*This post is dedicated to AL.ME’s #1 fan – Thank you Saba! 

A few years back I visited a little island off of the coast of Zhuhai (China) and found an elderly couple collecting seaweed. They were bending over and reaching around rocks that were covered in barnacles and salty sea grass. When I asked why they were collecting this brownish, bumpy seaweed and putting it into big plastic bags they said, “We’re going to make soup with it.” And I just thought… Chinese people have horrible taste buds… Slimy seaweed in homemade soup must taste awful!

But then a couple months ago I was on the phone with my mom who was walking along a beach near her winter home in Florida. She was looking for sharks teeth, as she does most mornings, when she bumped into a fellow snow bird gathering seaweed into a shopping bag. When she asked what he was doing he said that he was a doctor and that the seaweed has great medicinal properties. By the end of their chat, she had realized she was talking with a doctor who gives speeches around the country on cancer prevention. And this man in particular was sending all of the seaweed he collected to his brother’s clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

What they do is boil the seaweed until it creates a broth which cools and becomes a gel. Research done at the University of Florida suggests that by consuming seaweed this way you will “raise antioxidant enzyme levels that enhance your body’s ability to prevent cancer and inflammatory disease. Antioxidants protect the body from free radicals and molecules that can damage cells and lead to chronic health problems over time.”

Here’s a video reporting what researchers at UF have found about the benefits of seaweed in your diet. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the seaweed found off the coast of Florida seems to be particularly beneficial in staving off prostate cancer – the most common cancer in men.

 Where do you get it?

Much of what you find on store shelves is imported from Asia which is cheap and often processed. (International shipping puts additional stress on our oceans which negatively impacts sea life.) You’ll find lots of Asian markets with Korean and Japanese snack foods containing dried, salty seaweed. (Kids in these countries often just eat sheets of seaweed as a snack after school!) On the other hand, you could choose from many options available domestically. Commercial seaweed cultivation in America is not new and harvesting seaweed is a growing business.

Take Maine for example – In 2012 alone, 15 million pounds of seaweed was harvested there, which is double what was harvested in 2007. Unfortunately, the state is now grappling with the issue of how much can be harvested freely from rocks along the coast and how much should remain in order to preserve the local ecosystems. Much of the harvest is dried, milled, and sent to factories to become fertilizer, animal feed, or nutritional supplements. A plan for how to manage “rockweed” collection will be determined by the state legislature this year. However, there are still responsible options for buying your seaweed locally.

Maine Coast Sea Vegetables is a company selling “sustainably harvested and certified organic” seaweed products. They are dedicated to the rediscovery of this ancient super food and have been around since 1971. This is the kind of home-grown, sustainable behavior that can be a solution to the problem of over-harvesting along our coastlines.

On the Pacific coast, you can visit Rising Tide Sea Vegetables, which harvests their seaweed in environmentally friendly ways. On their FAQ page there is an explanation of how their hand-harvested product is different from machine-harvested, factory seaweed sourced from Asia and shipped over. Although I’m sure there is plenty of hand-harvested seaweed coming from Asian coastal areas too.

If you care to support the American Sea Vegetable business, I’d also suggest buying this wonderful product from one of these companies. Enjoy!

NOTE: The recipe for the seaweed soup pictured above can be found at Korean Bapsang. Another awesome recipe can be found at Dining with Outlaws.

One week ago I moved into a house with roommates in Somerville, Massachusetts. In that first week of transition I had a lot on my plate, so I did what most temporarily scattered people would do – eat shitty food. I ate plain ramen, peanut butter bread, cheese on toast, dunkin donuts sandwiches, rotisserie chicken from Shaws… barely any vegetables or fruit. I also exercised very little… maybe a few push-ups and sit-ups. I wasn’t depressed but I felt like I was just… existing.

But today, I feel like a million bucks. Here’s what happened…

Yesterday morning I was having my peanut butter on toast with banana slices when one of my roommates explained why he makes fruit smoothies every morning. “I eat fruit only in the morning.” he said. “It’s actually really good for you and the body breaks it down quickly, which in turn gives you a lot more energy to burn.”

“And mixing fruit with other food is not good for your digestion. It’s as if you never ate it and your body won’t process it well.” It made sense to me but I didn’t understand why. And that’s when he asked if I had read “Fit for Life” which is a New York Times Bestseller and focuses on how human beings used to eat… a loooong time ago!

I borrowed his copy and started reading about the how and when of efficient food consumption. With proper food combinations (the how) and keeping in mind how long it takes to process them (the when), your body rewards you with more natural energy. For example, most fruit takes 20-30 minutes to digest but processed food and meat can take up to 8 hours! Meat eaten alone or with vegetables will take closer to 4 hours. And if you try to process fruit while the stomach is acidifying proteins and starches, it will not properly absorb the nutrients of your fruit- hence, my roommate’s comment – “your body won’t process it well.”

By eating fruit on an empty stomach in the morning, your body has an undisturbed chance to break it down and provide you with a boost of energy for the day. Lumberjack breakfasts take forever to break down and actually slow you down because there’s so much different stuff in there that needs to be processed in different ways.

My first day
Today I figured I’d give the concepts in Fit for Life a whirl. It started with an apple and at about 10am I ate a banana. I wasn’t hungry after the fruit for some reason. (Maybe because I didn’t put bread and coffee in there with it?) I planned my lunch for 11:30am which is what I was used to in China.For lunch I cooked up rice with potatoes, onions, and mushrooms with garlic. It was a typical stir fry dish which tasted great. And after that I went to a meeting.

I got home from my meeting at about 4pm feeling quite refreshed. The lunch I had eaten included 2 starches (rice and potatoes) and there was no animal protein. The digestive system was allowed to work on fewer types of food and probably did so more efficiently. Even with a large helping of rice I didn’t feel heavy.

Now, at 5pm, I feel like I could eat soon but I don’t have any real cravings. I’ll probably eat fish and salad, without bread or rice. But overall, I feel great! I don’t need stimulants of any kind- no coffee in the morning or wine at night. It just feels right.

Final thoughts
A lot of what I try to cover in Asianliving relates to traditions and getting back to the old ways of cooking, eating, and drinking. There’s a lot that we can learn from our grandparents… but there’s even more that can be learned from humans who existed thousands of years ago. They normally ate only one or two foods at a time. Just like how wild animals eat their prey or snack on leaves. Let’s simplify our meals and eat more like our ancient ancestors did. Your body will probably reward you for it!

For future reference, I’ve added the Detoxinista’s food combining chart below (Click to zoom in):

For years I’ve been attempting to explain (and cook) the differences between real Chinese food and American Chinese food. At first, it surprised American friends to discover that the Chinese have never heard of dishes like Crab Rangoon, General Tso’s Chicken, Egg Rolls, Egg Foo Young, and Chop Suey. All were created in America for American taste buds.

Crab Rangoon was actually an American creation that has been served in San Francisco since the 1950s.

Egg Foo Young was an adaptation on a real Chinese dish and made its American debut in the 1930s.

General Tso’s Chicken [pronounced ‘TSAO’] was coined after a famous Chinese general but the people of his modern-day hometown in Xiangyin, Hunan province have never tried it before! (See Jennifer’s talk below)

Egg Rolls in China are actually just egg-based wafers that are enjoyed as a dessert.
Spring rolls are a little bit similar to the 春卷 you might find around Asia, in my opinion.

Chop Suey literally translates as “leftovers” and is simply a mix of various unfinished dishes. It’s origins are debated, although I’m sure every culture has their method of dealing with uneaten portions.
(How would you describe ‘leftovers’ in your home?)

Fortune Cookies are to this day still a Japanese creation which American Chinese restaurants started serving when we put Japanese Americans in internment camps in 1942.

The classic Chinese Takeout Box has never seen the light of day in China and probably never will. It’s 100% American!
(Disposable chopsticks are used all over Asia though.)

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Jennifer 8. Lee gave a hilarious talk at TED in 2008 and gets into more detail not only about American Chinese food but French, Italian, Mexican, Japanese, and Korean versions of Chinese food. All have their own unique twist but are still called Chinese!

Enjoy! 请慢用！

It’s common knowledge in the US that eating raw vegetables is “healthier” than eating them cooked- it’s also much more convenient this way…  The downside is that we are more susceptible to pathogens carried on leafy greens. This is probably why my Asian friends prefer to ordering dishes that contain veges that have been skinned just prior to cooking, like potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, radishes, etc. Anything that looks the same straight off the farm (like lettuce, spinach, bok choy, etc) are less likely to be cleaned properly in the restaurant kitchen.

Different countries have their own traditional ways of prepping salad. In countries like China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand the hygiene of its preparation is often questioned. In most cases copious amounts of garlic, peppers, lemon, ginger or other ingredients might be used in order to help naturally kill whatever is catching a ride on the leaves. Here are some samples of “salad” according to Asian tastes.

Thai-syles:

Read how to make the above one at the Nourishing Gourmet.

Korean Styles:

Find out how to make the above one at New Asian Cuisine.

Get the recipe at The Kitchn.

Get your onions, peppers, garlic, and radishes ready to make this one!

Not very convenient? Try making a large salad and keeping it in the refrigerator. That way you can enjoy if over the next few days at school or work. Some types of salad, like Kimchi, can be made and preserved for weeks!

Last Tuesday was the second time in my life I’ve eaten “Double Boiled Milk” and it was just as good as I had remembered. Shunde is not only well-known for its dragon boat races in June, but also for their specialty milky, custardy dish- Shuang Pi Nai. The first time I tried it I was a bit nervous. (Although, I had eaten pig-brain hot pot before, so I wasn’t too worried) I remember moving it around with my spoon just to make sure there were no surprises hidden underneath… but the moment I put the first spoonful of goop in my mouth I was hooked. It was awesome!

This visit we ordered coconut and red bean flavored, one hot and one cold. Aside from the mild sweetness you’ll taste a hit of egg too. The local shops also sell a powdery take-home version of this dish, but I don’t think it would taste nearly as good as visiting Shunde and eating the authentic stuff. Take a look at some of the various flavors of Shuang Pi Nai below.

Here’s a recipe from a Hong Kong writer at Galaxy Link. Seems simple enough…

An American friend recently introduced a book to me that is gaining popularity in the US called, The Plan. It describes in detail that certain healthy foods we eat regularly do, in fact, cause us to gain weight. The author uses concepts that are regularly used in Chinese discussions of health and makes them accessible to a Western audience. “Inflammatory foods” cause “inflammation”, which produce negative effects on your body and can effect weight gain and loss.

All of this talk of inflammation reminded me of a poster I saw in a Chinese medical hospital room years ago. It basically outlines both appropriate and inappropriate combinations of food. This Chinese-medicine concept seems to be the foundation of the theories in The Plan book.  It seems this ancient concept, which can help us better understand how our bodies work, has worked its way to the discussion table of American households.

The most important aspect of Xiangsheng Xiangke is to balance the “5 phases” or elements. In ancient Chinese practice, the five phases are focused more on changing states and their interaction with one another. These are represented as metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. (金、木、水、火、土). The idea that the different foods you eat combine in positive or negative ways is a biproduct of this system. [This system is also called Wu Xing and plays an important role in Taoism-religion, Tai Chi-martial arts, and Feng Shui].

This rabbit hole goes pretty deep, so I’d like to just focus on how food is represented in the 5 Phases and how it can be used for the benefit of your health.

The food we eat can either have a relationship that “generates/creates” or “overcomes/destructs” depending on the food it is paired with. Here are analogous descriptions about how these phases interact with each other *:

Wood feeds Fire
Fire creates Earth (ash)
Earth bears Metal
Metal carries Water (as in a bucket or tap, or water condenses on metal)
Water nourishes Wood

Overcoming/Destructing

By understanding the relationship that is created by pairing certain phases, or elements, together we can see how reactive certain foods are. As far as I can tell, this is directly related to the concepts found in Xiangsheng Xiangke. Let’s take a look at an example of each:

+ In this example, we see mushrooms and toufu are compatible foods which can be eaten together. Traditional Chinese Medicine suggests that mushrooms and toufu can ‘reduce internal heat’ as well as increase levels of Qi, reduce phlegm, improve circulation and the immune system.

“Internal Heat” is refered to as 上火 (Shang Huo) in Chinese. I wrote about this phenomenon a few years ago in an article called “The Two Kinds of Chee”

– Based on the principles of Xiangke, these two foods should not be consumed together because they produce ‘arsenious acid’ when combined and cause harm. You should use them cautiously.

Now, all of this might seem strange to the common person who hears reports about the bad effects of Soy, but eats shrimp with cocktail sauce at special gatherings. Don’t worry – You are doing nothing wrong. The mystery of food is that it combines and reacts in different ways. We can’t constantly be aware of the effects of EVERY healthy thing we eat. That would just be overdoing it. But you could learn more about traditions and how humans have eaten for thousands of years. Before TV and the Internet started telling us what to eat.

For the next few weeks I’m going to disect the poster that you see above. I’ll translate the Chinese and relate what it says to things in our common Western diet. There might be a few hidden gems in there for you!

For those who are just getting aquianted with East Asian tea varieties, I suggest visiting a previous article I wrote called “Understanding the World of Tea” that describes the main differences between a large range of teas and how they are produced. Today we are going to discuss a few specific types of Green Tea that seem quite similar to the naked eye. (Click the images to zoom in)

Although there are more types in circulation, our candidates for today’s Great Tea comparison include Longjing, Gaoshan Yunwu, Tieguanyin, and Wulong. At first glance, the Longjing tea leaves are flatter and look more like refined pine leaves. The Gaoshan tea leaves are thinner and a little curled. Tieguanyin and Wulong both appear to be buds of scrunched up leaves.

Pricing: The Tieguanyin used in this comparison was bought at a medium price-range, about $23 per 500 grams. The Wulong I used here cost around $45 per 500g, so you can expect a difference in quality between these samples. The Longjing and Gaoshan were both around $20 per 500g.

TIP! For the most part, the fatter the buds (or nuggets) the better the tea. Why? Because they contain fatter leaves which is better than chopped or ripped up leaves.

Brew Time: I brewed each type for about 2-3 minutes so that they could unravel. Remember that this way of brewing tea requires multiple occassions of steeping; meaning that you can pour new water into these leaves a few times before they get used up or lose taste. The top left is Longjing which gave a light and planty taste after steeping once. The Gaoshan tea is in the top right which gave a stronger and earthier flaver. The bottom left, with those plump leaves, was the less expensive Tieguanyin and it gave what I call a light and buttery taste. Finally, the more expensive Wulong on the bottom right gave a similar but less sweet flavor than the Tieguanyin.

Why would a more expensive green tea give off less flavor? Well, actually, it is meant to be steeped multiple times and unravel more slowly. By using a tea that opens slowly it can be used for a longer time. So, I wouldn’t count out the Wulong as being a poor value in this comparison.

The leaves leftover: The pictures below show the resulting open leaves after steeping Longjing and Gaoshan, as well as Tieguanyin and Wulong. You can see the differences much more clearly after steeping these leaves.

Which one is better? Well, I’d be lying if I suggested avoiding any of them! When I want something light I’ll probably go with a Longjing. If I want something stronger, I might go for Wulong. But now that I’ve compared all of these, I would probably go for an average-priced Tieguanyin because it jumped out at me today with a nice buttery flavor on the first steeping. I suggest trying even more types and comparing them for yourself. Perhaps I’ll compare even more and post them on Asianliving.me for your drinking pleasure!

By the way, if you are more of a coffee drinker and could never see yourself drinking much of these kinds of tea, why not try Pu’er tea? It steeps very dark and has a strong earthy taste.

Drinking Tea has always been an important part in the daily routines of most Chinese people, but Morning Tea specifically has been enjoyed by Cantonese Chinese  for hundreds of years. Nowadays Morning Tea, Yum Cha, or Zao Cha are all ways to describe the activity Westerners might call “Brunch”,  and Dim Sum refers to the dishes that are served at this leisurely mealtime. As with much international Chinese culture, this tradition has it’s roots in Guangdong province, but is practiced regularly throughout Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, and Chinatowns worldwide. Let’s take a look at what’s in store for first-time morning tea patrons!

Kung fu Tea

Don’t miss the chance to Pao Cha with your hosts while you sip on piping hot kung fu tea in small tea cups. All Morning Tea establishments provide the option of small tea sets with boiling hot water that you can use to make tea at your table. Sometimes the tea alone costs as much as the food, but worth it for first-time visitors. A common favorite among Cantonese is Pu-er tea, which is a darker tea that reminds me of coffee. It’s known for aiding disgestion and doubles as a dieting tea.

An alternative to Kung Fu tea is just a simple pot of house brew that varies place to place. The cups are usually bigger too.

Steam Baskets

Tea isn’t complete without a variety of Dim Sum. There are really too many options for me to list them all here, but most of them include dumpling-sized morsels served 3 or 4 in a basket. They include, but are not limited to: pork and shrimp dumplings, char siu buns, meat and vegie pot stickers, xiao long bao, man tou, chicken claws, steamed meatballs, spare ribs, sticky rice in lotus leaves, taro dumplings, turnip cakes, spring rolls, tofu skin, egg tarts, mango pudding, red bean buns, and much much more.

These dishes are hard to miss because they are served in iconic bamboo steam baskets. These are all collectively refered to as “Dim Sum”.

Porridge/Congee

Soups, porridge, and congee are all very important too. In my humble opinion, Morning Tea isn’t complete without a choice of Congee (very wet cooked rice), which is best with pork slices, chives, ginger, and preserved eggs. Sometimes congee looks unappetizing, but I guarantee you will not regret trying it. You might come to love it, just as I did.

Deep fried bread is often used to accompany congee. Use the fried bread sparingly, as it isn’t a particularly healthy choice.

Other dishes

Besides the standard components of Morning Tea that I’ve mentioned above, you can also order full dishes that you might expect in Chinese restaurants, including boiled chicken and garlic or wok-fried bai cai with soy sauce. It’s always a good idea to order an extra full-sized dish just in case the dim sum doesn’t fill you up.

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That’s Morning Tea in a nut shell! Visit the links in this overview to learn more about the different parts of this traditional Chinese brunch and leave comments here after you try dim sum where ever you are!

When watching a TV show or movie, it’s fine to munch, but its important to choose the right munchie. Traditionally, Asian cultures have developed the habit of unshelling nuts for mindless munching because it fills you slower. Eating sunflower seeds, for example, will give you the taste of food without making a meal out of the snack.

And remember, like my mother always says, everything in moderation. (Moms are really smart!)

Head ringing after ringing in the new year? Drink your meals today. Eat soup, porridge, or noodles.

A traditional Korean hangover cure called “Haejangguk” and has been eaten since the late 1300s contains cabbage and ox blood in beef soup. Chinese often eat Congee(porridge) to fight a hangover or illness. A savory congee for lunch is a great choice.

Whatever you do, make sure you get extra liquids and vegetables in your diet today. Feel better!