Food, medicine, and the quest for good health nutrition, medicine, and culture PDF
Preview Food, medicine, and the quest for good health nutrition, medicine, and culture
Food, Medicine, and the Quest For Good health Food, Medicine, Quest and the for Good health Nutrition, Medicine, and Culture nancy n. chen coluMbia university Press new york Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 2009 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chen, Nancy N. Food, medicine, and the quest for good health: nutrition, medicine, and culture / Nancy N. Chen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-231-13484-2 (hard cover : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-231-50891-9 (e-book) 1. Diet therapy—Social aspects. 2. Functional foods—Social aspects. 3. Food habits. 4. Medical anthropology. I. Title. rm217.c44 2008 615.8'54—dc22 2008026477 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For sami and laeti, who make life immeasurably sweet; and to dru, spice of my life contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii introduction Rethinking Food and Medicine 1 part one Food as Medicine one Healing Foods and Longevity 17 two Dietary Prescriptions and Comfort Foods 53 part two Medicine as Food three Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods 79 contents four Genetically Modified Foods and Drugs 92 conclusion Eating and Medicating 109 Notes 115 Bibliography 119 Index 127 viii preface Food and medicine matter immensely to me. I grew up in southern Louisiana, where the local food cultures of Cajun, Creole, African, Spanish, Native American, and southern cooking provided a deeply textured world of foodways, or cu- linary habits and practices. When they were children my par- ents did not live in times of plenty; as a result, I have inherit- ed thrifty habits and deeply appreciate sustenance of all sorts. Schools prepared all food from scratch then. My fondest mem- ory of elementary school was arriving to the morning scent of freshly baked bread. At home my parents continued to make the foods of their childhood, so rice was a staple, along with regional Chinese dishes. As immigrants who came to the Unit- ed States during the golden era of the 1960s, my parents were always curious about American food culture, so we frequent- ly visited cafeterias and po-boy shacks. They rarely denied me or my siblings items that were deemed “bad,” such as junk food, fast food, highly sugared cereals, doughnuts, or deep- fried fatty foods. My mother never cooked with written reci- pes or cookbooks, relying instead on taste. I also learned about PreFace food preparation by visiting other friends’ homes and by read- ing the instructions on the box. How, then, did I come to appreciate food on a continu- um with medicine and associate certain foods with nutritional value? It started at home. Instead of relying solely on biomed- icine, my mother incorporated her knowledge of Chinese nu- tritional therapy, which gives food properties according to such factors as the temperature of the food, its dampness, and its bitterness or sweetness. In addition to ready-made ointments and tinctures from her homeland to patch up scrapes, cuts, and infections, my mother brewed ginger in wine or added brown sugar to stewed pears whenever we caught a cold or cough. Stomach troubles meant that our diets would change: we would be put on a strict regimen of rice congee (or por- ridge), sometimes with a tiny pickled turnip, until our stom- achs were better. When stricken with a fever or flu, we were given a changed food regimen as well. My mother would first eliminate spicy or oily foods; then she would slowly reintro- duce very plain foods, such as a thin, watery rice porridge. Gradually, as we got better, the gruel became less watery and more like rice. Rice porridge can be a desirable food when we are well. At dim sum restaurants congee is served as a morning meal, and it can be consumed as a late-night snack. For the el- derly and young babies with no teeth this can be a nutritious and easily digestible staple. In European desserts rice puddings tend to be sweetened with sugar or honey or made with milk and spices. Decades later, in graduate school, I learned that the recommended WHO (World Health Organization) oral rehy- dration therapy for diarrhea and starvation was basically wa- tery rice porridge. As a medical anthropologist, I have come full circle in my study of healing across cultures. I am committed to reimagin-
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