods which they believe can prolong life. With their slow metabolism, middle-aged people should eat less meat, such as beef and pork. Instead, they should have more “two-legged” animals, such as poultry, or fungi and fish.

Food therapy

Food therapy has always been very famous among ordinary Chinese people. There is a saying that “medicine falls short when compared to food in providing supplements to the body and food works just as well as medicine in treating illnesses.” The fact that common fruits and vegetables can prevent and even cure sickness is known by every family. When a family member catches a cold, people will boil him a ginger soup. First, they cut a few ginger slices and mix them with a few pieces of scallion before pouring water into the pot. Then they add brown sugar to it and boil the pot. After drinking the ginger soup, the invalid would sleep under some thick blankets to induce loads of sweat. Afterward, the cold is gone. Hen stewed in clear soup, millet with brown sugar and sesame seeds that have been stir-fried are the first choice for women after labor. These foods help them quickly restore physical energy, and relieve excessive heat.

Medicinal diets are made by mixing traditional Chinese medicine with conventional food and cooking them together. The variety and dosage of the medicine are strictly controlled. It is not like substituting food for medication since therapeutic diets are mainly used to cover the unpleasant taste of medicinal herbs. Taking medication can then be as easy as having a meal. Such a combination of medication and meal forms a new breed of food by mixing the properties of medicine and the taste of delicious food. Popular medicinal diets include porridge, pastry, stews and dishes such as Duck with Chinese Caterpillar Fungus, Whole Chicken Stewed with Ginkgo Nut, Stir-fried River Snails with Rice Wine, Pig Stomach with Lotus Seeds, lily bulb porridge, filing (an edible fungus) cake, Chinese yam and more. Today, China’s cities, no matter large or small, have specialty medicinal diet restaurants, and their business is very prosperous.

Chinese medicinal diets not only shone brightly domestically but are also being introduced overseas. They are gaining wide acceptance among foreigners and is becoming part of their local food culture. Chrysanthemum wine, wine made from the bark of slender acanthopanax, ginseng wine, oolong tea, ginger juice candy, sour plum and other traditional Chinese tonic drinks and foods all have a large market in foreign countries. The main ingredient of Gin, a popular Western drink, is a Chinese medicinal herb - the seed of Oriental arborvitae. It has the effect of calming and relaxing people.

Chinese food therapy and medicinal diet practice now have more and more westerner adopters. This trend represents human’s common wish for good health and long life. Though Western medicines are very effective at curing illnesses, they usually have many strong side effects because they are composed of different chemical compounds. Chinese therapeutic diets, however, are made from natural plants and herbs, therefore, they are much safer and have little or no side-effects. What’s more important is that it can nourish the body and preserve health by strengthening the body’s immune system.

Vegetarian dishes

As far as taste is concerned, many factors should be considered. Cuisines from different regions have their own unique tastes. Even the same dish, cooked by different people, tastes differently. However, from a medical standpoint, diets heavy on saltiness, sweetness, sourness or pungency are not good for the body. Consuming too much salt will damage the heart, spleen, and kidneys. Too much sour and pungent taste will cause various forms of ulcers. Therefore, the way to lasting health is by maintaining a harmonious balance among the “five tastes” and going lightly on seasoning.

In ancient times, the Chinese people didn’t eat meat very often. One reason is that economic conditions back then did not allow people to have meat regularly. A more important reason is that the Chinese saw meats as supplements to crops and vegetables, and they usually have meat and other food materials in combination. Westerners, however, consider meat as the main component of their dietary structure. Because of health and nutritional reasons, meat is not the principal part of the dietary makeup of the Chinese. Today, the merits of the dietary choices of the Chinese people have been backed by many a lot of scientific research.

The development of vegetarian dishes and the spread of Buddhism are intimately related. When Buddhism was first introduced to China, there were no strict abstentions on food. Later, in the Southern Dynasties (420-589 A.D.), the devout Buddhist, Emperor Liang Wudi (ruled from 502 to 549 A.D.) believed that eating meat equaled the act of killing, so he was against the Buddha’s teachings. As a result, Buddhist temples begin to forbid the taking of wine and meat. The monks ate vegetarian food all year round, even the lay Buddhists, who stay at home and work to achieve enlightenment. The increase in the number of vegetarians hastened the development of vegetarian cuisine.

In the Song Dynasty, literati and men of great accomplishment promoted vegetarian dishes. Bean curd, gluten, and all the vegetables were the main ingredients of vegetarian food, and they gradually became real delicacies in people’s eyes. The food industries for the common people also begin to develop. Many vegetarian foods were developed to satisfy the needs of the Buddhists, which influenced the vegetarian food varieties of the monasteries. Because vegetarian dishes usually have a plain taste, so it must be skillfully cooked for the general public to accept. Only then can it be on par with tantalizing traditional delicacies.

Eating porridge

The Chinese since ancient times have had the habit of eating porridge, or congee. Usually, people have one bowl of thin porridge on an Empty Stomach every morning. Porridge prevents illnesses and preserves health. Chinese people have, since a long time ago, proven through practice that carrot porridge can prevent high blood pressure.

Those who are accustomed to consuming excessive meat and seafood may try some vegetable or wild herb porridge sometimes, which contains many essential vitamins and is beneficial to kidneys. Having less meat and seafood and more vegetarian dishes and porridge has always been a good choice for people who want to lead a healthy life. Vegetarian dishes with vegetables, fungi, and bean-based ingredients, are easy to digest and are nutrient-rich. It has been proven by modern medical science that vegetarian foods are very healthy. But eating only vegetarian foods is also not appropriate, as the nutrition people take in should be balanced and well-rounded. For example, one essential element of the body - Calcium is rarely found in vegetarian food. Therefore, a reasonable dietary structure should not only focus on meat nor vegetables. It is important to maintain a balance between meat and other ingredients in one’s diet.