What foods should not be eaten with pork?

Pork is one of the most common foods people encounter in their daily lives. Because it is eaten so frequently, people have invented many new and creative ways to cook this traditional dish. While innovation is good, recklessly experimenting without nutritional knowledge can lead to health problems.

What foods should not be eaten with pork?

1. Beef

The saying that pork and beef should not be eaten together has a long history. "The Principles of Correct Diet" states: "Pork should not be eaten with beef."

This is mainly from a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective. From the perspective of the medicinal properties of food, pork is sour, cold, and slightly cool, with a nature that is nourishing, greasy, and yin-cold. Beef, on the other hand, has a sweet and warm aroma, can nourish the spleen and stomach, strengthen the waist and legs, and has the effect of stabilizing the middle and replenishing qi. One is warm and the other is cold; one nourishes the spleen and stomach, while the other is cold, greasy, and weakening. Their medicinal properties conflict, so they should not be eaten together.

Pork is one of the most common foods people encounter in their daily lives. Because it is eaten so frequently, people have invented many new and creative ways to cook this traditional dish. While innovation is good, recklessly experimenting without nutritional knowledge can lead to health problems.

2. Sheep Liver

Traditional Chinese Medicine states: "Eating pork and sheep liver together can cause a feeling of chest oppression."

This is mainly because sheep liver has a bitter and cold nature, and is used to nourish the liver, improve vision, and treat liver wind deficiency heat. Pork is "nourishing and greasy, and turns into damp-heat upon entering the stomach." From the perspective of food medicinal properties, the combination is not suitable. Sheep liver has a gamey smell, and when stir-fried with pork, it can easily produce a strange flavor. From a culinary perspective, it is also not suitable.

 3. Soybeans

From a modern nutritional perspective, beans are not suitable to be paired with pork because they contain a high amount of phytic acid, with 60% to 80% of phosphorus existing in the form of phytic acid.

It often forms complexes with proteins and mineral elements, affecting the availability of both and reducing their utilization efficiency. Additionally, minerals in beans, such as calcium, iron, and zinc, can bind with those in lean meats like pork, thereby interfering with and reducing the human body's absorption of these elements.

Therefore, pork and soybeans are not a suitable combination. Stewing pork trotters with soybeans is an inappropriate pairing.

4. Coriander

Coriander, also known as cilantro, can remove gamy smells and is suitable to be eaten with lamb.