ANT 260 Chapter Traditional Medical Values of Food: ANT 260- Reading notes- Traditional Medical Values of Food

• School: Stony Brook University
• Department: Anthropology, Cultural and Archaeology
• Course: ANT 260
• Professor: Katheryn C.Twiss

Document Summary

Ant 260- reading notes- traditional medical values of food. Important for food: are 5 smells (rancid, scorched, fragrant, rotten, putrid, 5 flavors (sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, salt, equate with the compass directions (east, south, center, west, north, people in the respective regions eat foods flavored accordingly. Neutral were everyday foods: bread, rice, fish. Balanced foods : pale brown or dull chalk-white color, foods cause allergic rashes- wet and succulent-are wetting ie shellfish, foods that produce dry, scratchy feeling ie coffee, dry roasted peanuts are drying. Incredibly chinese: stressed balance, order, harmony, classifies some foods as dangerously heating, fried and long baked foods, alcoholic drinks, hot spices. Concept of ch"ing and hsiao: ch"ing means to clean, gets rid of waste products+any poisons in the system, hsiao means to dispel/clear away, clears away excess wetness, wind, and other pathogenic natural forces in the body. Classification process: chinese classify things by seeing some particularly important general, shared qualities.