Hot and cold – the yin and the yang. This philosophy underlines all Chinese thinking and Confucius who compiled the I Ching is the author who makes first mention of it. The Chinese firmly believe that any disharmony in these will give rise to complications ranging from natural disasters like floods, fire and even personal setback like divorce.

Nothing represents yin and yang as comprehensively as Chinese cooking. Any Chinese dish will have a balance whether it is colour, flavour or texture. Thus you have sweet and sour combined in the same dish with perfect aplomb. Some dishes are supposed to have the cooling properties of yin while others have warm yang qualities. It is important to consume a diet that contains a healthy balance. The Chinese firmly believe that balancing one's diet will go a long way in restoring good health when one is sick. Spicy ( yang ) foods, for example, might cause heartburn and it could be a simple prescription of herbal teas ( yin ) that might make you all right. Instead of the allopathic prescription of antibiotics, you might just be given a few dietary changes to combat an impending flu.

Interestingly, this yin and yang theory is not restricted to just foodstuff and the ingredients that it is made up of. The cooking methods too have the same properties! Thus you find that cooking methods like boiling , poaching and steaming are said to possess yin qualities while yang is found in deep-frying, roasting and stir-frying. Bean-sprouts, cabbage, carrots, crab, cucumber, duck and tofu have all been categorised as the yin foods while bamboo, beef, chicken, eggs, ginger, rice, mushrooms and sesame oil belong to the yang category.

As you can see, the entire philosophy of the Chinese is based on the yin and yang healthy balance as a pre-requisite for all aspects of life.

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