Yes, the Vietnamese have a saying “Only when there is food can one uphold the way.” Among human needs: food, medicine, housing, travel, health, happiness,… food (eating) is the most important. However, how to eat, how to eat to limit diseases? Otherwise, “A hundred diseases come from the mouth, “Disasters come from the mouth, diseases also enter through the mouth.” The Eastern philosophy since ancient times has always emphasized the role of diet as a “Culinary therapy,” based on the theory of yin and yang and the five elements, dear friends! I hope the following shares will help you live healthier, as it is a therapy that aligns with nature.

What is culinary therapy?

According to the Health and Life newspaper, culinary therapy is also the treatment or prevention of diseases through dietary methods, using nutritious food and spices to treat or prevent diseases. Vietnamese people often say that treating with food is more effective than treating with medicine to emphasize the importance of the method of healing and preventing diseases through diet. The famous physician Tue Tinh also said: Eating is the best way to use medicine. Three parts cure, seven parts nourish.

To have good health, we must ensure a balance of four basic factors: first, nutrition must be balanced; second, the mind must be at ease; third, rest and sleep must be sufficient; fourth, work and exercise must be reasonable. According to researchers, more than 90% of people do not fully implement these factors, leading to a loss of balance between yin and yang, resulting in diseases, dear friends.

Our bodies are always in a state of imbalance between yin and yang, which means excess and deficiency in daily eating. Excessive intake of sugars, proteins, fats, and toxins such as preservatives, low-quality food, and free radicals, while lacking minerals such as calcium, iron, copper, magnesium, zinc, fiber, vitamins, and many other trace elements.

Folk culinary remedies applying the philosophy of yin and yang and the five elements.

If a patient is ill due to excess yin, they need to eat yang foods. For example, if one has a cold stomach ache, drinking ginger water will help. Conversely, if a patient is ill due to excess yang, they need to eat yin foods, such as for dysentery, eating steamed chicken eggs with bitter leaves. For cold fever with a cold nature, eat ginger porridge with perilla to nourish yang, while for fever from heat, eat onion porridge to nourish yin.

Ginger is a yang spice that helps to clear heat and relieve colds, cooked with foods such as fish, duck meat, vegetables, and stewed fish with vegetables, which are yin foods to balance yin and yang in dishes very well. The combination of dishes and spices is based on the fundamental principles of yin and yang and the mutual generation of the five elements, meaning to harmonize to achieve the balance of yin and yang.

This combination follows the principle of Balanced Harmony, meaning one must eat in moderation and beneficially. Balancing yin and yang in quality and quantity among grains (staples), meats (fish and meat), fruits (various fruits), vegetables (various vegetables), and flavors (various spices with fragrant, spicy, hot, sour, sweet, salty, ...).

Outstanding physician Dr. Le Huu Tuan, former Deputy Director of the Central Institute of Traditional Medicine, stated: Since ancient times, Eastern people have known how to use food as medicine to treat diseases. According to Eastern medicine, all diseases arise from the body's loss of balance between yin and yang, and food is the medicine to adjust that imbalance, helping the body recover. Additionally, Vietnamese people also have the habit of eating according to climate and seasons, dear friends.

In each region, the way of preparing food is also changed to ensure the balance of yin and yang between humans and the environment. Vietnam is a tropical country, which is yang, so most of the food of Vietnamese people is of the yin, cooling type to balance yin and yang. That explains why many Vietnamese people prefer sour and bitter foods, which are yin, such as sour soup from pickled vegetables, starfruit, tamarind, and lime, which go well with the bitterness of bitter vegetables and bitter melon.

In the hot summer, people often eat cooling, refreshing foods, foods with yin water that have a sour taste, which are easy to eat and digest, helping to cool down. In the cold winter, one should eat dry, fatty yang foods such as stir-fried, fried, and braised dishes to help the body resist. Eating according to the season means eating what is in season, taking advantage of the time when food is the most delicious, abundant, cheapest, freshest, and best for health.

As you have seen on supermarket shelves or in markets, there are seasonal fruits or vegetables available all year round to serve the needs of those who like to eat out of season. Many types of out-of-season vegetables and fruits are available thanks to genetic modification or new planting techniques, which are expensive and may not taste as good as those in season. Eating out-of-season foods also poses a risk of disrupting the yin and yang harmony between humans and the four seasons, which is not beneficial for health.

Thus, we understand that eating according to the season and suitable for the region is how humans utilize the environment to create harmony with nature and the universe.

Harmonizing yin and yang in diet creates aesthetics and deliciousness.

In Vietnamese culture, culinary arts distinguish five levels of yin and yang of food according to the five elements, including: Cold, excessive yin, belonging to the Water element; Hot, excessive yang, belonging to the Fire element; Warm, slightly yang, belonging to the Wood element; Cool, slightly yin, belonging to the Metal element; and Neutral, belonging to the Earth element.

According to Professor Dr. Tran Ngoc Them, director of the Center for Applied Cultural Studies and Theory: Yin and yang may seem contradictory at first glance, but when used correctly, they support each other. For example, perilla and ginger are yang and are delicious when eaten with boiled eggs, which are yin, helping to eliminate the fishy taste and are easy to digest. If green bean pudding or black bean pudding, which are sweet and yin, are added with a little salt, which is yang, it will make the dish more flavorful than without salt. Watermelon, which is yin, will taste sweeter when dipped in salt. Cooking sticky rice without adding a little salt will make it bland and unappetizing. Conversely, dishes like braised fish or braised meat that are too salty can be best remedied by adding a little sugar to achieve harmony between yin and yang, dear friends.

Yes, dear friends, these stories may seem like mere kitchen tips from women. But upon careful reflection, everything that appears has its own reason; it can be seen that Vietnamese culinary culture is a blend of the balance of yin and yang and the five elements. When eating, one must also balance all five senses: the nose smells the aroma; the eyes see the colors; the tongue tastes the flavors; the ears hear the crunch; the hands hold and grasp. Only then can one fully appreciate the dish.

The combination of various ingredients applying the philosophy of yin and yang creates delicious dishes naturally, easily absorbed by the body. This requires the cook to be very delicate when preparing food; the chef must understand and strictly adhere to the rules of yin and yang compensation and transformation when combining various grains, foods, and spices. From there, creating dishes that are balanced, beneficial for health, and provide delicious flavors for the diners.

I believe that this is the essence that true culinary art brings to humanity. Dear friends, today, as society becomes more modern and people's incomes rise, spending on food has also increased. But paradoxically, although the number of dishes has increased and the quality of meals has improved, people are suffering from more diseases, especially metabolic-related diseases. Modern meals are not necessarily scientific; the imbalance of yin and yang and the five elements is also a cause of diseases.

Summary

Today, are we eating more for pleasure than for health? Eating is for health, eating is for enjoyment, and eating is to nourish the spirit. People align with the earth, the earth aligns with the sky, the sky aligns with the way, and the way aligns with nature. The way states that "humans correspond with the universe, the universe relies on yin and yang and the five elements to exist, the role of yin and yang in food is essential, or culinary therapy is valuable in every daily meal, especially for the elderly and children. Let us eat in harmony with nature to live healthily and long, dear friends.