The way food is categorized, preserved, prepared, displayed, as well as the amounts eaten, the way it is eaten, who eats it and when – all vary among civilizations. Furthermore, inside each culture are sub-categories for food: eating differences covering economics, religious, age, time and seasons, even occupations and physical health. Most anthropologists and culinary historians assert that China undoubtedly has the widest range of all these categories regarding the production and consumption of foodstuffs.

Chinese cooks and chefs throughout history, despite how they cook, or who they cook for, or what kind of cuisine they prepare, or the season they prepare a dish, always adhere to the one overriding concept: food as medicine. This ancient theory best highlights Chinese culture and its cuisine in view of other culinary dynamics, modern and ancient.

While Confucianism was concerned with the social and aesthetic aspects of food and dining, texture and appearance, the Taoists, seeking longevity and health, were developing hygienic rituals for food and cooking. The principle objectives of this philosophy carried a wish for longevity and a desire to promote health.

For centuries the Chinese have cultivated food as medicine and used cooking as a conduit to bring out the medicinal vales of various foodstuffs. Western thought uses food to provide energy and nutrition, with medicine as a separate category to treat illness. But Chinese feel that all food has a unique capacity to aid in promoting and retaining health. The way food is cooked and combined, along with the amount, the time of year and the person eating it – all combine in a positive way to support health. It can be suggested that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) originated in the kitchen and has never really left. Ancient chefs, such as the aforementioned Yi Yin, preached the value of a diverse diet and devised specific preferences that each internal organ needed to remain healthy (heart & mind -- bitter taste; the liver--sour; the lung--pungent; the 'spleen' -- sweat; and the kidneys, reproductive and adrenal functions -- salty). He and others were regarded as more than purveyors of food; rather they resembled a combined sort of physician/magician, making chefs greatly revered.

Emperor Shen Nong studied the healing properties of plants and first established the theory of yin and yang.

Using food and herbs as medicine is a very ancient idea. Emperor Shen Nong, known as the legendary father of agriculture, lived sometime around 3000 BC. He studied the healing properties of plants and first established the theory of yin and yang. This model was later adopted by the Taoists, who made it part of the basic foundation of Chinese culture, philosophy, medicine and culinary arts.