Nourish the Body, Nourish the Soul–Four Seasons Kitchen

 Nourish the Body, Nourish the Soul–Four Seasons Kitchen

“Eating puts you in a good mood,” some people say. A cup of warm milk, a piece of chocolate, or a nice hot cup of tea which warms your hands and body can all soothe the soul1.
 
The 24 Solar Terms and Qingming
The 24 solar terms are an ancient set of calendar terms that are still used today for guidance on coordinating agricultural activities with climactic changes. “Qingming” falls on the fifth solar term of the year, each year comprising a total of 24 terms. Its name denotes a time when flowers bloom and plants sprout new leaves to create clear (qing) and bright (ming) scenery in spring. The solar term Qingming is often associated with the Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day. 
As recorded in the Jing-Chu Suishi Ji2, “The 105th day after Dongzhi is called Hanshi, and arrives with severe wind and pouring rain. As fire is prohibited for three days, prepare porridge with sugar3.” This means that the Hanshi Festival (literal meaning: cold food festival) falls on the 105th day after Dongzhi and is a time when wind blows fiercely and rain falls hard. People had to stop cooking for three days, and ate pre-made almond porridge sweetened with malt as a staple food. Because the date of the Hanshi Festival was close to the solar term Qingming and the activities of Hanshi often continued through the Qingming Festival itself, eventually there was not much difference between the two.
Today, the Qingming Festival has largely supplanted the Hanshi Festival. Although the Qingming Festival derives from the solar term Qingming, the special traditions and memorable meanings are even more important than the influence of the climate. In Taiwan, the weather is still unpredictable due to cold fronts that often arrive around the time of the Qingming Festival. There is a very apt old saying which goes, “In the beginning of March, youngsters freeze to death.” (The temperature varies greatly between day and night; many people wear springs clothing in the warm morning and are unprepared for the sudden temperature drop in the evening.)
Eating During Qingming 
Following the traditions of Hanshi, people used to eat pre-made food during the Qingming Festival. According to ancient texts, people ate almond porridge cooked with malt, a dish known as lilao, during the Hanshi Festival up until the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In Taiwan, nearly every household eats a non-fried spring roll known as runbing during the Qingming Festival. In addition, caozai guo (also known as chau-a-ke) made from glutinous rice flour kneaded with a paste from Gnaphalium affine (a type of plant often used as herbs) and stuffed with various types of filling, as well as a similar Hakka style variant flavored with mugwort, are both common foods eaten by Taiwanese during the Qingming Festival.
Extra Little Children – Bulbils
Chinese yam is another common spring vegetable. The Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) teaches that Chinese yam can “be beneficial to the kidney, improve the health of the spleen and stomach, cure diarrhea, get rid of phlegm, and moisturize the skin and hair.” Chinese yam is usually harvested from October to March in Taiwan.
Bulbils are small bulblike nodules which grow at the base of the leaves of the different variety of yams. They are thin-skinned and taste great. According to a member of the Yangming Mountain Xin’an Demonstration Team, bulbils are more nutritious than the yams themselves in spite of their small size. However, the tastes of the different species are not quite the same.
 
Air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera), known in Chinese as huangyaozi, with bulbils in the axils of its leaves. According to the Bencao Gangmu, it can clear internal heat (concept in Chinese medicine) and remove toxic substances. However, it is not recommended for consumption in large amounts due to its toxicity.
(Photo credit: Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan)
 
 
Chinese yam bulbils in Honzo Zufu (Iconographia Plantarum).
(Photo credit: Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan)
 
The Taiwan e-Learning & Digital Archives Program (TELDAP) includes 95 volumes of Honzo Zufu, a Taiwan Forestry Research Institute collection. Honzo Zufu was written by Japanese botanist Iwasaki Tsunemasa in 1828. The hand-painted illustrations present the form of plants in detail, and are extremely valuable resources to both the natural sciences and the arts.
Tone Your Body, Tone Your Mind
Food puts people in a good mood. With great food in front of your eyes, your worries fly out the window. Yet emotion is one of the factors that dominate physical and mental health. There are times when you feel too uncomfortable to eat. When you finally put your troubles behind you and feel at ease once again, you may return to a carefree sense of balance. Coming to a table full of nourishing gourmet food is sure to double the effectiveness!
 
[1] Recent reports show that serotonin in the blood is one of the elements that make people happy. Although food does not contain serotonin, it does have the capability of promoting the secretion of serotonin.
[2] Jing-Chu Suishi Ji is a book on seasonal activities and customs from the Jing-Chu region written by Zong Lin during the Southern Liang Dynasty. It is also the oldest known book with descriptions of ancient seasonal customs and festivities in China.
[3] The original text refers to 餳 (tang), which shares the same pronunciation with and is a variant of 糖–sugar in Chinese. Here it refers more specifically to malt.
 
References:
  1. Chen, Zhengzhi. (1997). Taiwan Suishi Ji–24 Solar Terms and Culture of Ordinary People. Taichung: Department of Information, Taiwan Provincial Government.
  2. Chen, Shuhua. (2009). Dinning Table of the Island: Pursuit of 36 Taiwanese Tastes. Taipei: Yuan-Liou Publishing Co., Ltd.
  3. Zhang, Jingfen. (2009). The Secret to Becoming Happy in the Office? Herbal Tea, Chocolate, and Whole Wheat Bread. Taitung: Kernel of Wheat Bimonthly.