Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen: Recipes from the East for Health, Healing, and Long Life

by Yuan Wang, Warren Sheir, Mika Ono

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen , a winner in the 2010 International Book Awards, reveals how easy it is to tap into the 3,000-year-old secrets of the Eastern healing arts. This entertaining and easy-to-use book provides scores of delicious recipes, anecdotes about various herbs and foods, and all you need to know about acquiring ingredients--even if you don't know the difference between a lotus seed and the lotus position.Highlighting "superfoods," such as goji berries, as well as more familiar ingredients like ginger, garlic, and mint, Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen includes indispensible
* An overview of traditional Chinese medicine, herbs, and food therapy
* Details on 100 healthy Asian ingredients
* Healing recipes for common health concerns, including fatigue, menopause, high cholesterol, weight control, and diabetes

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Health, Food, Culinary, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Prof. Yuan Wang graduated from the Mathematics Department, Zhejiang University, China in 1952, and since then he has been with the Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and was elected as an academician of the CAS in 1980. His research field is analytic number theory especially the Goldbach conjecture, Diophantine analysis, number theoretic method in numerical analysis and statistics, and has published twelve books and more than eighty papers. He is also the author of a biography of the legendary Chinese mathematician Hua Loo-Keng and many popular mathematics works. He was formerly Director of the Institute of Mathematics of the CAS and President of the Chinese Mathematical Society.

Reviews

[Joanne McKinnon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

Especially good book for those who consider food medicine. I already use some the ingredients mentioned, so I am already familiar the benefits. In the recipe section I found new ways to prepare my favourites.

[Wt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very user-friendly book, with recipes that range from easy to more elaborate. Recipes cover tonic soups and broths, rice and porridge dishes, soup stock, side dishes, main dishes, teas, deserts, and toppings and sauces. Incorporates eastern herbs into western type dishes (e.g. oatmeal, cereal dishes for breakfast), and also covers some Japanese health treasures like Dashi stock. There is a useful section that covers "100 healthful asian ingredients", accompanied by 8 pages of full-color photographs of many of these ingredients. Under each recipe, mention is made of the therapeutic qualities of the recipe according to the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the type of person or condition it is especially good for. At the end of the book there is a section that covers common health conditions and recipes that address these. Information is well-balanced with ease of use. Whether you are a lazy cook who just wants to throw some things into a pot and let it cook by itself, or someone who just wants some simple herbal teas that will help you sleep, or someone who is desirous of cooking up a tonic feast, there is something in this cookbook for everyone. A lovely cookbook for practical usage, not just for keeping on the coffee-table. The only problem with this book is a very dodgy index where items often do not tally with the page numbers provided, rendering this part of the book useless and annoying.

[AdultNonFiction Teton County Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

TCL Call#: 641.595 Wang Y

Madeleine - 4 stars
This is a great introduction to the ideas of Eastern medicine, the principals and philosphy behind it, and how to implement it into a Western household.
I did find it to be a bit dense but the authors do their best to make it accessible to a Western audience. One of the best features is an index in the back that lists common Western ailments like diabetes or high blood pressure and lists the recommended recipes for treatment.

[Robert Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

What it came down to is not enough recipes to appeal to me.

I think it was because of more of an emphasis on the health and not the food. I was looking for something that took the concepts and integrated them with an emphasis on the food.

This felt more like selling me on an approach/philosophy/lifestyle with, oh yeah, some recipes thrown in.

Not a bad book, just didn't appeal to my wants.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wisdom and practice of healing with herbs and therapeutic foods combined with some delicious recipes. Some of the ingredients require a visit to Chinatown, others are easy to find. A great book for anyone interested in food, healing and culture.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of yummy-looking recipes in here. I'm particularly interested in trying the soups and the vegetable sides. The pictorial guide to common Chinese ingredients that may not be well known here is a great addition -- it's definitely something I'd take along with me when shopping in Chinatown.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book my first in chinese medicine. The flu season soup alone is worth the buy it tastes good and knocks a pre cold right out of you. I can't wait to try some of the other recipes, learning about TCM is so much fun I have a hard time putting this book down.

[Maria Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

The recipes I have tried so far are tasty and pretty easy to prepare. Some are great even for weeknight dinners. Love the index of recipes by condition. Not sure how it corresponds to CCM, but a good intro to food as medicine and Chinese medicine in general.