Cantonese cuisine is unique due to its long cultural history and the influence of Guangdong’s special geographical environment and humanistic environment. After long-term and repeated practice, a relatively unique theoretical system has gradually been formed. Huang Zhuhe, a physician at the Fangcun Branch of the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, introduced that people’s understanding of Cantonese cuisine can be improved by adapting to local conditions, blending five flavors, health-preserving soups, dietary taboos, etc., so that the diet can be adapted to different groups in the Lingnan region. It enables people to have a macroscopic understanding of diet and health care, and use this to guide them in their diet and health care.
Cantonese cuisine follows the changes of cold, hot, and cool in the four seasons and selects foods with appropriate nature and flavor. For example, "Essential Prescriptions for Emergency Food·Food Treatment" states: In spring, "save acidity and increase sweetness to nourish the spleen." In summer, "sparing the bitterness and increasing the pungent to nourish the lung qi", in the long summer "saving the sweet and increasing the salty to nourish the kidney qi", in autumn "saving the pungent and increasing the acid to nourish the liver qi", and in winter "saving the salty and increasing the bitterness to nourish the heart qi". The five internal organs should be used to respond to the four seasons, and according to the multiplication relationship of the five internal organs, the Qi of the five internal organs should be in a balanced state and not be excessive or insufficient.
Huang Zhuhe explained that based on the geographical location and climate characteristics of Guangdong, the dishes are timely. Summer dishes are mainly used to relieve summer heat and use ingredients such as winter melon, bitter melon, barley, white lentils, Corn silk, etc.; Autumn dishes are mainly based on nourishing yin and moisturizing the lungs, and the ingredients are mostly lilies, tremella, pears, honey, etc. Winter and spring dishes are mainly nutritional and nourishing, and the ingredients are mostly yams, five-finger peach, raw rehmannia, Codonopsis pilosula, etc. , pay attention to diet therapy and health preservation, and pay attention to physical and mental health in daily diet and daily life.
The five flavors taken from food can nourish the qi of the five internal organs, harmonize the qi of the human body, metabolize body fluids, and improve body and soul. "Lingshu Xuanming Five Qi" also proposed the "Five Entrances": sour enters the liver, bitter enters the heart, sweet enters the spleen, pungent enters the lungs, and salty enters the kidneys, indicating that the five flavors have a selective affinity for the five internal organs. When nourishing food, you should be careful to harmonize the five flavors and not be partial to it. The five flavors are harmonized, the skin, muscles, tendons, and bones are nourished, Qi and blood are smooth, and the evil is not eliminated when the healthy Qi is stored.
Cantonese cuisine is even more unique in terms of taste, giving birth to the beauty of six flavors (sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty, and umami). For example, Xinhui tangerine peel, with its unique sour and bitter taste, has the effects of regulating qi, strengthening the spleen, drying dampness and reducing phlegm. It is especially beneficial in delicacies, such as duck with tangerine peel, fish with tangerine peel, fish with tangerine peel and garlic bones, etc., which are all unique in color, aroma and taste. If tangerine peel is added to the dishes, it will not only eliminate the fishy smell, but also reduce phlegm. It has the effect of lowering Qi, eliminating stagnation and strengthening the stomach.
The health-preserving soups in Cantonese cuisine reflect the concept of "medicine and food come from the same origin" of traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that soup can strengthen the spleen and appetite, soothe the throat, dispel heat and dampness, and replenish and strengthen the body. Therefore, the health-preserving soups of Cantonese cuisine apply this traditional Chinese medicine health-preserving concept to the extreme, and play an important role in people's daily health-preserving, disease prevention and treatment, post-illness recovery, physical fitness, beauty and beauty, and many other aspects.
At the same time, he is good at mixing medicinal materials according to the climate and human body symptoms, and supplementing them in season. Most of the soups used at home are chicken, duck and fish with vegetables, dried fruits, etc., often adding Lingnan special medicinal materials such as Bawanghua, chicken bone grass, longleaf, etc. and some tonic medicinal materials such as astragalus, Codonopsis pilosula, yam, wolfberry, red dates, and American ginseng. wait. There are many kinds of Laohuo soup, the representative ones include stewed pork with Bawang flower, stewed bamboo chicken with cordyceps, stewed pork bones with watercress, etc.
Huang Zhuhe emphasized that if taken improperly, it will not only fail to provide the proper nutritional supplement, but will also cause various pathological changes. Therefore, Cantonese cuisine pays special attention to the combination of ingredients and seasonal taboos, in order to better apply the concept of health preservation in traditional Chinese medicine to ensure the health of the human body and not be affected by the harm caused by problems with the ingredients.
Incompatibilities: Under normal circumstances, some foods should not be used together, which are so-called incompatibility. According to literature, persimmons should be avoided with crabs, green onions should be avoided with honey, and turtle shells should be avoided with amaranth. Regarding food compatibility taboos, there are many records in "Synopsis of the Golden Chamber" and ancient herbal books.
Seasonal taboos: Guangdong’s four-season climate is unpredictable and must comply with the law of self-heating. You should eat as little warm and dry food as possible in spring and summer. For example, avoid eating dog meat and eating less mutton in spring and summer; eat less mutton in autumn; Eat less pungent and hot food and more water-rich fruits; in the severe cold in winter, you should eat less sweet and cold food that hurts the stomach and eat warm food instead.
Cantonese cuisine, as a unique brand in Guangdong, pays attention to the concept of traditional Chinese medicine health care, follows the balance between the human body and nature, and at the same time, constantly innovates and develops my country's characteristic traditional Chinese medicine diet and health care, which has a positive impact on human health. significance.
Editor Yao Zanyuan