Chinese culture - describing food

[missbrokensmile]

A lot of the time, Chinese people describe certain foods as 热气 毒、凉 etc. It's a very cultural thing.

For example:

- when you want children to stop wetting the bed when they get older, parents usually feed them non-凉 food

- when a person's stomach doesn't feel well, they stay away from food that has 毒, ie. prawns

- when a person is coughing, they stay away from 热气 foods, ie. chips

Does anyone know of a book that discusses/introduces this sort of information? Preferably through a dedicated textbook or in a bilingual format, although all Chinese is fine as well.

Thanks

[abcdefg]

What you need is a good TCM book. This article is only a breezy and popularized overview, but at the end it contains a bibliography listing some books that might be of use in finding what you are looking for.

http://www.shen-nong.com/eng/lifestyles/food_property_food_tcm.html

[Michaelyus]

In English, with some 漢字 and pīnyīn to refer to the specific terms, there's The Web That Has No Weaver by T. Kaptchuk. You'd definitely want to go down that kind of traditional Chinese medicine-based route if you want to gain a proper understanding of how the system works, which I doubt most Chinese people have. Then again, common cultural usage may be what you're after, but I've only ever learned that by exposure.

[hbuchtel]

You can find more info by doing a search for 食疗 or 药膳.

I would be somewhat hesitant about recommending a modern TCM textbook, as they are often mish-mashes of different traditions or schools of thought - kind of like a "Best of" album. A better choice would be a book written by somebody representing a certain tradition.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there are many different climates in China, and recommendations that are useful for one climate may actually cause harm in another climate. (think Guangdong and Gansu...) Try to find one that matches your current climate and eating habits.

[LucyxLucy]

hmmm... I've only heard of the things you're talking about from my grandma, although she doesn't say something has 热气，she says 上火 (I have no idea how to translate this). I don't think there'll be a lot of books on this topic, especially English ones, since they'll introduce everything in English and you won't get the Chinese version of it. Books written in Chinese about this sort of stuff usually assume that their reader already knows or has an understanding about the things you want to know.