The original soup can help digest the original food and replenish lost vitamins.
Regarding the saying "Original Soup Digests Original Food," there is an interesting anecdote.
In ancient times, in the northwest, there was a noodle shop where the noodles were very chewy, and many people engaged in heavy manual labor went there to eat. The owner put up a sign at the door: "Those who eat my noodles must drink my soup." One day, a strong man also came to eat, but he refused to drink the soup. The owner instructed the young apprentice to follow him and remember their address. When the strong man returned home, his stomach started to ache at night, he couldn't pass gas, and it got worse and worse. He was on the verge of death. Just then, the noodle shop owner and the young apprentice burst in with a bucket of noodle soup, pried open the strong man's teeth, and poured the soup down his throat. After a while, the strong man's stomach rumbled, and he slowly regained consciousness, snatching his life back from the gates of hell.
In China's dietary tradition, the saying "Original Soup Digests Original Food" has always existed. After eating捞面 (pulled noodles) and dumplings, the elderly always drink some of the original soup. Director Li Peiwen of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Oncology Department at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital of the Ministry of Health, and Li Changping, Deputy Chief Nutritionist of the Nutrition Department at Beijing Hospital, both told reporters from the "Life Times" that from a nutritional perspective, the saying "Original Soup Digests Original Food" has some merit. The word "化" (huà) has two meanings.
First, "化" means "to digest." Director Li Peiwen said that when starchy foods are boiled, the starch on their surface dissolves into the soup. When heated to 100 degrees Celsius, the starch granules break down into dextrin, which can help digest food. Moreover, the noodle soup also contains digestive enzymes that are not destroyed during the cooking process and can also aid digestion. Therefore, drinking the original soup can help reduce indigestion. The small story mentioned above was actually because the noodles in the northwest are quite hard and not easy to digest, causing intestinal obstruction. After drinking the soup, the original soup helped digest the noodles, so the intestines started to move again.
Secondly, drinking the original soup also has a certain supplementary effect. Director Li Changping said that flour is rich in water-soluble B vitamins, but during the cooking process, these B vitamins leach into the soup. It has been reported that water-soluble vitamins dissolved in the soup can account for 50% of the original food, so drinking the soup can to some extent make up for the vitamins lost during the cooking of the staple food. By the same logic, in some areas, it is customary to make "捞饭" (drained rice), which also leads to the loss of water-soluble vitamins, especially B vitamins. Therefore, we advocate "steamed rice." If making drained rice, the rice soup should be drunk.
Water-soluble vitamins in food are easily lost during processing and cooking. We usually advocate principles such as not using hot water to wash rice, not over-rubbing it, controlling the number of washes to no more than two, and not adding too much water when stir-frying, all to avoid the loss of water-soluble vitamins, especially B vitamins. The principle is the same as "Original Soup Digests Original Food."
What kind of soup can digest the original food?
Director Li Peiwen said that "原食" (original food) refers to starchy foods, and "原汤" (original soup) refers to the water used to cook these foods. For example, the soup from boiling dumplings, noodles, wontons, tangyuan, and rice soup. Hot pot soup, however, cannot be compared, because when boiling meat, a lot of fat is dissolved into the soup, making the fat content in hot pot soup too high, and long-term consumption is not good for your health.
Furthermore, it must be the "original soup" to digest the original food. Director Li Peiwen said that Xi'an's famous "Yang Rou Pao Mo" (Lamb Burger) uses the broth from stewed lamb and then soaks the bread (馍) in it. This broth is not the original soup of the bread, so it does not have the aforementioned effects.
Drink soup before a meal if you are trying to lose weight, and after a meal if you have a weak stomach.
With so many benefits, when is the best time to drink the original soup? Li Changping said that theoretically, it is best to drink it after a meal, just as people like to have some congee after a meal. The amount is not strictly limited. Director Li Peiwen said that it's easy to not feel full when eating noodles, so people tend to eat more and more. Therefore, obese people should drink it before a meal, as it can create a sense of fullness, slow down the speed of eating, and prevent overeating. This is also the reason for the popular proverb "Drink soup before a meal, stay slim and healthy." However, patients with chronic atrophic gastritis have less gastric acid secretion. Drinking soup before a meal will dilute the gastric juice, further affecting food digestion, so they should not drink too much soup before a meal.