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This has nothing to do with modern diet, the trend the GP is speaking is at least centuries old. Traditional Chinese culture believes raw food damages the Qi o

This has nothing to do with modern diet, the trend the GP is speaking is at least centuries old. Traditional Chinese culture believes raw food damages the Qi of the Stomach. This belief may be grounded in the fact that their traditional way of fertilizing the crops is "night soil" or human excrement. Eating raw vegetables is a maladaptive behavior under those conditions. It might be also linked with cooked foods being easier to digest. China has had high population densities - and therefore a recurrent problem with crop failure leading to famines - for many centuries (at least in the river valleys), so using non-eatable plants as an energy source to make human digestion more efficient is also an adaptive behavior.

clock_tower 11y ago
That point on night soil makes a lot of sense. Note that point about thick-skinned fruits and vegetables being seen as safe, in the grandparent post. I'm also reminded of how the Chinese traditionally regarded cold drinks as dangerous. They didn't even drink wine without heating it -- and certainly would never drink cold water, or tea that had been steeped without being brought to a boil (and, I think, held there).
imron 11y ago
I don't think the GP is talking about a centuries old diet (note the use of tense e.g 'in modern china, most food is). Sure, the vestiges of that diet still exist today as do many of the cultural beliefs and habits e.g. only eating cooked foods unless they have a thick, peelable skin, boiling water before drinking it etc. The point I am trying to make is that the Chinese have taken that traditional diet and added a huge amount of sugar, salt and MSG, not to mention significantly more meat (in recent years, this can often be doctored with water and/or various chemicals by the vendor). If you're eating at a restaurant rather than at home, meals probably contain a good dose of gutter oil too. That should not be taken in any way as being healthy, and because it's also relatively recent, the effect it will have on the health population is not yet highly visible. In mainland China they also have a poor concept of proper nutrition and this is exacerbated by the one child policy, with parents and grandparents feeding their only child whatever they want to eat (often sweets, candy, soft drink) rather than what is good for them. On multiple occasions in China I've known children under the age of 5 with rotting, horrible teeth and when I brought it up with the parents and/or relatives (who I also knew) they laughed it off and said "oh it doesn't matter, they're just baby teeth and new ones will grown in soon and they'll be ok". They completely failed to realise they were setting their children up for a lifetime of diet, teeth and health related problems. I've got no problems with the concepts of traditional Chinese cooking, but it's increasingly difficult to find that in modern China.

clock_tower 11y ago

That point on night soil makes a lot of sense. Note that point about thick-skinned fruits and vegetables being seen as safe, in the grandparent post. I'm also reminded of how the Chinese traditionally regarded cold drinks as dangerous. They didn't even drink wine without heating it -- and certainly would never drink cold water, or tea that had been steeped without being brought to a boil (and, I think, held there).

imron 11y ago

I don't think the GP is talking about a centuries old diet (note the use of tense e.g 'in modern china, most food is). Sure, the vestiges of that diet still exist today as do many of the cultural beliefs and habits e.g. only eating cooked foods unless they have a thick, peelable skin, boiling water before drinking it etc. The point I am trying to make is that the Chinese have taken that traditional diet and added a huge amount of sugar, salt and MSG, not to mention significantly more meat (in recent years, this can often be doctored with water and/or various chemicals by the vendor). If you're eating at a restaurant rather than at home, meals probably contain a good dose of gutter oil too. That should not be taken in any way as being healthy, and because it's also relatively recent, the effect it will have on the health population is not yet highly visible. In mainland China they also have a poor concept of proper nutrition and this is exacerbated by the one child policy, with parents and grandparents feeding their only child whatever they want to eat (often sweets, candy, soft drink) rather than what is good for them. On multiple occasions in China I've known children under the age of 5 with rotting, horrible teeth and when I brought it up with the parents and/or relatives (who I also knew) they laughed it off and said "oh it doesn't matter, they're just baby teeth and new ones will grown in soon and they'll be ok". They completely failed to realise they were setting their children up for a lifetime of diet, teeth and health related problems. I've got no problems with the concepts of traditional Chinese cooking, but it's increasingly difficult to find that in modern China.