The warm spring has arrived. In people's minds, spring is warmth, with birds singing and flowers blooming; spring is growth, with plowing and sowing. In terms of diet, one should follow the natural course of the season, that is, to follow the spring's characteristic of rising yang and the beginning of all things' growth. It is important to protect the yang energy and eat more "ascending and generating" foods.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine theory: Spring belongs to the wood element and corresponds to the liver. In the relationship between the five organs and five flavors, the sour flavor enters the liver. Sour has astringent properties. Therefore, during the spring dietary regimen, one should appropriately reduce foods with a sour and astringent nature, such as purslane, tomatoes, mandarin oranges, oranges, tangerines, pomelos, apricots, papayas, loquats, hawthorns, olives, lemons, pomegranates, and dark plums. Instead, one should appropriately eat more foods with a pungent and sweet, dispersing nature, which are the foods with "ascending and generating" effects as commonly known by the people, such as rape, coriander, chives, onions, mustard greens, white radish, chili peppers, ginger, scallions, garlic, crown daisy, turnip, fennel, cabbage, napa cabbage, celery, spinach, shepherd's purse, fennel greens, daylilies, water spinach, bracken, lettuce, water bamboo shoots, bamboo shoots, cucumbers, winter melon, pumpkin, loofah, and eggplant.
In addition, in many places, there is a custom of eating spring rolls and spring pancakes to welcome the arrival of the new spring.
[How to make spring pancakes]
The flour is briefly scalded with boiling water, kneaded evenly, and then made into thin pancakes which are then pan-fried. The spring pancakes are then rolled with various cooked vegetables to be eaten. The cooked vegetables rolled inside can be divided into two types: meat and vegetarian. The meat dishes include shredded pork stir-fried with chives, shredded pork stir-fried with spinach, or finely sliced cured meat, cured pork elbow, smoked chicken, and roasted duck, served with finely shredded scallions and yellow bean sauce or sweet noodle sauce. The vegetarian dishes include stir-fried bean sprouts, stir-fried yellow chives, stir-fried vermicelli, or a stir-fry of the three vegetables together.
[Characteristics of spring pancakes]
A combination of meat and vegetarian dishes, high in nutritional value, with a golden color, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, a rich scallion oil aroma, the mouth is full of the taste of spring, and the heart is instantly filled with sunshine.