The book "The History of Food and Taste" (edited by Paul Friedman, USA) says in the introduction that the first thing is about diet and health.

We can define health broadly to include mental health and taboos of different religions.

When it comes to food, Islam clearly has the most taboos.

Some of these rules are long-standing and must be strictly adhered to, such as the taboo on pork.

Other regulations, such as attitudes toward alcohol, have evolved with the times.

The Jews originally had stricter food taboos.

Of course, the above two religions do not deny the pleasure brought by eating.

Christianity's dietary restrictions generally depend on the time of worship (fasting days, Lent) or the degree of piety (monastic diet), and do not strictly prohibit a certain food. However, Christianity is far more worried about gluttony than Islam and Judaism.

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All religious and philosophical traditions oppose overeating, and Christianity includes it among the seven deadly sins. It is believed that gluttony is not an appreciation of delicious food, but a simple and crude indulgence.

In the 6th century, Pope Gregory I summarized several forms of gluttony, such as overeating, eating too enthusiastically, and starting to eat without waiting for the normal eating time.

Of course, enjoying overly expensive or exquisite food is also a sinful gluttony.

Food that is too delicate is not only cumbersome to prepare, but can also cause medical problems.

The careful consideration of food in the Chinese and Islamic traditions, which is beyond the reach of modern food writers, was completely dismissed in the medieval Christian tradition.

"Have you eaten?" was a common expression used by Chinese people when meeting each other, and even made jokes. This kind of greeting is still used when meeting in a special scene, which shows the status of food and all activities related to food in the hearts of Chinese people.

This is nothing more than a lack of material resources. In addition, food is the most important thing for the people. The core thing of good governance is to know the etiquette of the warehouse.

Those who observe etiquette are considered civilized people, while those who observe etiquette are considered uncivilized people. Ding (a three-legged cooking utensil) etiquette means that civilized people are considered "cooked" and uncivilized people are considered "raw".

It is also an important symbol that distinguishes people who eat grains and use fire to cook food from people who do not eat grains and use fire.

The difference between culture and nature closely connects food cuisine with identity, forming a cultural view of "you are what you eat".

The main characteristics of Chinese food culture: First, the dishes are complex, and the food is never tired of finesse and the meat is never tired of fineness.

Second, Chinese food has been connected with foreign countries since ancient times, especially in Central and Southeast Asian countries. Imported ingredients are constantly emerging, including bird's nests, sea cucumbers, peanuts, corn and sweet potatoes.

Humans learned to grow wheat about 10,000 years ago, which was a landmark event that marked the transition from hunting to gathering.

About 1,000 years later, wheat spread east and west from the Mediterranean Sea and the Asia Minor Peninsula. When it encountered fire in the west, it turned into bread, and when it encountered water in the east, it turned into noodles and steamed buns.

Third, diet is closely related to health.

Based on the principle of rice + vegetables, food is divided into two categories. Rice is carbohydrates such as rice, which makes people feel full; vegetables are delicacies that add flavor to rice.

Many of the fundamental ideas of Chinese cuisine are closely related to medical knowledge, health, and feelings about the human body. All of this comes from the traditional cosmology. Yin and Yang and the cold and hot properties of food are inseparable, which coincides with the Western theory of humors.

The Chinese Five Elements Theory corresponds to the five flavors of food. The Five Elements are related to the five internal organs, and the health of the five internal organs is related to proper nutrition.

There are also five grains (rice, wheat, soybeans, glutinous rice and millet), as well as five poultry, and even the season, main directions, coloring and social relations are divided into five categories.

The Chinese people pay attention to the cosmology of the unity of nature and man. An important aspect of the view that everything in the world is interconnected is that the human body is a microcosm in the universe. Both the human body and the universe are provided with energy forms by "qi".

For the human body, this energy exists in food in different forms, and is reconciled through the "yin" and "yang" forces of the human body.

The universe is divided into two basic elements, Yin and Yang, so mountains have a Yang side and a Yin side. Yin represents cold (or cooling), darkness, and moisture, and is often associated with female characteristics.

Yang represents heat (or heating), light, and dryness, which are generally male characteristics.

The Chinese do not regard the two as completely opposites, but as complementary levels. No matter what food is either yin-dominated or yang-dominated, it will not fall into either category.

According to the impact on the human body, it is divided into cold and hot.

The cold and hot natures were further elaborated upon when the Western humoral theory was introduced in the 6th century.

The Western theory of human body fluids believes that the human body is mainly affected by cold and heat, and dryness and wetness are also affected to a certain extent. The balance of these four is a reflection of physical health. This echoes the Chinese Yin and Yang theory and is also combined with the Five Elements Theory.

At the beginning, the Five Elements Theory divided the universe generated by the two qi of yin and yang into five consecutive stages, namely metal, wood, water, fire and earth.

These five stages and five directions correspond to the five elements one-to-one, forming a complete system, with each line having its counterpart in the other lines.