Traditional Chinese Cuisine: Let Food Be Your Medicine
There is a long tradition in China
of using medicinal herbs in cuisine. The Chinese Ministry of Health has a list
which includes more than 80 foods that can be used both as food and medicine,
more than 110 herbs used for health and 59 ingredients forbidden in foods for
health purposes.
Last year, the Ministry of Health
announced that aweto, a rare fungus believed to have a replenishing function,
is not recommended for ordinary food products. But experts warn that people
should be particularly careful when using ingredients with strong medicinal
properties.
Public interest in medicinal cuisine
has fueled the growth of restaurants proffering foods that offer health
benefits, but often without the guidance of experienced cuisine masters.
A warming bowl of lamb soup with
ginger and the Chinese herb angelica is a classic Chinese recipe for people who
feel cold and tired in autumn and winter. Chinese angelica is an
often-used traditional herbal medicine. Its warming capacity is used to
stimulate blood circulation, while ginger dispels coldness, warms up the inside
of the body, and promotes perspiration. Lamb has a hot, warming property that
replenishes energy for the weak.
This recipe was first drafted by
Zhang Zhongjing, one of China’s best-known traditional medicine doctors in the
Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220). About 1,800 years later, this soup is
still prescribed during the cold seasons for people with a weak constitution,
especially old people and women after delivery.
Another good example is ginseng –
widely popular not only in China, but also in Korea and Southeast Asian
countries as a daily energy booster. The valuable herb is used to replenish qi
(energy) and sooth nerves among people with a weak constitution. But it has
been found that, for people with weak yin and excited yang, ginseng can lead to
dizziness, overexcitement and even mania.
Some other commonly used Chinese
herbs in food can also have adverse properties. Saffron, which invigorates
blood circulation and boosts immunity, can cause miscarriages, dizziness and
over excitement. Huang qi, or milk vetch root, replenishes energy but can be
dangerous for people who’ve had a cerebral hemorrhage.
Maybe restaurants should have TCM
doctors as instructors and experienced chefs in food and herb combining to
prepare “medicinal cuisine”. It also requests that ingredients used in
medicinal foods should be those designated in a list issued by the Ministry of
Health in 2002, and that the quantity of herbs used should not be more than
those designated in the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China.
Du Zhong, or eucommia bark, for
instance, is cooked in soup with pork kidney to replenish energy in men’s
kidneys. Ginseng, angelica and lily bulb are boiled together to replenish
energy, and benefit the lungs. Other common ingredients used as foods and
herbal medicines include Chinese jujube, lotus seed, medlar fruit, longan and
gastrodia tuber. The fresh leaves of mint, basil, milk vetch and baical
skullcap are also being used in dishes.
Jiao Mingyao, general manager at
Beijing’s Tian Xia Yi Jia Restaurant, says that ginseng has already faded out
of restaurants, but aweto still exists on quite a few menus. Jiao
recommends eating nutritious foods according to different seasons, individual
physical conditions and location. He says foods that raise energy in
spring include sprouts and the liver of chicken, pork and lamb to replenish
energy in the liver.
“Summer is a time to replenish
energy mildly, and dispel heat and dryness,” he says. “It is good to eat lotus
seed, mint, water chestnut, pigeon, beef and duck.”
For autumn, he suggests frying lily
bulb with gingko, and making dishes with orange and pear. In winter, beef and
lamb, as well as venison are all good energy boosters, he says.
“My concept of medicinal food is
about scientific, nutritional cooking,” Jiao says. “It should be an advanced
phase of development for Chinese cuisine, instead of a simple mixture of herbal
medicine and food.”
Chinese herbs and medicinal
ingredients should be devided into those with light medicinal properties and those
with strong medicinal properties, which should only be prescribed by doctors.
“Those herbal medicines that can be
mixed with foodstuff to treat illnesses should be left for doctors to decide,”
he says. “As to those that are also foodstuff, people should be reminded of
their side effects, but they should not be banned from using them.”
Source of the story is here.
