|
Home
New
To Chinese Cooking
Chinese Food Recipes
Bubble Tea
Chicken Recipes
Beef Recipes
Sweet & Sour Pork
Learn how to Stir-fry
Learn About the
Different Types of Tofu
Food & Chinese Culture
A Matter of
Taste
Five Elements Theory
Five Spice Powder
Food & Feng Shui
Nutrition & Chinese Food
How to lower the fat in
cooking
Boost Your Brain Power
Vegetables
Easy Chinese Recipes
|
|
Food and Feng Shui
Learn how to optimize the feng shui of your food
If you think about it, Food and Feng Shui go hand in hand. You can
achieve improved energy by optimizing the Feng Shui of your food and by
using food related items to your advantage. Elemental balance, Yin/Yang
balance, Aromatherapy, and opportunities to increase prosperity and
abundance are all important parts of Feng Shui and food.
Elemental balance in food can be achieved through use of colors. A plate
full of monochromatic food can look pretty bland and probably wouldn't get
a seal of approval from a dietitian either (they usually advise a plate
full of many different colors.) So a stir-fry made with yellow bell
peppers, green bell peppers, orange bell peppers, red tomatoes, Chinese
purple eggplant, and some pink shrimp would be a much better Feng Shui
choice. Fruits and vegetables come in an array of colors;
use them to your Feng Shui advantage. You don't have to
eat every color in the rainbow at every meal, but more colors in your diet
will go a long way towards optimizing your Feng Shui.
The concept of Yin and Yang can also apply to your food. With food, Yin
would be the milder flavors while Yang would be the bolder flavors.
Chinese recipes already take advantage of this type of Feng Shui balance.
Sweet and sour, hot and sour, and strong flavored dishes paired with plain
rice are all examples of Yin/Yang balanced foods. When preparing these
dishes the cook is always careful to balance the opposing flavors. Sweet
and Sour Shrimp that is all sweet or overly sour wouldn’t be very pleasing
to the palate and wouldn’t be good Feng Shui. And pairing a spicy dish
with other spicy dishes would overtax the taste buds. Yin and Yang can
also be used to explain the appeal of dishes featuring a mixture of soft
or delicate foods with crunchy or crisp foods. Tofu dishes with chopped
nuts or diced water chestnuts always balance these textural differences. A
plate full of crunchy food could tire the mouth, while a plate full of
soft food might not seem very fulfilling. Balance is very important in
food and Feng Shui.
Aromatherapy is very important in Feng Shui because all senses need to be
accommodated. Nothing is more pleasing to the nose than delicious smelling
foods. Think about the scents when cooking Chinese food. Everyone in the
house knows you’re cooking when the house is filled with the scent of
toasting Szechuan peppercorns. And what a joy it is to smell a grinder
filled with ground Szechuan peppercorns (toasted or un-toasted.) Aromatic
seasonings like garlic, scallions, chilies and ginger often go into the
wok near the beginning of the cooking process so they can lend their
scents and lightly stir-fried flavors to the main ingredients. Plus, they
are a treat for the cook to smell and they fill the home with a wonderful
aroma. These wonderful scents rid the home of negative energy and fill
them, and you, with positive energy.
In my Feng Shui practice I've found that prosperity and abundance are
extremely common Feng Shui goals. There are many ways to increase your
prosperity and abundance through food and food related items. One common
Feng Shui recommendation is to use your stove (this is not about your oven
or microwave, just your stove or cook-top) often. This is because your
stove, and its burners, represents wealth. More burners would be better
than less (so having a stove with five burners would represent extra
wealth luck while one with only two burners would symbolize diminished
wealth luck.) You need to have any broken burners repaired as soon as
possible, because they would represent economic troubles. Using all of
your burners evenly is much better than using one or two ‘favorite’
burners every day while ignoring the rest. Stimulating your wealth energy
by using your stove often (hopefully by cooking meals using most or all of
your burners throughout the day) can even be done by just turning on your
burners every day for a few minutes. Gas stoves are better Feng Shui than
electric stoves, though I would never recommend changing stoves or
cook-tops for that reason alone. Wasting money is never good Feng Shui!
The dishes you serve your food in can also increase your prosperity and
abundance. Ornate or expensive looking dishes carry wealth luck. Chinese
or Asian dishes with fish designs or other wealth related designs also
improve your wealth energy. Crystal glasses also improve the energy of
your dining room table. The best way to serve up a meal that symbolizes
prosperity and abundance is to set up your dining room table with your
favorite fancy setting and crystal or crystal-like glassware, fill your
table with an abundance of wonderful food (more food, more money), and
double the food (thereby doubling your wealth) by hanging a mirror that
reflects your dining table.
Leslie Jacobson is a Certified Feng Shui Consultant, has a Masters Degree
in Counseling, and a Masters Degree in Industrial and Organizational
Psychology.
Copyright
http://www.myqmfm.com/ 2006 No parts of this website can be
transferred or duplicated without consent of owner.
|