Food cultures
Shiyang: care through everyday meals
Explore Chinese shiyang and Japanese shōjin cooking, then bring their attention to food into everyday plant-based meals.
Journal
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Food cultures
Where to begin with the OrienX Journal
Choose a first reading through a cultural story, a practical recipe, nutritional pointers or a guide to the pieces.
Food cultures
Taste first, season second: finding balance in a shallow bowl
An old idea about measured flavours becomes a simple gesture at a plant-based table: cook separately, taste, then season.
Food cultures
The meaning of moderation at the table in Laolao Hengyan
The flavour of food, how much one can eat and how one drinks: three passages from a chapter on eating in later life.
Food cultures
In the Suwen, what place do grains, fruit and vegetables have?
The Zangqi Fashi Lun chapter sets several food groups within an older view of care. Read the whole passage without turning it into a modern vegetarian rule.
Food cultures
The first bowl, in the spirit of Zen
From the Zen meal to plant-based porridge: begin caring for yourself with the first bowl.
Food cultures
Kyōnan: considerate softness in shōjin cooking
Sōtō Zen presents “lightness and softness” among the three qualities of shōjin cooking. Separate the older text from today’s explanation.
Food cultures
Taoist simplicity at the table
From the Daodejing to cauliflower and white beans: practise simplicity at the table.
Food cultures
“Harmonise the five flavours”: what does the Suwen say?
In Shengqi Tongtian Lun, the phrase follows a discussion of excess. It is neither a recipe nor a requirement to combine five tastes in every meal.
Food cultures
The morning porridge bowl in Laolao Hengyan
In a section on rising in the morning, Laolao Hengyan makes room for plain rice porridge. Understand the advice within its setting of later-life care.
Food cultures
“What suits the four seasons” in Yinshan Zhengyao
The Sishi Suoyi chapter connects spring, summer, autumn and winter to particular food choices. It is not a list of seasonal French vegetables.
