When I was a young girl growing up in a traditional Chinese home in San Francisco, this knowledge was passed on to me through a lifetime of meals, conversations, celebrations, and rituals. I felt every food we ate in our home had a story. For example, vegetables considered cooling, such as bean sprouts, were stir-fried with ginger, which is warming. After a rich meal special nourishing soups were served to restore balance in the body. Today, the brilliant harmony of Chinese cooking is gaining recognition.
Chinese cuisine uses spare amounts of protein and a minimum of oil.
Carbohydrates comprise essentially 80 percent of the diet and, in Southern China, this is primarily vegetables and rice, a nonallergenic complex carbohydrate that is one of the easiest foods to digest. Herbs and foods like ginseng, soybeans, gingko nuts, and ginger, which the Chinese have integrated into their diet for thousands of years, are now being accepted by the West as particularly beneficial for health. Many of the vegetables in the Chinese diet, especially greens like bok choy, are rich in beta carotene, other vitamins, phytochemicals, and minerals, and the favored technique of stir-frying preserves the vegetables' nutrients. My parents have impressed upon me their love of food as they had learned it in China. This lifelong influence led me to my career as a food stylist and recipe developer.