Chinese food therapy is a practice of healing using natural foods instead of medications.

Chinese food therapy is a modality of traditional Chinese medicine, also known as Chinese Nutrition therapy. It is particularly popular among Cantonese people who enjoy slow-cooked soups.

Chinese food therapy dates back as early as 2000 BC. However, proper documentation was only found around 500 BC. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine also known as the Niejing, which was written around 300 BC, was most important in forming the basis of Chinese food therapy. It classified food by four food groups, five tastes and by their natures and characteristics.

During the Chau dynasty (16 BC), food therapy was established as a specialist field. The state even had a food specialist serving the emperor in the imperial court. It was during the Tang dynasty (608-906 AD) that food therapy became popular and the classic books on the subject were published.

Throughout Chinese history, healthcare was not the responsibility of the state but rather the responsibility of every ordinary citizen. People used their own resources to find cures when they became sick, which meant that most people could not afford to be sick. This is why preventive healthcare is so popular in China. Out of the four pillars of health – lifestyle, diet, exercise and mind – diet is most important because food is considered the primary cause of sickness as well as the main reason for living long and healthy.

Food plays a center role in Chinese culture. Cooking good food for family members is a lifelong profession for most women. Children are brought up with some knowledge of the nature of their daily foods. Dietary restriction is commonly understood and observed. Eating well and healthy is almost a national obsession and definitely the most valued activity of family life.

Some common food therapy items and recipes

Oral secretion of swiftlets, collected from the binding material of their nests.

Alleged effects: promote beautiful skin for women; “strengthen the spleen and open up the stomach” (meaning improve appetite. Vegetables and fruits are believed to nullify the effect of bird nest if taken within the same day.

The dried material is soaked in water to rehydrate.

The soaked bird nest is cleaned by hand to remove other nest building debris such as grass and feathers.

The cleaned and crumbled bird nest is double steamed with rock sugar as a dessert or with a small amount of pork as a soup.