You'll Live Longer with a Chinese Diet

This report describes the typical Chinese diet. It also compares Chinese and Western diets. Popular Chinese beverages are also listed. Fun facts are added throughout. I chose to write about this topic because I just lived in Hong Kong for a month and felt like a local. Instead of staying in a hotel where get tourist food, we went to a local grocery store and traditional Chinese restaurants where we got a good taste of real Chinese food. The experience left me feeling that eating Chinese food is the pathway to a healthy life.

Here are a few traditional Chinese dishes. They are almost always on the menu.

Mapo Doufu

This is a mix of tofu, which is bean curd, with a spicy chili and bean based sauce. It is typically in a thin, oily, bright red mixture. It is often cooked with black beans and sometimes even minced meat (usually pork or beef). It is also known as Mapo Tofu

Steamed Fish

Fish recipes are almost always cooked by steaming with some light soy sauce and seasoning. The fish they eat includes Carp, Grass Carp, Crucian Carp, Sea Bass, Squid, Soft-Shell Turtle, Crab, Shrimp, Prawn, Scallops, and Oysters. These are very popular but there are many others.

Dim Sum

Dim Sum is the most famous Chinese food in the world. It is a Guangdong-Style snack. Guangdong is a city in Eastern China and is right above Hong Kong. Dim Sum first came from Guangdong to Hong Kong. Dim sum could be noodles, fish, meat, vegetables, dumplings or soups.

! ! FUN FACT ! !

Many people get confused between Dim sum and dumplings. There is a big difference. Dumplings are vegetables, meats, fish or shrimp wrapped in a small thin square of dough and boiled, fried, baked or grilled. Dim Sum is a totally different thing. It translates to "touch to the heart" or "bit of the heart" and is actually a snack for the Chinese. This snack can be noodles, dumplings, soup or vegetables. As you can see dumplings can be dim sum but not always.

Lobster

Lobster is a famous seafood in Hong Kong. There is a difference between how the Chinese compared to the western chefs serve lobster. The Chinese chefs serve their lobster with noodles or in a soup, which you probably wouldn't find the western chefs doing. The most popular Chinese lobster dish is lobster with scallions and ginger.

Dark Rice Vinegar With Ginger

You perhaps have never heard of this, but it's pretty easy to find out what it is. It is used as a seasoning for on top of food to give it more flavor and taste.

Eggs In Tea

This food is eaten at many parties and typically enjoyed with beer. It's a savory food also known as marble eggs. It is known as this because the eggs are cooked in tea. While they are simmering, the tea seeps in and some of the egg white turns brown. This makes it so when you take the eggs out and peel the shell off you see brown lines in places that make it look like marble.

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When cooking the Chinese put leaves around a lot of their food. These can be banana leaves, lotus leaves and other kinds. They are used for flavoring foods while the food is being boiled or steamed.

The Chinese and people from the west have different diet ideas, different cutlery, different table manners, and a very different diet. Here is a typical westerners diet versus a Chinese diet.

A western breakfast: bacon, eggs, pancakes, french toast, hash browns, cereal, sausage and waffles.

A Chinese breakfast: congee, which is a rice porridge, tea eggs, 2 kinds of Baozi (steamed buns), one with pork balls inside and the other with vegetables, stir-fried cabbage, boiled sweet potato, fried Chinese bread, white rice porridge, the porridge has toppings like peanuts, tofu, spicy pickled radishes, and pickled mustard, soy milk.

Difference: the Chinese breakfast has more vegetables and less meat.

A Western lunch: sandwiches of bread, mustard, mayo, lettuce, roast beef, ham, chicken, bologna, hamburger, hotdog, pizza, burritos, french fries, soda, and salad (with thick dressings). These meals would be 5-10% vegetables.

A Chinese lunch: Rice, stir-fry dishes usually with pork, wonton noodle soup, tofu, and chicken noodle soup. Vegetables are served with all these dishes. This lunch would be 80% vegetables.

Difference: a Chinese persons lunch would be 80% vegetables and a Westerners lunch would be 5-10% vegetables.

A Western dinner: beef, chicken, turkey, fish, pork, lamb, (baked, broiled, grilled, roasted, BBQ, fried), vegetables, patties, rice, children drink milk, adults drinks wine, coke, pasta with chees, meatballs, burritos, tacos, pizza.

A Chinese dinner: many vegetables, and meats like chicken, pork, not much beef, lots of shrimp and fish, kids and adults would drink either hot water or tea.

Difference: more vegetables, no cheese or bread in a Chinese meal and tea or hot water is drank instead of milk and wine.

A Western Dessert: Ice cream, pie, cake, cupcakes, cookies, cheesecake, adults will have coffee with dessert, and children will have milk.

A Chinese dessert: Mango pudding, almond cookies, fortune cookies, banana fritters, Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake, Egg Tarts, Bubble Tea, Sweet Peanut Soup, Peking dust, green tea ice cream, bow ties, eight treasure pudding, red bean ice cream, black sesame paste soup, glazed chestnuts, steamed pears, almond tea, sesame seed biscuits, peanut crisps. Turnip cakes are served during the Chinese New Year.

Difference: Chinese foods have fruits and vegetables in almost all of them when the western dessert has none.

Another difference between a Chinese and western diet is that in the western diets food is considered for its protein, carbohydrate, fat, calories, vitamins, and other nutrients. However, a Chinese diet considers food for its energies, flavors, movement and action. In China people decide what to eat to keep organs well and help heal ailments like hypertension, diabetes, common cold gastritis, diarrhea, constipation, cough, hepatitis, psoriasis, common acne, eczema, sore throat, hemorrhoids, hiccupping, vomiting, fever, toothache and many others. For example, spinach can stop bleeding, peaches can stop sweating, pears can ease a sore throat, kumquats can relieve a cough and apples can help digestion. It's bad for someone with constipation to drink tea, it's good for someone with a cough to eat apple with honey and there are many more foods that have weird ways of helping you. It is the exact same, food can help you if you are cold or hot. If you are cold you eat or drink something warm like ginger because it has warm energy. If you are cold Mung Beans can cool you because they have cold energy. If you have a weak stomach you eat or drink something to make your stomach stronger. Black Pepper can make the stomach stronger because it tastes spicy and acts on your stomach. If you have weak kidneys yams will do the trick because they act on your kidneys in a special way. Good health is first to be found in foods. If you don't know how to eat the right foods you can't stay healthy say the Chinese.

Not only do l love the Chinese diet, l also think everyone should follow it, and when I say a Chinese diet l don't mean the American Chinese diet or something like that, I mean a real Chinese diet which is a lot of vegetables. I tried a lot of new food during this one month and my favorites have to be Peking Duck, Bok Choy, Dragon Fruit and a type of vegetable dumpling I have no idea what is in it because everything is in Chinese.

! ! FUN FACT ! !

The Chopstick Theory

A really long time ago (5,000 years), the Chinese cooked in pots and used twigs to get their food out. These gradually turned into chopsticks. People were thinking about changing to cutlery but continued using these because knives were thought to be too violent at the table. All food was chopped up in the kitchen and chopsticks were used for dining. They also use spoons for their soup because they can bring no harm.

Chinese food is very healthy but I like the drinks the best. First of all the bubble tea. Bubble tea is found everywhere you go. It came from Taiwan around in the 1980's and is a tea based drink with fruit or milk mixed in. There are also ice-blended versions, which are usually mixed in with fruit or syrup. Most bubble teas come with small tapioca balls, which are commonly called pearls or boba. The most popular bubble drinks are bubble milk tea, and bubble milk green tea, all with tapioca balls. Green Tea is by far the most popular. It prevents heart disease, benefits fat loss, and fights cancer. It's one of mother natures wonderful creations.

Hot water, instead of cold, is always served to you at restaurants. The Chinese believe that because your body is 98.6 degrees that you should keep it that way and not waste energy by drinking cold water. I am used to drinking hot water now and it really keeps you warm. A few nights ago we went out for dinner and I was freezing, then I drank some hot water and warmed right up. The next morning we had no more apple juice so I made hot water, put slices of apple in and that was my healthy apple juice. It takes more effort for your body to heat cold water than have it already warm.

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If you drink 2 liters of ice cold water a day you can burn up to 70 calories because of making your body work twice as hard. I think it's better to drink hot water and exercise!

I am interested the most by all of the interesting fruits and vegetables in the Chinese diet. Here are the ones I liked the most, a little bit about them and next to their name you will see if it's a fruit of a vegetable.

China Guava-FRUIT-best grown in hot places where there is no frost, they are ripe when green on the outside and white on the inside, do not mistake these for regular guavas that are pink on the inside, you can eat the seeds, but most people don't because sometimes they can take away the taste of the real guava.

Kabosu-FRUIT-citrus fruit, looks like a lime, green on the outside, yellow on the inside.

Lychee-FRUIT-red, part of the soapberry family, sweet, juicy, little crunchy, tastes like a grape.

Kumquat-FRUIT- a kumquat is the color orange, you eat the whole thing, the outside tastes like orange rind only sweeter and delicate, juicy in the middle is tart, member of the citrus family.

Kiwi Fruit-FRUIT-size of a large hens egg, oval shaped, green on the inside with many little black edible seeds, white in the middle, brown and fuzzy on the outside, people drink kiwi juice, tart taste, ripe when squishy.

Dragon Fruit-FRUIT-high in fiber, low in calories, also known as Pitaya, part of cactus family, there are two types, red flesh and white flesh, we tried the white flesh, has black seeds scattered everywhere in the middle, tastes slightly like a kiwifruit.

Bamboo Shoots-VEGETABLE-available almost everywhere in China, Native to China can find canned or fresh.

Bitter Melon-VEGETABLE-known for its unusual appearance and taste, resembles a cucumber with a dark green pockmarked skin, bitter taste, people but lots of salt on it so its not as much bitter, popular ingredient in stir fries.

Bok Choy-VEGETABLE-light, sweet flavor, crisp texture, also called pak choi, good source of iron, high in vitamin A, C, and calcium.

Chinese Broccoli-VEGETABLE-leafy green plant with small white flowers, also known as Gai Lan, slightly bittersweet, good to eat with strong flavored ingredients, regular can sometimes be substituted with regular broccoli. It looks much different than a regular broccoli, the Chinese broccoli has a long stem and looks like spinach on the top.

Chinese Celery-VEGETABLE-strong flavor that adds extra to soups, and stir fries, not good in salads, color ranging from dark green to white.

Chinese Dried Mushrooms-VEGETABLE-not to be confused with cloud ears, also known as Chinese black mushrooms, colors can be from grey to light brown, often need to be soaked in water to soften, the Chinese believe that Chinese dried mushrooms are used as medicine to help lower blood pressure.

Chinese Eggplant-VEGETABLE-also called aubergine, resembles a purple zucchini, native to Asia usually cooked in a popular Chinese eggplant dishes are cooked with a garlic sauce.

Silk Squash-VEGETABLE-long, thin, sharp ridges, also called Chinese Okra, older silk squashes have a bitter taste, can be stuffed with pork and steamed.

Chinese White Radish(Daikon Radish)-VEGETABLE-resembles a large white carrot, much stronger flavor than red radishes, popular salad ingredient, used for stir fries, and slow cooked dishes, it is also pickled.

Flowering Chives-VEGETABLE-delicate appearance, strong taste, frequenty used in stir-fries, because of their appearance and strong flavor.

Fuzzy Melon-VEGETABLE-looks like a zucchini covered in fuzz, related to winter melon, used in many soups and stir-fries, ripe = small and firm.

Chinese Garlic Chives-VEGETABLE-more flavorful than regular chives, garlicky flavor, delicate appearance, found in soups stews, and slow cooked dishes, also great in scrambled eggs.

! ! FUN FACT ! !

Did you know night soil is used to help grow plants in certain areas in the East of China? Night soil is human manure. Every now and then human urine is also used as a fertilizer. I think that human manure and urine is a great way to fertilize your plants, because there are no chemicals like in a factory made fertilizer. Most people don't agree because if it isn't done correctly it can spread diseases like Dengue Fever, Hepatitis A, and Typhoid Fever plus spreads worms. It is still used in some places so make sure to wash your fruit and veggies!

I hope that by reading this you might know more about the Chinese diet. I double dare you to try some traditional Chinese food. It may be different but it is really not as bad as you think. At first I really didn't want to drink hot water or try any Chinese foods. Once I tried one, I tried them all. I am hoping to keep eating these vegetables and drinking hot water even after I leave China.

<3 World Rings Bell

Sources

1) http://kelvindewolfe.com/2010/06/04/eastern-vs-western-diets/

2) http://www.agroecology.org/Case%20Studies/nightsoil.html

3) http://chinesefood.about.com/od/vegetablesrecipes/ig/Chinese-Vegetables-Pictures/

4) http://www.acupuncture-and-chinese-medicine.com/chinese-diet.html