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3฀ The Chinese Dietar y Regime In keeping with the rest of Chinese culture, the dietary regime of present-da y China is the result of thousands of years of development. Som e element s ar e indigenous, whil e other s hav e bee n imported . Foo d i s a pivota l par t o f an y culture, but , fo r variou s historica l reasons , it is especially centra l t o Chines e culture. China has been characterize d as having a food-centered culture ; even the greetin g equivalen t t o th e Englis h "Ho w are you?" is "Have you eaten? " (Simoons, 1991: 14). The Chinese have developed a system of farming an d of cooking that, given adequate supplies, can feed 22 % of the world's populatio n on 7 % o f th e earth' s farmlan d (Wittwe r e t al., 1987 : 1). That i n itsel f make s the Chines e dietar y regime worthy of our attentio n becaus e Chin a ma y have lessons for othe r hungr y peoples (Anderson , 1988 : ix). The Chines e no t onl y are concerne d abou t th e productio n o f food, bu t of nutrition an d preparatio n a s well, and it vies with th e French, in taste an d nutrition, a s on e o f th e bes t cuisine s i n th e world . Fo r thi s reason , i t ha s generated a large literature, including historical/cultural treatment (Anderson , 1988; Chang, 1977b ; Simoons, 1991) an d numerous cookbooks (e.g . Antolini and Tjo , 1990 ; Horn, 1990a , 1990b) . The Structur e o f Chines e Meal s The basic structure o f the Chinese diet and of individual meals was laid down in th e Zho u perio d (1122-22 1 B.C. ) an d ha s continue d eve r sinc e (Chang , 1977a: 40; May, 1961: 17). This structure, rather tha n individua l ingredients , makes Chines e foo d distinctive , givin g i t it s "Chineseness " tha t endures , regardless o f th e introductio n o f ne w individua l food s (Sokolov , 1990) . As Figure 3.1 shows, the Chinese word for the combination o f food an d drink — yinshi, i s a compoun d o f yin meanin g "drink " an d shi meaning "food. " No t surprisingly, yin is associated with the element "water. " Shi ("food") i s furthe r 30฀Changing ฀Rice ฀Bowl:฀Economic ฀Development ฀and ฀Diet฀in ฀China฀ Yinshi฀ (drink฀an d฀food)฀ yin฀ (drink)฀ shi฀ -(food)fan ฀ (grain)฀ cai฀ (dishes)฀ (water)฀(earth )฀(fire )฀ Figure฀3.1฀Th e฀structure฀of฀Chinese฀food฀and฀drink.฀(Source :฀Chang,฀1977a:฀40.)฀ subdivided into fan, o r "grain" (literall y and specifically cooked rice), associate d with the element "earth," and cai, or "dishes," with the element "fire." Even if the fan an d cai parts of th e mea l ar e eate n i n the same mouthful, a s in jiaozi (dumplings), baozi (stuffe d buns) , o r xianbing (stuffe d pancakes) , th e distinction remain s (Chang , 1977b : 7-8) . Fan Historically, the domestication o f cereal grains was the key to the developmen t of a civilization . Mangelsdor f (1953 : 50) says , "No civilizatio n worth y o f th e name has ever been founded o n any agricultural basis other than the cereals." The Chines e mea l structur e ha s retained thi s central plac e for cerea l grains ; the fan o r grai n i s th e "main " par t (zhushi) , an d fan i s ofte n use d t o mea n "meal" or "food " i n general . Without fan, th e mea l leave s th e dine r hungry ; without cai, it is simply less tasty . Although restauran t order s ar e usuall y fo r "dishes" (cai), an d th e cai may b e th e cente r o f a child' s attention , fan i s assumed t o be th e importan t par t of the meal (Simoons , 1991 : 15, 18). Rice The Western perception o f the Chinese is that they eat a great deal of rice — and they do. Although rice was not the first cereal grain domesticated in China, it has become, by far, the most important, not...

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