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A Soup for the Qan: Chinese Dietary Medicine of the Mongol Era As Seen in Hu Sihui's Yinshan Zhengyao: Introduction, Translation, Commentary, and ... Edition
In the early 14th century, a court nutritionist called Hu Sihui wrote his "Yinshan Zhengyao," a dietary and nutritional manual for the Chinese Mongol Empire. Hu Sihui, a man apparently with a Turkic linguistic background, included recipes, descriptions of food items, and dietary medical lore including selections from ancient texts, and thus reveals to us the full extent of an amazing cross-cultural dietary; here recipes can be found from as far as Arabia, Iran, India and elsewhere, next to those of course from Mongolia and China. Although the medical theories are largely Chinese, they clearly show Near Eastern and Central Asian influence. This long-awaited expanded and revised edition of the much-acclaimed "A Soup for the Qan" sheds (yet) new light on our knowledge of west Asian influence on China during the medieval period, and on the Mongol Empire in general.
680 pages, Hardcover
First published January 3, 2000
73 people want to read
About the author
Charles Perry
85 books18 followersThere is more than one person in the Goodreads catalog with this name. This entry is for Charles ^ Perry, rock and roll journalist.
Charles Perry is a former rock and roll journalist (staff writer at Rolling Stone in the 1970s) who suavely transitioned into food writing in the 1980s. During his 18 years at the Los Angeles Times’ award-winning Food section he was twice a finalist for a James Beard award. He is a world-renowned food historian who has been cited in books in seven languages, and he is a major contributor to the “Oxford Companion to Food,” a two-term trustee of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery and president and co-founder of the Culinary Historians of Southern California.
Charles Perry is a former rock and roll journalist (staff writer at Rolling Stone in the 1970s) who suavely transitioned into food writing in the 1980s. During his 18 years at the Los Angeles Times’ award-winning Food section he was twice a finalist for a James Beard award. He is a world-renowned food historian who has been cited in books in seven languages, and he is a major contributor to the “Oxford Companion to Food,” a two-term trustee of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery and president and co-founder of the Culinary Historians of Southern California.
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August 30, 2019
This is a gem of a book, which my husband befittingly gifted me when I finished my master's degree in nutrition and became a dietitian.
This book contains the translation of Hu Sihui's 'Yinshan Zhengyao' a 14th century book written by the personal dietitian to the Khan/Qan family of emperors who ruled China during the Yuan dynasty - a book only recently translated into English. Hu Sihui appears to have worked in a time when dietitians were a more well-regarded profession, as he is described as a sort of 'dietary physician'.
This volume begins with 100+ pages offering cultural and historical context to this work and notes on the translation. The Yinshan Zhengyao itself is divided into 3 parts, containing both the original Chinese text with beautiful illustrations followed by the English translation, which is heavily footnoted to provide even more historical and cultural context.
Juan One, or "Strange Delicacies of Combined Flavors," is essentially a cookbook. While many of the recipes start with a base of mutton, cardamom and either chickpeas or galangal, they are paired with 100+ other ingredients. I am not a huge fan of mutton, so I have yet to try any of the recipes, but I may start with something simple like one of the bread or baked goods recipes. The more adventurous chef may want to start with the recipe for Roast Wolf Soup.
Juan Two is focused on the medicinal properties of specific foods, building on Hu Sihui's philosophy (as well as my own) that food should be one's first line of defense against disease before pills. Some of the healing properties of food are still maintained in Chinese medicine today, as well as to some extent in Western countries. One of the most interesting parts of this book is the 'Doses and Foods of the Beneficent Immortals,' which is a collection of tips from elders of the day on how they have maintained longevity. The author asserts that foods such as Chinese asparagus and Chinese foxglove may reverse the effects of aging by causing one's hair to turn from white to black, helping fallen out teeth to grow back and even helping people to fly.
The final section, Juan Three, details both the healing and toxic effects of many foods that were consumed in Hu Sihui's day, many of which we still consume and some which have likely even been forgotten as edible. It's a great reminder of the diversity of foods that are edible to humans and impart a high degree of nutrition, while a sad reminder that our modern-day diets tend to be lacking of both diversity and nutrition.
In short, this is an interesting read and a book I'll like return to over the years for all that it contains.
This book contains the translation of Hu Sihui's 'Yinshan Zhengyao' a 14th century book written by the personal dietitian to the Khan/Qan family of emperors who ruled China during the Yuan dynasty - a book only recently translated into English. Hu Sihui appears to have worked in a time when dietitians were a more well-regarded profession, as he is described as a sort of 'dietary physician'.
This volume begins with 100+ pages offering cultural and historical context to this work and notes on the translation. The Yinshan Zhengyao itself is divided into 3 parts, containing both the original Chinese text with beautiful illustrations followed by the English translation, which is heavily footnoted to provide even more historical and cultural context.
Juan One, or "Strange Delicacies of Combined Flavors," is essentially a cookbook. While many of the recipes start with a base of mutton, cardamom and either chickpeas or galangal, they are paired with 100+ other ingredients. I am not a huge fan of mutton, so I have yet to try any of the recipes, but I may start with something simple like one of the bread or baked goods recipes. The more adventurous chef may want to start with the recipe for Roast Wolf Soup.
Juan Two is focused on the medicinal properties of specific foods, building on Hu Sihui's philosophy (as well as my own) that food should be one's first line of defense against disease before pills. Some of the healing properties of food are still maintained in Chinese medicine today, as well as to some extent in Western countries. One of the most interesting parts of this book is the 'Doses and Foods of the Beneficent Immortals,' which is a collection of tips from elders of the day on how they have maintained longevity. The author asserts that foods such as Chinese asparagus and Chinese foxglove may reverse the effects of aging by causing one's hair to turn from white to black, helping fallen out teeth to grow back and even helping people to fly.
The final section, Juan Three, details both the healing and toxic effects of many foods that were consumed in Hu Sihui's day, many of which we still consume and some which have likely even been forgotten as edible. It's a great reminder of the diversity of foods that are edible to humans and impart a high degree of nutrition, while a sad reminder that our modern-day diets tend to be lacking of both diversity and nutrition.
In short, this is an interesting read and a book I'll like return to over the years for all that it contains.
Displaying 1 of 1 review