"Food is the first necessity of the people." --- This was said by an official to his emperor in Han Dynasty about two thousand years ago, and still very popular used among Chinese people today. It not only means to solve the problem of feeding a large population is a big challenge to China, but also determined by the role that food has been playing in Chinese culture all along the history.

Food Is More

Over the centuries, Chinese cuisine has developed into a remarkably varied one, using far more vegetables and meats than available in the West.         One factor behind this development is that in China, foods are considered more than just sustenance, the concepts of Taditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) is that food and medicine come from the same source, they are based on the same theories, and have the same uses --- foods have the power to help an individual regain Yin-Yang balance for a healthy body and a coordinated mind as well.

If a Chinese is not feeling well, mostly he would first attempt with diet management, failing that, medication comes into play.

In Chinese philosophy, Yingyang is a complementary pairs of basic energy in universe, and it exits in a human body too, as the human body is a smaller universe that soppose to be homoney with the big one. Health meant that one has the balance of Yinyang in his body, with a good, free-flowing Qi (vital energy ).

Yin and Yang in Chinese Diet

Foods is the key to adjust human body according to both the body itself and the out surroundings ---

The body reacts to off-set adverse influences (coldness, dryness), or absorb the beneficial elements (warmth, moisture) and the energy for a humen body to do this is from food. Some foods can be more thermogenic than others supporting it to ward off the coldness. Other foods can act in the opposite direction.
        Therefore, when the Yang forces such as hot weather are dominant in the environment and the body is in a Yin state and feeling cold, this discord can bring disease. Warm food such as mutton can restore the body warmth in winter so that it is less affected by cold weather.

Yinyang in Food

The ideas of Yinyang are used in food too. Yin foods tend to be cooling and moistening for the body, to decrease the body's heat (eg. lower the metabolism). Yang foods tend to be warming and drying, and to increase the body's heat (eg. raise the metabolism).
        This has less to do with the actual temperature or moisture of the food and more to do with how it effects the human body. Boiled spinach for example, is cooling and moistening, as is baked tofu. Chilled wine is warming, as is roast beef. Toast, while dry to touch, actually moistens the body. An excesse of ‘Yin’ or ‘Yang’ foods will break the balance of body.

However, belief in the importance of following the principles of yin and yang in the diet extends further. Following is a roughly classified table of Yin and Yang foods. The effects of such food qualities on health have been observed for thousands of years.

Yin foods being eaten excessively are thought to cause stomachaches, diarrhea, dizziness, weakness, and coldness in the body if done so.
       Excessive intake of yang foods are thought to cause skin rashes, hives, pimples, nose bleeds, gas, indigestion, constipation, redness in the eyes, and a sore throat.

Some foods are of no obvious trend of Yin or Yang are considered as a neutral foods, such as rice and a lot of grains, potatos, pork, black sesame, yam,Carrots, lotus seeds... they are safer for you to eat a little more, but by the way of cooking, the food may tend differently.

Cook Not Only for the Flavor

Chinese people believe that cooking can bring out the medicinal value in food. As a matter of fact, there is no clear distinction between food and medicine in Chinese culture. Because cooking can change the properties of food, it is important that they are cooked in an appropriate manner enabling them to act in a positive way conserving health and maintaining longevity.

Cooking methods also have more of a yin or yang property, as the list below demonstrates.  

Chinese food emphasizes on consuming a diet that contains a healthy balance between yin and yang. You'll find most Chinese dishes are made of a mixture of ingredients and each meal is made up of a combination of dishes.

- BU -
        An important concept is the idea of bu(literally to patch up, repair, or replenish), central to all efforts of maintaining good health with a suitable food, fine-tuned by cooking to replenish without excess.

Foods ingested for the obvious reason of bu rather than daily sustenance are generally called 'tonic' to make sense to foreigners. TCM philosophy takes an intuitionist route in achieving health and longevity through diet. A tonic food serves to provide a source of balance and equilibrium for the smooth flow of Qi, and food is seen to be a much more fortifying and resourceful means to combating illness than medicine.

Chinese always happy to take foos of Bu, even when they are healthy. The idea of bu is so deeply ingrained in Chinese food culture that even today the first question one would ask of a novel cuisine or a new dish or even an exotic kind of food is whether it is bu.

Now, you maybe get the idea why:

• You always get a cup of steamed rice for every entree

• There is usually vegetable mixed with meat entree

• Crabs are searved with a dip with ginger when steamed, and with chilly and onion when stir-fried

• A fried dish usually comes with a steamed dish or soup

• Ginseng to be found in soup

• Chinese people boil cola with ginger to fight cold
• ... ...

references:
http://www.kas.ku.edu/chinese_food/food_intro.html
http://www.acufinder.com/... /Detail/Yin-Yang+Balance+and+Food+Choice
http://chinesefooddiy.com/tips10_yinyang.htm
http://www.flavorandfortune.com/dataaccess/article.php?ID=140

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