Pauline D. Loh - Let Food be Thy Medicine

食療之妙

保利娜·D·羅

A large part of Chinese culture revolves around food. This holds true for daily greetings (“Have you eaten?”), ritual banquets at festivals, large or small, and special dishes of any occasion, happy or sad.

Chinese culinary practices were elevated to an art from long before some other civilizations even started using fire. Food for the Chinese is both maintenance and celebration.

It’s not just food. Every bite and every sip is beneficial to the body, maintaining a delicate yin-and-yang balance.

中國文化的很大一部分與食物有關。這一點實實在在體現在日常問候（“吃了嗎？”）、大大小小的節日常宴，以及任何紅白喜事的特別菜餚上。

早在其他文明社會開始使用火之前，中國烹飪就已經上升為一種藝術。對中國人而言，食物不僅可用來維持生命，而且可用來慶祝。

不只是食物如此，吃的每一口和喝的每一口都對身體有益，保持微妙的陰陽平衡。

When the body is heating up from too much spice, too much red meat or too much fried stuff, “cooling” food is consumed to neutralize the build-up of “yang” energy. The concerned maternal presence in the kitchen will quickly concoct savory soups, sweet tonics and cooling teas to keep tempers even and humors humored.

When the qi (energy) is weak, tonics are drunk to boost energy. When the qi is overly strong, gentle infusions will quickly soothe.

Yin and yang govern not only Chinese philosophy but also an entire way of life, with the best balance manifested in the Middle Path, a concept preached by both Buddhism in its Zen and non-Zen forms.

It’s applied to all aspects of life, but nowhere else is it more apparent than in daily Chinese gastronomic practice.

如果因為吃了太多的調味品、紅肉或者煎炸類食物而上火，就需要吃一點“涼性”食物以中和體內聚集的“陽”的能量。這時，體貼的母親便會馬上下廚調製出可口的湯菜、滋補甜品和涼茶，讓你心平氣和。

氣（能量）虛時，喝點滋補品可以提氣。氣血過旺時，少量的湯藥即可快速調理好。

陰陽不僅是中國哲學的精髓，還主宰著整個生活方式。最佳的平衡體現在“中庸之道”，這個理念在佛教中以禪和非禪的形式得到了宣揚。

陰陽應用到了生活的方方面面，而中國的日常烹飪是陰陽平衡的最佳體現。

For the average Chinese family, every meal must have “three dishes one soup”, with a meat dish, a fish dish, a vegetable dish and a soup being the most common combination. It must also have a balance of steamed, stir-fried and deep-fried foods. And depending on the season, the soup will be either a light summer vegetable concoction with a few slivers of meat of sweeten the stock or a heavier soup to warm against winter chills.

對普通的中國家庭而言，每頓飯必須得有“三菜一湯”，其中肉、魚、蔬菜和湯為最常見的組合。此外還要做到蒸、炒、煎炸各式菜餚的平衡搭配。並且，根據季節變化湯菜要麼是以夏季蔬菜為主的清淡燉煮（裡面會放少量肉片使湯更入味），要麼是用來抵禦冬寒的暖身濃湯。

And, in the equation, the yin-and-yang balance is always in play.

To illustrate how much traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is connected to eating and drinking, let’s take a look at “zangfu”— the term used to describe various yin and yang organs in the body.

A yin organ is called zang, while a yang organ is called fu.

TCM practitioners believe that the individual organs do not function alone but are all related to the flow of “qi”, or energy, in the body. They are the anchors to major channels or meridians—a term also used in acupuncture.

在這樣的均衡中，陰陽平衡往往得以維持。

為了展示出中醫（TCM）與吃喝之間的密切關聯，讓我們來看看“臟腑”（這個術語是指身體中各種陰陽器官）吧。

“髒”屬陰，“腑”屬陽。

中醫認為，各個器官並不是單獨發揮作用的，而都與體內“氣”即能量的運行相關。它們是主要經絡穴位（這個術語也在鍼灸中使用）的主導。

Zang (yin) includes the heart, pericardium (the sac surrounding the heart), lungs, spleen, liver and kidney.

Fu (yang) comprises the small intestine,, triple warmer (an organ function), stomach, large intestine, gall bladder and bladder.

The best way to understand how it works is showcasing some recipes, and explaining how the ingredients and cooking methods fit into the “food as medicine” philosophy.

心，新包膜（包圍心臟的囊）、肺、脾、肝和腎為“髒”（屬陰）。

小腸、三焦（一種器官功能）、胃、大腸、膽和膀胱為“腑”（屬陽）。

瞭解陰陽運作方式，最好辦法就是展示一些菜譜，並解釋如何才能使食材和烹飪方法與“善食即醫藥”的哲學相符。

Chinese salads? Does that sound strange? It depends where you are in the country. Southerners like their vegetables hot off the wok, and limit cold dishes to little plates of appetizers seed before the main courses. Cold salads feature prominently as we travel northward, and the variety in northern Chinese liangban cai (cold, tossed dishes) is truly impressive.

中式沙拉？聽上去是不是有點怪？這取決於你住在中國什麼地方。南方人喜歡趁熱吃蔬菜，而涼菜就是上主菜之前端上桌的小碟開胃菜。越往北，涼菜沙拉就越重要，中國北方的涼拌菜（混拌在一起的冷食菜餚）真實令人難忘。

My Beijing sister-in-law blanches, pickles and dresses a vast variety of leafy vegetables and roots to make a staggering selection of cold dishes.

我在北京的嫂子常會把各種各樣的綠葉蔬菜和根莖氽湯、醃漬、調味做成一大盤內容豐富的涼菜。