Judith Farquhar explains in Chapter 1 in her book Appetites the importance of Chinese pharmacy and explores the practices and basics of Chinese medicine. In relation to Chen’s chapter on Food, Medicine, and Quest for Good Health there is also an emphasis on the medicinal values of foods and nutritional therapies since ancient China. Although certain types of food and medicines were so readily available in the past than it was today, as a result of increased rural truck farming industries, better transportation, and better information distributed in concerns of the new agricultural techniques, many more products are more readily available today therefore, giving the population a better opportunity to have access and eat these food products. With readily available foods at local markets and restaurants the population of Chinese can have a closer sense to increasing their physical well-being. With the belief that meals must be balanced through the practices between the yin and the yang, “it suggests a body in motion, the activity of which can be influenced, and thus regulated by similarly classified efficacies of substances taken by mouth (Farquhar, 52). With a more balanced meal and nutritional intake, the body can therefore, in the eyes of this belief, be sustained and death can be prevented. Foods with a higher medicinal value can be considered to fulfill particular jobs meeting the daily necessities of the body.
In the connection of food with medicinal values, “eating is generally also a more social activity than medicine taking: people eat together, and Chinese food is famously organized for groups” (Farquhar, 53). The importance of food has been seen to form linking networks within family members. Farquhar shows the importance of this type of social networking in medicinal foods with the story of her friend that once found out of her diagnosis of throat cancer, chose to eat bottled white asparagus everyday for six months. Because of this, miraculously she was able to be cured from it. With the help from her friends and family is support and providing her with help from purchasing such an expensive type of food, she was able to avoid taking medications or go through chemotherapy to get rid of her throat cancer within just a few months. Social networking was also seen a type of healing therapy that the Chinese used in addition to certain types of food and medicine.
Moreover, another important aspect Farquhar explains in this chapter would be the linkages of Chinese medicine to a holistic well-being. “Moreover, Chinese medicine is said to be “holistic”-it links manifestations of illness to causal narratives not with reference to an underlying anatomical field but in relation to temporal emergence” (Farquhar, 64). The five elements of flavors, pungent, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty is believed to have positive outcomes with helping the health of the body in moving blood, nourishment, draining impurities, and causing urine to flow more regularly. Certain types of food are recommended for distinct illnesses and diseases that a patient is currently experiencing.
Another point Farquahar discusses in this chapter is the need for a more understanding with how the patients and doctors work together. There is a distinction between the differences of the types of care delivered between doctors of traditional medicine and modernized medicine. Most traditional doctors deliver little primary care and operate outside most public health systems in the general population. If the complaints of these patients are met because of the lack of medication and treatment presented to them, they are often seen going away and choosing to consult with a doctor of more modernized care. This type of care the doctor provides, in contrast, will most likely use” blood, urine chemistries, x-rays, and sonograms as part of his or her Chinese medical practice, and even if all these tests come out “negative,” the patient is still deemed to be ill..”(Farquhar, 70).
As discussed in class this Friday, there was a concern between the relationships of doctors and patients and how there was a lack of communication sometimes and from this, there is a lack of treatment and care needed to fulfill what the patients really need. This lack of communication can also be linked among the differences between a traditional type of care and a more modernized type of care. In the perspective of traditional care, doctors are more closely associated with the patients, and from my experience they often follow up personally with patients and how they are feeling after treatment. In contrast, in the perspective of more modernized care, the relationship between the doctor and the patient can really be distant because of the people that work and help in between the doctor and the patients. From the nurses, pharmacists, and lab researchers that usually come in between the relationships of the two, patients can often feel less connected and understand a little less of what the doctor recommends for diagnosis and treatment for the patient themselves.
In the book Appetite written by Judith Farquhar, she explains the linkages with food as a medicinal value on the holistic well-being of an individual. With the help of readily available food products in the market now, people are generally able to access them better to meet their nutritional needs. In addition to that, there is a social perspective that is explained with Farquhar, in reasoning with how the support of family and friends can improve the physical well-being or an individual as well. A major issue that has risen up today in modern society with be the lack of communication between the doctor and the patient. Although in Chinese traditional medicine, they continue to focus in providing the nutritional and medical needs of the patients, with modernized medicine nowadays, with advanced technologies and specialties there is an increasing lack of understanding and communication between the two. These differences are crucial in better understanding and providing the patient with the best alternative with any type of illness or disease they are currently facing. Although traditional medicine has been used for millions of years, with the rise of modernized medical care, there needs to be a change with the system today, to increase understanding and communication within the doctor and the patient.
Works Cited:
Farquhar, Judith, 2002. Medicinal Meals. IN Appetites: Food and Sex in Post-Socialist China. Durham: Duke University Press. Pp. 47-77.
http://otbiking.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/its-like-a-concrete-jungle-out-there/
medscape.com
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