People's pursuit of food has long gone beyond mere deliciousness; they now seek to achieve health preservation and wellness through their diet. Consequently, restaurants of all sizes have begun advertising with medicinal cuisine, offering a variety of dishes, nourishing soups, and health broths.
Experts tell reporters that while medicinal cuisine has benefits in adjuvant diet therapy, the prerequisite is that it must be guided by someone knowledgeable. Not to mention the various taboos in the compatibility of traditional Chinese medicine, even just judging by the principle of tonifying according to the season, one can see that the nourishing dishes offered by many restaurants have their problems. For instance, summer should focus on light nourishment. If some restaurants still recommend warming soups like black-bone chicken or old hen soup, it will have the opposite effect. Instead, one should choose duck soup or pigeon soup. If a woman is naturally abundant in qi and blood yet often consumes medicinal soups that tonify qi and invigorate blood, she is also heading in the wrong direction. Therefore, medicinal cuisine restaurants should employ professional medicinal chefs to provide personalized guidance.
Experts also gave an example: Broths are high in purines. For people suffering from gout, drinking any highly nourishing soup could trigger a gout attack, which is得不偿失 (not worth the loss).
In summary, medicinal cuisine and nourishing soups are not for everyone. The general principle for consuming medicinal food is to apply dietary therapy based on syndrome differentiation. Below are some simple principles for eating medicinal food.
First is the "Five Nourishments for the Four Seasons" principle: tonify the liver in spring, strengthen the heart and spleen in summer, moisten the lungs in autumn, and nourish the kidneys in winter. As long as this principle is followed, one is unlikely to go wrong. Secondly, for out-of-season foods, one must learn to balance their cold and hot nature. For example, when eating a hot pot with lamb in summer, it is best to add some cool ingredients or side dishes to neutralize the warming nature of the lamb. Finally, Chinese food therapy emphasizes balance, not just in a single dish, but in an entire meal. It is important to ensure dietary diversity—eating a bit of everything, but not too much of anything, to avoid the negative consequences of extremes.