Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories

Why the
Chinese
don’t count
calories

Why the
Chinese
don’t count
calories

L
ORRAINE
C
LISSOLD

Published in Australia in 2008
by Hardie Grant Books
85 High Street
Prahran,Victoria 3181, Australia
www.hardiegrant.com.au

Published in the United Kingdom in 2008
by Constable & Robinson Ltd
3 The Lanchesters
162 Fulham Palace Road
London W6 9ER
www.constablerobinson.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

Copyright © Lorraine Clissold 2008

Illustrations by Debi Letham of Ellipsis Books and Stephen Dew

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National
Library of Australia.
ISBN: 978 1 74066 677 0

Cover design and illustration by Michelle Mackintosh
Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

To my grandfather, John Duncan Skinner

Contents

Acknowledgements

This book tells the story of my journey into a rich new culture. Were it not for my husband, Tim, I might still be sitting in Slough: thank you for everything you have done to support me in my work. Your passion for China and all things Chinese is infinite and I have been incredibly fortunate to have ready access to your expertise. Life as we have chosen to live it is not always easy, but nor is it ever boring.

My children kept themselves on course when my attention was directed elsewhere and even found time to help me out. Max was my own personal encyclopaedia; Christian was computer consultant and
mantou
chef all at once. Sam grew up when I wasn’t watching and kept the animals fed and watered. Honor always had plenty to say about my cooking as well as questions about everything and anything. I look forward to having more time to share all your numerous interests as well as enjoying many more health-giving meals together.

My parents, John and Eileen, brought me up in a household where food is important (and always good) and have moved outside their geographical and culinary comfort zones with a spirit of adventure (sorry about the power cut in the
hutong
on Christmas morning), as well as providing an amazing level of emotional and practical support over the years.

Many of my friends in Beijing encouraged me to undertake this project. My thanks to everyone who attended the Chinese cooking school – I learned from you all. James and Lucy Kynge did a lot to build my confidence during my early courses; Faye Cowin was student and teacher alike; Fiona Key shivered cheerfully with me through many a lengthy dietary therapy class and helped me eat my way through many more extensive menus; Anne Wilbur kept me supplied with inspiring texts; Bettina Tioseco took some great photos; Lee Ann Bissell was always prepared to listen; Linnet Workman gave her time generously to discuss my endeavours; Catherine Sampson was my inspiration as a writer.

Chinese food culture would not have been accessible to me had it not been for my patient and inspiring Chinese language teachers: T. C. Tang in London and Hong Yun and Wang Ye in Beijing. Professor Li of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Medicine helped unlock the secrets of Chinese food therapy and Professor Song of the Chinese Hospital of Traditional Medicine, provided an inspiring introduction to
qi
gong
. I have always found that the most interesting information is gleaned outside the classroom, and it is thanks to Feng Cheng of the Chinese Culture Club that I was introduced to Doctor Li Xin, whose individual approach helped me understand my own constitution and how to listen to my body and balance my diet accordingly.

I lived more closely with Ding GuoYing (Xiao Ding) than with any other human being outside my own family and will always be indebted to her for both the direct and indirect ways that she shared her knowledge and experiences. Among my other Chinese mentors, Hao Min and Chen Bao Ling were particularly willing to share their time and expertise with me. Pei Pei Ren is as good a friend as one would find anywhere in the world, with that extra touch of Chinese kindness. Yu Tao Wang and Feng Ling taught me more than they will ever realize and I look forward to watching my godchild Silas flourish in a multicultural society.

While we were overseas, friends and family back in Europe did a lot to maintain our connection with our previous life. My sister Amanda Rose has shared her knowledge of food and nutrition and has always been there for me and the children. Debbie and Mark Loveday have been the best friends anyone could ask for; Nicki Carmichael has been supportive throughout; Rowan Pees has been a motivating force in my life; Bridget Tracy found time in her hectic schedule to read some early writings. Maurice and Neena Pellier, Gilles Baltazar, Renee Roulet and Sebastian Broel have helped us all so much in France. Rebecca Ellis has been my lifeline in Yorkshire.

Special thanks to my agent, Toby Eady, and Xinran whose interest in my work has continued since that first Chinese meal in our draughty courtyard home. I am grateful to Nick Robinson at Constable & Robinson for his faith in me and to Andreas Campomar and Eleanor Dryden for leading me through the daunting business of publishing. Celia Hayley provided invaluable direction, support and encouragement throughout the editing process. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my experiences and ideas with you all.

This list is not definitive. The fifteen years since I first set foot on Chinese soil have been filled with fascinating encounters with interesting people from all corners of the world. Snippets of conversations overheard in the street, throwaway comments in local restaurants, the pertinent observations of taxi drivers and lively discussions in my cooking school have all contributed to the richness of the experience which I bring to my readers. With thanks to all those who made it possible, I present a personal and individual interpretation of a fascinating subject; any misapprehensions or errors are my own.

Lorraine Clissold
April 2008

Note on the use of Chinese characters

The pinyin style of Romanization is used throughout this book, except for words and names that are in common use in other spellings. These include Taoism, Confucius, Mencius and Tai Chi.

Recipes

Chinese cabbage with red chilli (
La bai cai
)

Braised mushrooms (
Lu xiang gu
)

Simple fried rice (
Chao fan
)

Steamed bread (
Mantou
)

Boiled dumplings (
Jiaozi
)

White radish soup (
Luo bo tang
)

Noodles in soup (
Tang mian
)

Beef and potato stew (
Tu dou dun niu rou
)

Spicy chicken with peanuts (
Gong bao ji ding
)

Strange-flavoured sauce (
Guai wei'r jiang
)

Tomato and egg (
Ji dan chao xi hong shi
)

Pan-fried beancurd (
Guo ta dou fu
)

Cold mixed beancurd stick (
Liang ban fu zhu
)

Serving suggestions

Simple ideas for Chinese style cai, or vegetable-based dishes

Cai
, Western and fusion style

Fan
, staples to eat away from home

Multi-dish eating

Chi bao le

Yin
and
yang
foods

Make your own
zhou

Yin
and
yang
cooking methods

How to put the Five Flavours into your cooking

Slicing and dicing

A basic Chinese store-cupboard

Liang cai
suggestions

Figures and tables

Calorie consumption and body weight

The Five Elements, the Five Pairs of Organs and the Five Orifices

The Five Flavours enter the Five Pairs of Organs

The Five Flavours of common foods

The Cycle of Promotion, Consumption and Control

The Five Flavours in the Five Elements cycle

The Five-Flavours cycle

How the Five Flavours affect each other

The heating and cooling energies of some everyday foods

The Five Climatic Conditions, the Five Elements and the Five Organs

The Five Climatic Conditions in the Five Organs

Foods that work on the spleen and the spleen meridian

Foods that work on the kidneys and the kidney meridian

Foods that work on the lungs and the lung meridian

The Five Elements in the lifecycle

The 24-hour cycle of
Qi

Self-massage

Wu xing zhang
– the Five Elements Palm Technique

Standing meditation

The relationship between the Five Elements, the Five Organs and the Five Emotions

Prelude

I first went to Beijing in the summer of 1993. Before this, my experience of Chinese food was limited to the Golden Panda, a cheerful place on the top level of the shopping precinct in a small Sussex town where I grew up. I had fond memories of prawn toasts, crispy seaweed, and spring rolls served on oval platters. We would choose a set meal, which unfailingly featured glossy strips of lemon chicken, soggy orange balls of sweet and sour pork, sticky red spare ribs, salty silvers of black bean beef and a token mixed vegetables, based on tinned beansprouts. If we opted for Set Meal D, we would get a few battered king prawns and a handful of shrimps in the ‘special’ fried rice. I especially looked forward to the jelly and ice-cream served in sundae glasses. Anyway, the food on these occasions was very much secondary to the idea of a night out and working it all off on the dance floor to the sounds of ‘Sugar Baby Love’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’.

So I did not set out for China’s capital with any great expectations on the culinary front. In fact, as I stepped onto the burning tarmac of Beijing City Airport, food was not much on my mind. I was at a crossroads in my life and needed to move forward, and when a voice from my past proffered an invitation to visit the East, the opportunity to exchange my pedestrian existence as a single mother of two young boys in Slough for a touch of freedom and romance was too good to miss.