Food in China: A Cultural and Historical Inquiry
... In the UK and the Netherlands thereafter surges an environmentalist counterculture [90,91]. In recent years in Denmark, urban gardens were claimed to serve minorities [91,92]. During the 1980s and 1990s, other regional social movements continued working in urban improvement, reclamation, and the creation of green areas. ...
... The Aztec people raised plants on "chinampas" floating rafts on the lakes bordering Tenochtitlan (today Mexico City). In China, floating``frame fields' ' were used for growing water, spinach, and culinary herbs in southeast China [92,93]. The paddy (dike-pond) rice system of China, dating back to the fifteenth century, evolved out of a need to control regular floods and rice cultivation [92,94]. ...
... In China, floating``frame fields' ' were used for growing water, spinach, and culinary herbs in southeast China [92,93]. The paddy (dike-pond) rice system of China, dating back to the fifteenth century, evolved out of a need to control regular floods and rice cultivation [92,94]. Concerning modern shrimp technology, it has been erroneously associated with expensive technology and equipment, only available for skilled, wealthy investors. ...
... Fruit powder Dried fruit powder is used in yoghurt to cure bloody dysentery Chauhan et al. (2016), Manandhar (1995) Fruit Fruits (10 -20 gm) are taken every day to treat heart problem Kharkwal et al. (2018) Fruits Fruits are useful in constipation and anemic patients Pant et al. (2009) Fruit juice Juice used to reduce earache problems Parihaar et al. (2014) Leaf Gingo bioloba & P. crenulata leaves as nervine tonic Dimitri (1972) Leaf Leaf paste used to cure burns Uniyal and Shiva (2005) Stem bark Stem used in menstruation cycle (heavy bleeding) and malarial fever Simoons (1990) Root Root powder mix with water used in bath to prevent skin infections Nautiyal et al. (2001) Root Root powder with boiled water cured body pain Negi et al. (2003) current chapter collected and analyzed the available information related to traditional knowledge, nutritional, phytochemical, pharmacological activities, and propagation methods so that it could serve as the point of information for this species to the diverse stakeholders. ...
... The paste of leaves used in burns (Bisht et al., 2013;Uniyal and Shiva, 2005); leaves are reported to increase diuresis and decrease the urinary concentration of stone-forming elements (Khajuria and Bisht, 2016;Yadav et al., 2011). Stems are beneficial in the menstruation cycle during heavy bleeding and malarial fever (Simoons, 1990). Roots of the species are vital in traditional use by mixing the powder in bath water to prevent skin infections, body pain, and skin diseases (Kavidayal and Uniyal, 2020;Nautiyal et al., 2001;Negi, 2005;Negi et al., 2003). ...
... Fruit powder Dried fruit powder is used in yoghurt to cure bloody dysentery Chauhan et al. (2016), Manandhar (1995) Fruit Fruits (10 -20 gm) are taken every day to treat heart problem Kharkwal et al. (2018) Fruits Fruits are useful in constipation and anemic patients Pant et al. (2009) Fruit juice Juice used to reduce earache problems Parihaar et al. (2014) Leaf Gingo bioloba & P. crenulata leaves as nervine tonic Dimitri (1972) Leaf Leaf paste used to cure burns Uniyal and Shiva (2005) Stem bark Stem used in menstruation cycle (heavy bleeding) and malarial fever Simoons (1990) Root Root powder mix with water used in bath to prevent skin infections Nautiyal et al. (2001) Root Root powder with boiled water cured body pain Negi et al. (2003) current chapter collected and analyzed the available information related to traditional knowledge, nutritional, phytochemical, pharmacological activities, and propagation methods so that it could serve as the point of information for this species to the diverse stakeholders. ...
... The paste of leaves used in burns (Bisht et al., 2013;Uniyal and Shiva, 2005); leaves are reported to increase diuresis and decrease the urinary concentration of stone-forming elements (Khajuria and Bisht, 2016;Yadav et al., 2011). Stems are beneficial in the menstruation cycle during heavy bleeding and malarial fever (Simoons, 1990). Roots of the species are vital in traditional use by mixing the powder in bath water to prevent skin infections, body pain, and skin diseases (Kavidayal and Uniyal, 2020;Nautiyal et al., 2001;Negi, 2005;Negi et al., 2003). ...
Feeding millions of undernourished people in the Himalayan region depends not only on the increased productivity of a limited number of domesticated crops but would require optimal use of biodiversity. Wild edible plants are an important source of nutritional and alternative food in the region. Among others, Pyracantha crenulata (P. crenulata) is an evergreen shrub considered for nutrients source and medicinal value. The fruits of the species are eaten raw and contain nutritional and nutraceuticals compounds like minerals, vitamins, phenolics, flavonoids, and anthocyanin. In addition the pharmacological analysis revealed many activites such as antiurolithogenic, antiageing, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antihypertensive, and anti-inflammatory. This chapter, therefore, focused on the documentation of traditional knowledge, nutritional and nutraceuticals properties, medicinal value, propagation, and cultivation practices of the P. crenulata.
... The pistachio appears to have spread to China in the 10th century AD [21,116]. While Simoons [120] wrote that the pistachio was cultivated in Linghan by the mid-ninth century AD. The pistachio likely spread from the Iranian Plateau during the Tang Dynasty, when it was consumed as a food and also because there were beliefs that consumption of pistachio nuts was good for general wellbeing and sexual potency [120]. ...
... While Simoons [120] wrote that the pistachio was cultivated in Linghan by the mid-ninth century AD. The pistachio likely spread from the Iranian Plateau during the Tang Dynasty, when it was consumed as a food and also because there were beliefs that consumption of pistachio nuts was good for general wellbeing and sexual potency [120]. Within East Asia today, the pistachio is only cultivated in Xinjiang [121]. ...
The pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) is commercially cultivated in semi-arid regions around the globe. Archaeobotanical, genetic, and linguistic data suggest that the pistachio was brought under cultivation somewhere within its wild range, spanning southern Central Asia, northern Iran, and northern Afghanistan. Historically, pistachio cultivation has primarily relied on grafting, suggesting that, as with many Eurasian tree crops, domestication resulted from genetically locking hybrids or favored individuals in place. Plant domestication and dispersal research has largely focused on weedy, highly adaptable, self-compatible annuals; in this discussion, we present a case study that involves a dioecious long-lived perennial—a domestication process that would have required a completely different traditional ecological knowledge system than that utilized for grain cultivation. We argue that the pistachio was brought under cultivation in southern Central Asia, spreading westward by at least 2000 years ago (maybe a few centuries earlier to the mountains of modern Syria) and moved eastward only at the end of the first millennium AD. The seeds remain rare in archaeological sites outside its native range, even into the mid-second millennium AD, and may not have been widely cultivated until the past few hundred years.
... Perhaps one of the most notable factors influencing Chinese diaspora food practices in North America was a significant increase in the availability of meat relative to the nineteenth-century rural Chinese agricultural villages where most migrants came from. Historical documentation of late-nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century villages in Guangdong indicates that fresh meat, and especially chicken and pork, was prohibitively expensive and typically only consumed in villages for holidays and special occasions (Anderson and Anderson 1977;Anderson 1988;Buck 1956;Simoons 1991;Spence 1977). However, small numbers of both chickens and pigs, perhaps the two most popular domesticated meat animals in southern China, were regularly husbanded by villagers for eventual sale to supplement family and village incomes (Anderson 1988:177). ...
... As with pig husbandry at Point Alones, the apparent absence of evidence for fisheries byproduct consumption by chickens is curious. Given the long history of chicken husbandry, for both meat and eggs, at the village and household level in southern China and at Chinese diaspora sites across western North American (e.g., Anderson 1988;Democrat 1870, cited in Lydon 1985Red Bluff News 1899;Simoons 1991), it would be surprising if chickens were not raised within the Point Alones community throughout its occupation. Thus, the absence of evidence for marine foods in chicken diets at Point Alones indicates that, like pigs, these animals were likely kept away from marine food products in some way. ...
This study uses isotopic analyses to explore how new railroad transportation systems influenced Chinese diaspora meat sourcing and animal husbandry in the nineteenth-century American West. Isotopic compositions of animal bone collagen (n=224) demonstrate tremendous dietary diversity for pigs and chickens, across both C3-to-C4 and omnivory continuums, reflecting variable reliance on local (C3) plants versus use of imported maize (C4) feed and maize-fed and/or finished animals from the Midwest. We argue that these results highlight both the cultural importance of Chinese chicken husbandry and the widespread impact that the Transcontinental Railroad had on food supply across the American West.
... Buddha's hand was familiar to Europeans and remained the only representative of the citrus there until the seventh century BC (Talon et al. 2019). The earliest references to Buddha's hand appear in the Vajasaneyi, a collection of sacred Hindu texts called Yajur-Veda written in India around the eighth century BC (Simoons 1991). A large number of studies suggest that the primary center of origin of citrus is south and south-east Asia, particularly the region extending from northeast India, eastward through the Malayan Archipelago to China and Japan, and southward to Australia (Tanaka 1958;Swingle and Reece 1967;Scora 1975). ...
... Chinese considered the citron to be a symbol of happiness, wealth, and longevity. They prized it for New Year's gifts and placed it as an offering at the shrines of household gods in their homes, or on altars at their temples, and as an alternative to incense, to perfume the air (Tolkowsky 1938;Simoons 1991). The elite group of families displays the citron in their households on platters and mats as rare fruits from a distant quarter. ...
Citrus medicaL.:Aurantium medicum (L.) M. Gómez; Citreum vulgare Torn. ex Mill.; Citrus x aurantium subvar. amilbed Engl.; Citrus x aurantium subvar. ckakotra Engl.; Citrus x limon (L.) Osbeck; Citrus x limon var. digitata Risso; Citrus x limonia (L.) Osbeck; Citrus x limonum Risso; Citrus alata (Tanaka) Tanaka; Citrus cedra Link; Citrus cedrata Raf.; Citrus fragrans Salisb.; Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck; Citrus medica fo. monstrosa Guillaumin; Citrus medica subsp. bajoum H. Perrier; Citrus medica var. alata Tanaka; Citrus medica var. digitata Risso; Citrus medica var. ethrog Engl.; Citrus medica var. limon L.; Citrus medica var. proper Hook. f.; Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis (Hoola van Nooten) Swingle; Citrus odorata Roussel; Citrus sacrodactulis Hoola van Nooten; Citrus tuberosa Mill; Sarcodactilis helicteroides Gaertn.
... Giant salamanders (genus Andrias) are the largest extant amphibians in the world, and representatives of an ancient salamander clade retaining plesiomorphic features such as external fertilization (Browne et al., 2014), a large number of chromosomes (Morescalchi et al., 1977;Sessions, 2008), and separated angular in mandible (Noble, 1931), as also seen in its sister group, hynobiid salamanders. Giant salamanders have long been treated as medicinal, edible, and sacred beings both in Japan and China (Kaburaki, 1932;Simoons, 1991), and the natural populations of the giant salamanders have declined due to habitat destruction and overhunting. This led to the inclusion of the genus Andrias in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which prohibits international trade. ...
For a long time, it has been debated whether the two giant salamanders, Andrias japonicus from Japan and A. davidianus from China, are conspecific or heterospecific. Morphological information about their diagnostic characteristics has been limited, without considering sexual dimorphism and/or body size variation. Recently, A. davidianus, which was introduced into Japan sometime in the past, has been found to hybridize with A. japonicus in situ. Taxonomic identification of individuals involved in this unusual breeding is made based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA analyses. This identification method is time-consuming and costly. Thus, developing easier methods of identification, such as utilizing external morphological characteristics, is urgently needed. In this study, we verify previous descriptions showing that A. davidianus has a longer relative tail length than A. japonicus, and the tubercles on the lower jaw and throat were present in both sexes of A. davidianus. In addition, many head characteristics were found to be relatively larger in A. davidianus than in A. japonicus, which were new distinguishing characters. These morphological differences help support the idea that these are heterospecific lineages. In hybrids, relative values of head width and tail length were larger than those of A. japonicus, and the tubercles on their lower jaw and throat were present as in A. davidianus, suggesting that the hybrids and A. davidianus are distinguishable from A. japonicus.
... In Shanghai, a popular dish is seaweed fried rice and the cold appetizer 'Hot and sour seaweed,' with chopped seaweed in a soy sauce, vinegar, chili oil, and garlic mixture. Strips of softened agar (extracted from specific red seaweeds, e.g., Gracilaria spp.) appear in salads or along with other dishes, e.g., with chicken (Simoons, 1991). ...
... There is some discussion about when watermelon was first grown in China. Dane and Liu (2007) stated that watermelon was introduced to India in the 9th century, and to China by the 11th century; Simoons (2014) states that watermelon arrived in China "only in the twelfth century"; and the most complete account is in Life of Guang Zhou (Anonymous, 2021), which explains that al- Thus, the simplest historical scenario is that WMV originated as a virus infecting various plant species (A. altissima, A.a rosea, P. ginseng, etc.) in north China at least 2000 years ago during the Zhou and Han dynasties (411 bc and 4.4 bc), but moved from non-cucurbit hosts to watermelon around 1000 years ago when watermelon was first grown as a crop in northern China during the Five Dynasties (907-960 ce). ...
Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) is a potyvirus and a member of the bean common mosaic virus (BCMV) lineage. It is one of the most economically important viral pathogens of cucurbits worldwide and was first reported in the Czech Republic in 2011 from serological surveys (2005–2011). In this study, we confirmed this identification by determining the complete coding regions of five Czech WMV isolates using high-throughput sequencing and Sanger sequencing (MW188031; OP585149–OP585152), together with the coat protein (CP) genes of 26 additional isolates. Phylogenies were made from these and more than 128 genomes or 128 CP genes from GenBank. They showed that the Czech isolates were most closely related to other European isolates, but, surprisingly, 96.2% of the genomes were recombinant. The nonrecombinant sequences mostly came from basal isolates, all originating from China, and some from unusual hosts (Ailanthus altissima, Alcea rosea and Panax ginseng). The complete WMV genomes form three phylogenetic clades, two of them small and basal, and the third includes all other isolates. Comparative dating suggests that the basal Chinese isolates are descendants of a potyvirus population infecting various dicotyledonous plant species in China at least 2000 years ago. WMV became a crop pathogen around 1000 years ago, a few years after watermelon was taken to northern China and first grown as a crop during the Five Dynasties (907–960 CE).
... Algae are autotrophic and grow in aquatic environments using carbon dioxide and solar energy [23,32]. CV is a single-celled organism as a member of the algae family characterized by spherical shape and micro-size diameter, which contains membrane, pyrenoid, chloroplast, cytoplasm, and nucleus, as well as numerous amounts of nutraceuticals as an important food source for humans [ Fig. 1] [33,34]. CV is produced in many countries, including China, the United States, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Japan, and exported and sold internationally as a functional food and dietary supplement [35,36]. ...
High incidence rate of cardiovascular disease (CVD) make this condition as an important public health concern. The use of natural products in treating this chronic condition has increased in recent years one of which is the single-celled green alga Chlorella. Chlorella vulgaris (CV) has been studied for its potential benefits to human health due to its biological and pharmacological features. CV contains a variety of macro and micronutrients, including proteins, omega-3, polysaccharides, vitamins, and minerals. Some studies have indicated that taking CV as a dietary supplement can help reduce inflammation and oxidative stress. In some studies, cardiovascular risk factors that are based on hematological indices did not show these benefits, and no molecular mechanisms have been identified. This comprehensive review summarized the research on the cardio-protective benefits of chlorella supplementation and the underlying molecular processes.
... These studies, to some extent, support the findings of this study on Dieting and Bulimia and Food Preoccupation among young Polish and Chinese women. Moreover, sociologically and anthropologically, eating has a vital social function in Chinese culture, and Chinese adults may overeat or feel pressure from others to gain weight in order to maintain relationships and celebrate important events [51,52]. However, the eating patterns of European and American adults with individualistic cultural values are more akin to a "functional diet", with a focus on personal experience and achieving maximum results (e.g., providing nutrition, satisfying hunger) at minimal cost (e.g., saving time) [53,54]. ...
The main aims of this study were to determine which sociocultural predictors of obligatory exercise are universal for young men or women and which are specific to particular cultural conditions (Polish or Chinese culture) and to examine the mediating role of eating attitudes. A cross-sectional study was conducted among Poles (n = 259) and Chinese (n = 208) aged 18 to 30. Descriptive and comparative statistics, Spearman’s rho, and multiple regression analysis were used. The main analyses showed that Internalization—Athlete was a common positive direct predictor of obligatory exercise among young Polish and Chinese women; Information and Internalization—Athlete were only specific direct positive predictors of obligatory exercise in young Chinese men; some variables in eating attitudes mediated the development of obligatory exercise in young Polish and Chinese men and women and indicated that there were cross-cultural differences. In understanding obligatory exercise among young people, attention should be paid to their sociocultural attitudes toward the body and eating, and cultural and gender differences need to be considered.
... Indiscriminate harvest caused widespread soil erosion and desertification, leading to a ban on harvest. In addition to Nostoc, consumption of some other colonial cyanobacteria has been reported in China and Taiwan (Simoons, 1991). ...
... Spinach basically spreads into two different directions one to Southern and Eastern Asia and another to Africa, the Mediterranean region, and Northern Europe, from where it was introduced to USA. These two regions applied two different modes of selection pressure that results in the regeneration of two types of cultivars: (1) Asian type and (2) Western type (Simoons 1990; Van der Vossen 2004). Asian cultivars have narrow, hastate, smooth leaves with long petioles, whereas western cultivars have round expanding leaves with savoy leaf texture (Van der Vossen 2004). ...
The nutritious leafy vegetable, spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) having diploid chromosome numbers, 2n = 2× = 12, is a versatile wind-pollinated crop which is rich in health-promoting minerals and vitamins. Majority of the spinach plants are dioecious in nature and it is gaining popularity throughout the world owing to nutrient content of this economically important cool season leafy crop. This crop is effected by several devastating biotic and abiotic stresses which need to be managed using the modern biotechnological tools. In this context, the breeding for overcoming these problems have gained momentum in the post-genomics era. Hence, numerous quantitative trait loci (QTLs), genes, and molecular markers linked with different phenotypic traits like leaf shape, flowering traits, nutritional traits, etc., have been identified in the past decades. But, still there is an urgent need to breed spinach for decreasing the anti-nutritional factors like oxalates, consumption of which can cause health issues. In the post-genomics era, plethora of genomic and sequence resources of spinach have been made available, which have the potential to accelerate spinach breeding program. Development of downy mildew-resistant cultivars of Spinach via introgression of NBS-LRR (nucleotide-binding site leucine-rich repeat) genes from wild allies have been made successful. In the past decade, the genomics have provided insight into sex evolution in spinach and various candidate miRNAs (micro RNAs) related to sex forms in spinach have been identified. In this chapter, we have provided detailed overview of progress made in spinach genetic improvement in the post-genomics era.
... Job's tears is considered a cereal of minor importance currently cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics, including China, India, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia (e-Prosea), and also on a small scale in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan (Simoons 1991). The domesticated form (C. lacryma-jobi var. ...
Rice is the most important cereal in Southeast Asia today. Archaeobotanical evidence in mainland Southeast Asia suggests that this has been the case over the past three and a half millennia. Archaeologists have tended to emphasize the central role of rice in the origins and dispersal of agriculture, as well as how irrigated rice formed the foundation of states throughout mainland Southeast Asia. However, there are many other cereals that are traditionally cultivated in Southeast Asia or adjacent parts of China and India. This chapter provides an overview of the early history and past distribution of cereals of Southeastern Asia, highlighting how little is known about many of them, and a summary of the current evidence for origins and spread of rice and foxtail millet, the best known cereals from archaeobotanical evidence in Southeast Asia.
... N. commune често се консумира в някои азиатски държави и Латинска Америка (Johnson et al., 2008). Освен това N. flagelliforme, N. muscorum и N. sphaeroides са използвани в кулинарната традиция на Китай от столетия (Simoons, 1991;Gao, 1998;Zhou, 2017). Това намира потвърждение и в публикации на Johnston (1970) (Dodds et al., 1995). ...
Микробните и вирусните инфекции водят както до проблеми с общественото здраве, така и до икономически значими загуби (напр. когато засягат земеделски култури и съответно хранителната промишленост). Затова борбата срещу тях е едно от големите предизвикателства пред научната общност. Според План за дейността на Национален референтен център „Инфекции, предавани с храни и води“ (НРЦ-ИПХВ) от 2021 г., „инфекциозните заболявания, предавани с храни и води, са световен здравен проблем и по честота са на второ място след респираторните инфекции“. В документа се отбелязва, че най-често заболяванията на стомашно-чревния тракт „се предават по орален път чрез консумация на контаминирани храни“.
Към този момент човечеството притежава ограничен брой лекарствени средства за системно приложение. Основен проблем е появата на щамове, които са резистентни към един или повече от използваните антибиотични лекарства и други медикаменти. Справянето с резистентни бактериални щамове води до необходимост от търсене на нови лекарствени продукти. Една от причините за възникването на резистентни бактерии е неконтролируемото използване на антибиотици не само за лечение на хора, но също така във ветеринарната практика и в земеделието. Така попадането и влагането на лекарства в хранителни продукти може да има последствие върху човешкото здраве. Затова въпреки, че проблемите с живота и здравето на хората винаги е от първостепенно значение, учените по цял свят обръщат не по-малко внимание и върху проблемите свързани с качеството на храните.
Намаляването или дори загубата на добив на селскостопанската продукция, често се дължи на различни причини. Една от тях е липсата на достатъчно ефективна защита на растенията от болести, причинявани от фитопатогенни бактерии, наречени „бактериози“. Пестицидите са едно от основните средства за борба с вредителите в земеделието, но основен недостатък на използването им е това, че влияят неблагоприятно върху околната среда и прекомерната им употреба може да крие риск за здравето на животни и хора. Така напр. сярата и сероваровият разтвор са най-често използваните за борба срещу струпясването при ябълката, но те са фитотоксични за растенията и въпреки, че не са канцерогенни, могат да предизвикат респираторни проблеми при хора. Някои учени твърдят, че в резултат на продължително въздействие на тези продукти са се увеличили заболявания като Паркинсон, диабет тип 2, някои видове рак, ендокринни нарушения, невротоксичност, астма и дори затлъстявания. Според EPA 2010 повече от 70 пестицида са класифицирани като потенциално канцерогенни. Околната среда също е засегната от използването на синтетични пестициди, които се натрупват в почвата и замърсяват подпочвените води.
В момента по света се наблюдават множество тревожни тенденции - значителното увеличаване на замърсяването с пестициди, от една страна, и появата на все по-резистентни бактериални щамове предизвикващи инфекции, от друга. Към това може да се прибави и опасността от кръстосаните патогени – човешки патогени, които се интегрират в растителен или животински микробиом. Бактериите, които контаминират храната, заразяват хората и причиняват хранителни болести като например диария. Заразените храни включват бактерии и бактериални спори, микроскопични гъби, вируси, дрожди и др.
Може да се твърди, че нарастващата резистентност на вредните бактерии увеличава и нуждата от увеличение на употребата на пестициди. Тази зависимост е много тревожна и е напълно възможно да се достигне до много неприятни последици за земеделието. Затова в последните години се увеличи значително интересът към проучванията на биологични ефекти на природни съединения срещу бактериални и/или гъбични инфекции.
... By the early 17th century this could be purchased in London, reaching Europe mostly overland via Russia, under the name "Cardamomum siberiensis" (Watt, 1890). This trade is presumed to have begun in China following the Gansu corridor alongside the trade in tea to Russia (Simoons, 1991). And although in 1601, the Flemish horticulturalist Carolus Clusius was able to buy some star anise in London (Watt, 1890), there seems to be a dearth of archaeobotanical finds for star anise in Europe (Greig, 1996;Livarda, 2011), which is in keeping with its late historical arrival. ...
Maritime trade routes in Southeast Asia date to at least the last millennium BC evidenced by excavations of port‐cities, entrepôts and early coastal polities in Peninsular Thailand, the Mekong Delta and Island Southeast Asia. This trade network intensified over the next millennium and by the fifteenth century, the number of trade goods throughout Medieval Southeast Asia was prolific. The bulk of studied material comprises trade ceramics, particularly in archaeological investigations of shipwreck cargoes which provide information on regional trading patterns. Although ceramic assemblages constitute the bulk of shipwreck cargo, other types of material have also been found, including the spice star anise. In this paper, we focus on the organic contents from two jars found in the Bakau shipwreck dating to the early fifteenth century AD. The finds are significant as this spice (star anise, Illicium verum ) is being transported together with items of high value for trade.
... Nowadays, eating dog meat is considered taboo in many cultures, while it is perfectly acceptable, even considered a delicacy, in other cultures. Cynophagy is a common practice in different regions of the world: Southeast Asia (in the Philippines, there is a typical dish made of dog meat called Asocena), North and South America, the Pacific and in Northern Africa (the Amazigh are known for their custom of eating dogs: Simoons 1991Simoons , 1994. On the other hand, some societies (Hindus, Buddhists, Westerners and Muslims) are anti-dog eating for different reasons and Islamic law forbids dog consumption (The Encyclopaedia of Islam 1999) because it is considered an impure animal. ...
Evidence of dog consumption at the El Portalón de Cueva Mayor site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain) from the Holocene is revealed for the first time. The taxonomical and taphonomical studies of the animal bones from the El Portalón site have been carried out. The morphological and metrical analyses indicate that 130 dog bone remains have been identified from the El Portalón site, including from the Neolithic (NISP = 23), Chalcolithic (Pre-Bell Beaker Chalcolithic and Bell Beaker Chalcolithic) (26), Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age (81). The anthropic evidence encompasses cut marks, fresh bone fractures, human tooth marks and fire modifications, thus constituting clear evidence of cynophagy, at least in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age levels in different contexts (habitat and funerary) from the El Portalón site (Atapuerca, Burgos). Furthermore, the fire alterations on two bone remains from the Neolithic suggest likely dog consumption due to the domestic character of the stratigraphical units where these bone remains were found. The taphonomic evidence suggests that domestic dogs were, at least occasionally, part of the diet of the humans who inhabited the El Portalón site, a fact that might be caused either by food shortages and hunger or as dog meat was considered as a delicacy.
... Raymond Firth indicates that food is used to express and maintain social relations (Firth 1991). Through his research carried out in Taiwan, Wolff (1974) suggests that the Chinese eating behavior is part of the wider social system (Frederick 2003). In the developed society, the dietary difference is fixed by law and etiquette rules, forming a written regulation. ...
China, as one of the oldest civilized regions in the world, has emerged as something of a “new world” because it is working to embrace its essence and heritage and link them to viable economic strategies. In the last 25 years, China has made tremendous strides by doing so. The country and its people have every right to take pride in these accomplishments. With these successes under their belt, many Chinese leaders and intellectuals anticipate continuing growth. China’s plans and strategies are often based on this premise. The U.S. is tremendously interested in the Chinese economy and business environment. China has emerged as a global superpower, and scholars and business people in the U.S. are keenly interested in learning how this will continue to affect them and how they can do business with China. In response to growing interest from international and Asian scholars, North American Business Press is pleased to announce our Modern China Series (MCS) books, the first of such series in the U.S. and has garnered tremendous interest both in the U.S. and around the world.
With our first book reaching stores in September 2011, this initiative aims to develop relationships between NABP and Chinese scholars. They desire to promote their academic and applied business writings to the rest of the world. We have had overwhelming demand for the Modern China Series from authors who would like to publish in the series and people who would like to read the books. Currently, there are ten books published in the series, and, additionally, we have a couple of dozen books that we are considering for the series. The books have been viewed by tens of thousands of people from the U.S. and the rest of the world.
We have published books on several areas revolving around the Chinese business environment. We have a few that focus on the best practices in marketing in China, a couple relating to “best vi practices” in doing business in China, and a few on the outlook of the Chinese economy. The market for the Modern China Series is enormous. Tens of thousands of scholars are keenly interested in the Chinese economy’s continued growth and its implications on the business world. Even more significant are the millions of business people that are interested in the impact that China will continue to have on the global economy. It is difficult to pin down the exact demand for the series, but it Is enormous. We have big plans for growing the Moderns China Series. This can be one of the most significant economic/business series ever produced.
We are very selective with the books we will add to the collection, but we encourage scholars who think they have unique and exciting perspectives on China to submit their books to us. From the readers’ perspective, we are committed to producing high-quality books regularly, so readers should expect a steady stream of insightful books to come out for many years. This initiative is headed by Dr. Robert Tian, a renowned researcher and academic. He spearheads our efforts in partnering with foreign authors and administering day-to-day operations of this series. Dr. Tian, a Vice-President with North American Business Press and Editor of this series, spends much of his time in Beijing, Shanghai, and other Chinese cities, focusing on developing and managing our interests with authors and universities. Below is the list of the books we have published:
Enterprise Strategy: New Horizon, authored by Zhang Xiuyu Governance of Private Enterprises in Modern China, authored by Zhong Qin; The Art of War and Enterprise Strategy Management, authored by Fu Shouzhi; Marketing Issues in Modern China, edited by Robert Guang Tian et al. The Footprints of the Academician authored by Fu Zhouzhi vii Marketing and Economics in Modern China (I) edited by Xiaoguang Qi et al. Marketing and Economics in Modern China (II) edited by Wang Tianjin et al. An Islamic Heritage in China authored by Ma Zhanming China Environmental Anthropology authored by Wang Tianjin, Tian Guang, and Ma Jianfu Can China Rule the New World? Authored by Tian Guang and Chen Gang Critiques on Pan-Marketization authored by Li Cunlin, Liu Hongfei, and Tian Guang Economic and Business Anthropology in China edited by Xiaoguang Qi and Tian Guang China-Mongolia Economic Corridor authored by Eerdun Taoketao, Zhang Zhe, Wang Gang and Wei Lisi Anthropology of Chinese Foodways authored by Tian Guang and Chen Gang.
... Secondary carotenoids, including canthaxanthin and astaxanthin, are biosynthesized by a carotenogenic group of microalgae and incorporated in the lipid globules of plastids. Some crucial amino acids and unsaturated fatty acids, such as arachidonic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, etc., are abundant in algae (Simoons, 1991) (Table 10.1). Microalgae utilize natural light to convert polluted water, CO 2 , and nutrients or growth factors to nutrient-rich biomass, which exhibits an excellent source of proteins, sugars, lipids, and other vital organic components. ...
... Americas. A distinction is often made between two main groups of spinach cultivars, namely Asian-type and Western-type cultivars (Simoons, 1990;Van der Vossen, 2004). At the morphological level, Asian cultivars maintain the narrow, hastate and smooth leaf shape and the long petioles of wild spinach; whereas Western cultivars changed the hastate leaf shape to a round form, while leaves were enlarged and the savoy leaf texture appeared ( Van der Vossen, 2004). ...
Spinach beet or palak is one of the most common leafy vegetables of tropical and subtropical regions and is grown and consumed widely in India. The palak growing Indian States are Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Gujarat. However, it is less popular in the Southern states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Wild forms of Beta vulgaris occur along the shores of the Mediterranean, extending eastwards as far as Indonesia, and westwards along the coasts of the Atlantic up to the Canary Islands and southern Norway. Beta vulgaris grown for its leaves i.e. beet leaf was taken into cultivation in the eastern Mediterranean or the 9th century BC. All the cultivated beets likely originated from wild progenitors of B. vulgaris ssp. maritima. The genus Beta L. (2n=2x=18), of the family Amaranthaceae (formerly Chenopodiaceae) and subfamily Betoideae, is subdivided into four sections Vulgares, Corollinae, Nanae and Procumbents, and further section Vulgares comprised of 3 species i.e. vulgaris, macrocarpa and patura. The predicted genome size of Beta vulgaris is 758 Mb and chromosomes at metaphase exhibit similar morphology. Three subspecies are typically recognised in Beta vulgaris.
... I will argue that its outcome was the invention of the socialist toilet system. My method of tracing the invention here is to see the discursive formation combining the two seemingly separated subjects of production and hygiene, contrasting the linear, methodical narrative of the past where some historians focus on either agriculture (Anderson 1988;Simoons 1991) or hygiene (Zhou 2018). The invention of the socialist toilet system mattered so much to the evolving farming practice of human waste processing, as it constantly took the new shape of the metabolic relationship between people and the land, in thought and practice. ...
How can we feed China? This continual question intersects the human, social, and
economic problems that China has confronted for at least over a century. This project stems from my intellectual and activist concern to reimagine our food future in terms of the challenge of feeding the people and caring for the agricultural environment in China.
Agriculture, which includes peasants, villages and the land, has been an enduring material
and theoretical subject for the Chinese communist agrarian revolution and transformation. Drawing on Chen Kuan-hsing’s Asia as Method (2010), I analyse farming as an evolving social and historical-material practice. This entails a decolonial contextualization in rethinking Chinese modernisation. I propose the concept of farming as method to analyse the shifting conjuncture of food production and consumption within specific historical, social and material conditions—namely from socialist to reformist China. I ground this with empirical data collected during my ethnography of food activism in the Guangdong area.
My thesis is structured by three major moments. First, for the Maoist “long collectivisation” (1950s–70s), I analyse what I call the “socialist toilet system,” which
transformed the ancient practice of recycling human waste into the Maoist mass movement bringing together agricultural productivity and public hygiene. I argue that this provides a metabolic account for understanding the shifting condition of local and geopolitics under the Cold War to demonstrate how food and agriculture became an ideological battlefield. Second, I show that the movement of agrarian renaissance in South China countered the reformist development, which resulted in pressing food issues such as the decline of farming labour, widespread environmental pollution, and food insecurity. These attempts for revitalising “traditional” farming knowledge becomes a cultural method for rural advocacy and later for food activism of community-supported agriculture (CSA) to consider peasants’ Mao-era experience, grain production and collective need. Third, I investigate a participatory method for forming producer-consumer connections in response to the recurring food scares in China, which highlights a rural-urban nexus fueled by the convivial actions of consumers. I focus on the articulation of a “convivial technique,” a participatory method that recognises and negotiates responsibilities among different actors caring for the agricultural commons. I conclude that farming as method provides a historically grounded, socially engaged, and ecologically concerned approach to think about our food present and future.
... Calcium, molybdenum, potassium, copper, magnesium, iron, sulfur, zinc, selenium, iodine, cobalt, sodium, manganese, and nitrogen are all enriched in these species. Algae are also rich in omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids as well as essential amino acids [92][93][94] [95]. Candidates for vaccines have been developed against malaria, bacteria, and viruses, and some communicable diseases or nonviral diseases have been studied in depth. ...
Microalgae and cyanobacteria have sparked a lot of interest due to their potential in various industries like biorefineries, biopharmaceuticals, food supplements, nutraceuticals, and other high-value products. Polysaccharides, vitamins, proteins, enzymes, and steroids are valuable products isolated from microalgae and cyanobacteria and potentially used in health and biomedical applications. Bioactive compounds derived from microalgae and cyanobacteria exhibit various pharmaceutical properties like antibacterial, anticancer, antiviral, antialgal, and antioxidant. From the properties listed above, the research for novel antibiotics has become particularly appropriate. In addition, the possible emergence of resistance against pathogens, as well as the potential decline in antibiotic efficacy, has prompted researchers to look for a new source of antibiotics. Microalgae and cyanobacteria have indicated a great and unexplored potential among these sources. For this reason, microalgae and cyanobacteria have been highlighted for their efficiency in different industrial sectors, as well as for their potential uses in the betterment of human and environmental health. This review gives an overview of bioactive compounds and metabolites with several biological properties isolated from microalgae and cyanobacteria for treating different animal and human diseases.
... A locally domesticated cereal in Southeast Asia may be job's tears (Coix lachryma-jobi), a cereal of minor importance currently cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics, including China, India, the Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia, and also on a small scale in Korea, Japan and Taiwan (Arora 1977;Simoons 1991;Jiang et al. 2008). Despite speculation that its cultivation in Southeast Asia might have preceded rice (Li 1970: 12;Simoons 1991: 81), this is not borne out by the available archaeobotanical evidence. ...
... The purpose is to tell that they conveyed the message of the son of man to Petara through the chicken. Simoons (1991) asserts that "chicken is not only used for culinary purposes but to obtain supplies in chicken fighting activities and for purification or divination purposes" (p. 298). ...
This study aimed to identify the language of strata and expression in the construction of sampi amongst the Iban community in Sarawak, Malaysia. The descriptive qualitative
approach was used to analysed eight cultivation prayers (sampi umai) taken from the book Sampi Enggau Biau arranged by Robert Menua Saleh and Janang Ensiring. Construction of sampi explained by content analysis technique. The finding showed the strata of language in the introduction contained initial call, salutation, and self-recognition. The body of sampi contained purpose, call, statement of offering (piring),
commands, and dialogue with gods (Petara). The sampi ended with a blessing prayer. Construction of sampi used expressions of calling, statement, requesting, asking, and answering. The implication of the study showed that the language of strata
cannot be fully summarized as the use of language depending on the experience and expertise of the bards. The expression that has been used is affected by the skills of the bard in addressing the language of strata.
... This showed that the turbidity of water is increasing. Turbidity depends on the clarity of water, the clearer the water the lower the turbidity and the darker the water the higher the turbidity which affects the distribution of aquatic organism [15] . Turbidity usually occurs in most surface water as a result of suspended clay, silts, organic and inorganic matter, planktons and other micro-organisms. ...
Abstract
The distribution and abundance of microalgae in the Rivers are controlled by a wide range of physical, chemical and biological factors. The study was aimed to determine the physico-chemical properties as well as the relative abundance and species diversity of Algae in Gundutse River Kano, Northern Nigeria for a period of 3 month (April – June, 2019). Surface water sample for the study were collected from three (3) different sampling (A, B and C) sites based on the depth of the water and analysis of water was conducted either in situ or transported to the laboratory for further analysis. The physicochemical properties of the water were determined using standard method while the algal species were determined and identified using microscope. The result of physicochemical properties of the water showed that the temperature, pH, turbidity and electric conductivity ranges from 25.13 to 25.800C, 7.3 to 7.7, 140 to 155 NTU and 617 to 628μs/cm respectively. The average values of nitrate, phosphate, Dissolve Oxygen and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) of the water ranges from 1.80 to 2.13 mg/L 1.0 to 1.16 mg/L, 3.73 mg/L to 4.10 mg/L, 1.96 to 2.23 mg/L respectively. From the result a total of twenty (20) different algal species were identified belonging to three (3) different classes namely; Chlorophyceae (40%), Bacillariophyceae (50%) and Cyanophyceae (10%). It is concluded that the occurrence and abundance of green algae species in the river is closely related to the physicochemical characteristics of the water.
Keywords: algae, gundutse, relative abundance, river, species diversity
... This herbal medicinal belief might explain the importance and ubiquity of garlic and ginger as essential ingredients in both the Chinese culinary culture and nontraditional medicine practice [28,29]. Ultimately, this adaptability and intercultural food exchange approach has shaped and facilitated the evolution of the contemporary Chinese culinary culture and led to adopting nontraditional eating patterns such as consuming Western-style fast foods, as the present study aims to examine [30,31]. ...
Background
Traditional Chinese food has been believed to be closely associated with affecting salubrious health outcomes, enhancing longevity, and interoperating with traditional Chinese medicine. Over the past several decades, traditional Chinese food has been going through significant evolution and qualitative transition of nontraditional eating behaviors. This food transition and eating pattern transformation are propelled by China’s vast population size, rapid socioeconomic development, lifestyle changes, and global influence. Inevitably, these dietary shifts are having a considerable impact not only on public health in China but also globally.
Purpose
The purpose of the present study is to examine the socioeconomic and health effects of the shift from consuming traditional Chinese food into increasingly consuming Western-style processed foods, fast foods, saturated fats, snacks, sugary beverages, and eating out more often than the traditional home cooking. This study also investigates the prevalence, health effects, and sociodemographic implications of food transition and adopting Western-style eating patterns.
Methods
Cross-sectional analysis of primary data collected from 1292 adult male and female participants was performed. Participants responded to a cross-sectional self-administered paper-and-pencil-based food history and beverage intake questionnaire. Chi-square analyses were employed to analyze data obtained from the nonparametric variables, whereas t tests were performed to analyze data obtained from the parametric variables.
Results
There were significant differences in snack food shopping distributions between gender and marital status factors. Females were more likely to purchase more snacks than males, whereas singles were more likely to purchase more snacks than married. Pooled data suggest that 79.67% of the respondents consumed fast food with wide-ranging frequencies. There were significant differences between water and all other typical drinks, as water recorded the highest consumption rate by 65.31%. There were significant differences between the three meal-eating locations, as 48.45% of the respondents were more likely to consume most of their daily meals at home, whereas, combined, 51.55% were more likely to consume most of their daily meals out-of-home. Baking food scored 77.94% compared with all other food preparation methods. Overall healthy eating behaviors results indicated that 49.67% of the respondents consumed a healthy diet most of the time, whereas combined, 50.33% either consumed a healthy diet sometimes or not at all.
Conclusions
Traditional Chinese eating practices have been transitioning into nontraditional eating behaviors that may be associated with a multitude of chronic non-communicable diseases and high mortality rates. As these rates have been projected to continue rising, there is a need to focus on introducing public health promotion policies, including health education and lifestyle-enhancing initiatives aimed at promoting nutritive balance and adopting healthier eating behaviors. These policies can be tailored to support the most affected groups among the lower- and middle-income Chinese, as well as similar populations in developing countries.
... The first western description of Chinese giant salamanders during the 19th century observed that 'such animals are a valuable alimentary resource for the inhabitants of the country' (Blanchard, 1871), and exploitation both for local consumption and for the domestic luxury food market occurred throughout the 20th century (Cunningham et al., 2016;Dai et al., 2009;Huang, 1982;Liu, 1950;Simoons, 1991;Sowerby, 1925aSowerby, , 1925bWang et al., 2004). The use of giant salamanders in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been documented for over 2000 years (Strassberg, 2002), with a wide range of perceived medicinal benefits (He et al., 2018). ...
Determining the dynamics and sustainability of human interactions with threatened species is essential to inform evidence‐based conservation, but data can be challenging to collect across large areas and multiple user groups.
Chinese giant salamanders Andrias spp. are critically depleted across China. Wild populations were exploited during the 20th century, and more recently to support a large‐scale farming industry. However, robust data remain largely unavailable on the timing of population declines in relation to changing human pressures, on primary drivers of exploitation, or on the effectiveness of conservation legislation.
We conducted a series of large‐scale interview surveys across the range of giant salamanders in China, targeting potential rural and urban user groups, and stakeholders involved with giant salamander exploitation and policy management (comprising 2,932 rural households, 66 salamander farms, 115 county government officials and 835 urban consumers).
Giant salamander populations were probably declining from at least the 1980s due to exploitation for food, and negative cultural values associated with these animals have not prevented rural consumption. There has been a major escalation in exploitation following the establishment of a large‐scale giant salamander farming industry in the 2000s. Our results demonstrate wide‐scale and largely unregulated illegal hunting to stock farms at a country‐wide scale in order to support demand by urban consumers for high‐prestige rare meat. We estimate there were at least 42,000 wild‐caught breeding adult giant salamanders and 164,000 wild‐caught subadults in farms across China at the time of our survey.
Salamander farming probably poses unsustainable pressure on giant salamander populations. Existing legislation has clearly proved ineffective at preventing the stocking of farms with wild‐caught animals, and our findings highlight an important gap in the effectiveness of China's conservation protection for some of its highest‐priority threatened species. Tackling this problem will likely require multiple coordinated approaches, including enforcement of legislation, increased penalties for removing giant salamanders from the wild, permanent identification of captive‐bred giant salamanders, and consumer‐focused interventions to reduce urban demand.
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
... The similar activity of domoic and kainic acids is due to their related structure with glutamic acid, which alters the function of some ion channels [45,47]. At the dose of 5 to 10 mg, the domoic and kainic acids can permit the expulsion of roundworms without causing any side-effects in the infected hosts [23,48]. Domoic acid may be concentrated in marine seafood, such as oysters, mussels and crustaceans. ...
The anthelmintic properties and composition of an Italian traditional anthelmintic remedy based on a red algae mixture (RAE) was assessed using the egg hatch test (EHT). The ability of different dilutions (1.0, 5.0, 50, or100%) of RAE was determined and compared with the positive and negative controls against gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) of donkeys. The experiment was performed in triplicate. Data were analysed using the ANOVA and Tukey test. In the mixture, Palisada tenerrima, Laurencia intricata and Laurencia spp. red algae were identified. The 100% RAE was able to totally inhibit the egg hatch, showing an efficacy comparable (P < 0.05) to that of the reference drug (98.7%). An egg hatch reduction of 89.5, 43.7, and 23.4% was observed at 50, 5 and 1% dilutions, respectively. In conclusion, RAE was able to inhibit the egg hatch of GIN of donkeys in a concentration-dependent manner with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.968, corroborating with its anthelmintic effect.
The chapter discusses how Chinese food fits into China's overall soft power strategy. How Chinese food has been employed in cultural exchange programs, diplomatic initiatives, and as a tourist attraction are some of the topics covered. The chapter then goes on to offer ways in which China might make its culinary soft power strategy more effective and long-lasting by analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of employing Chinese cuisine as a soft power tool. Policymakers, cultural diplomats, and business leaders in China should consider the implications of the findings, which emphasize the importance of Chinese food in China's soft power strategy. China's cultural and historical traditions can be shared with the world through the promotion of Chinese food, which also has the added benefits of boosting the economy and fostering cross-cultural understanding.
We analyze multi-scalar social, economic, and policy dynamics of shark fin production and consumption through Hong Kong, the world's leading shark fin entrepôt, and U.S. Mid-Atlantic artisanal fisheries in New Jersey (NJ), a U.S. state that enacted a shark-fin retail ban in 2021. Trade statistics point to a rise in shark fin circulation to Hong Kong in recent years supplied through global pathways of production. Global discourses of overconsumption and shark finning in Asia have shaped U.S. state environmental policies banning shark fin retail. However, interviews with shark fin retailers and consumers in Hong Kong point not to undifferentiated Asian consumption, but instead indicate gendered, classed, and intergenerational dynamics that undergird consumption and bear on production elsewhere. New Jersey fisheries, once an exporter to Hong Kong, enacted a statewide shark fin retail ban in response to global defaunation and anxieties related to Asian fishing and consumption practices. Interviews and focus group discussions illustrate how the ban has resulted in a practice artisanal fishers call "reverse shark-finning," i.e., the discarding of fins post-landing. Moreover, local regulations neglect artisanal fishers' knowledge and capability to identify shark species at sea. The findings show how the totalizing ban diminishes economic returns but does not reduce total shark catches in the artisanal sector. To test fishers' knowledge at sea, the study uses a mitochondrial DNA barcoding method on post-landing shark fins (n = 47) to compare genetic identification with fishers' visual species identification. The findings illustrate artisanal fishers' knowledge is sufficient to accurately identify the shark species they catch. These findings are significant for environmental policies, biodiversity conservation, and global-local relations of production and consumption. We argue that more targeted efforts that take socioeconomic dynamics into account are needed to affect consumption, while more holistic policies that examine impacts rather than blanket bans may be more effective on the production and conservation side. Ecologically sustainable and socioeconomically sound shark conservation practices, therefore, require multi-scalar interdisciplinary and dialectical analyses of social, economic, and policy dynamics.
Citron (Citrus medica L.) is the type species of the genus Citrus, one of the primary species of cultivated citrus, and a parent or ancestor of the commercially important acid citrus fruits. Southwestern China is a crucial center of origin and diversity for citron. The diversity of this species in China is extensive, but poorly documented until recently. Prized for its fragrance, citron played an important role in Chinese art and culture. Today, citron is grown in most of the warmer citrus‐producing areas of China, and is used in Chinese traditional medicine, ornamental pot culture, and for human consumption as both fresh and processed products. In Chinese traditional medicine, dried citron is used as a tonic, to regulate Qi, the life force. Citrons are classified by fruit shape as either common (nonfingered) or fingered. In most of China, fingered citrons predominate because they are more suited to cultivation for medicinal and ornamental uses. Typically, common citrons grown in China have locules in which juice vesicles are absent, or are very scanty and rudimentary. ‘Ning’er Giant’, typically weighing 3–5 kg, sometimes reaching 8–10 kg, may be the world’s largest citrus cultivar. Fingered citron trees vary in stature, cold hardiness, flower color, and other significant horticultural characteristics; the fruits vary in size, shape, number and thickness of fingers, proportion of fruits that are open or closed, and the point on the fruit at which the carpels become distinct. The distinctive forms of many named cultivars reflect different genotypes. There also exist in China genotypes that are intermediate in morphology between common and fingered citron. Putatively “wild” citron trees producing small fruits grow in forests, in semi‐wild margins between natural and cultivated areas, and in private gardens in the subtropical forests of western and southern Yunnan. Scientists in China and elsewhere have paid increasing attention to citron germplasm resources during recent years.
Parasites have been infecting humans throughout our evolution. When complex societies developed, the greater population density provided new opportunities for parasites to spread. In this interdisciplinary volume, the author brings his expertise in medicine, archaeology and history to explore the contribution of parasites in causing flourishing past civilizations to falter and decline. By using cutting edge methods, Mitchell presents the evidence for parasites that infected the peoples of key ancient civilizations across the world in order to understand their impact upon those populations. This new understanding of the archaeological and historical evidence for intestinal worms, ectoparasites, and protozoa shows how different cultures were burdened by contrasting types of diseases depending upon their geographical location, endemic insects, food preferences and cultural beliefs.
What can Pekin duck tell us about diaspora and settler colonialism? In this paper we answer this question by introducing “eating dialectically,” inspired by community activist Grace Lee Bogg’s understandings of “thinking dialectically” and her challenge for us to “grow our souls” in the context of many crises we continually face. We focus on how Pekin duck is consumed and produced within the Greater Toronto Area. This piece offers three duck meals to ruminate on often ignored connections between diasporic foodways in multicultural cities and the rural areas that provide them ingredients. We present and troubleshoot a practice of “eating dialectically” which aims not only to raise critical food consciousness but also push us all to reimagine ourselves, our futures, and the foods that feed our souls anew. We conclude by briefly discussing the limitations of eating dialectically and our abilities to reimagine ourselves and our food futures.
On the other side of Hubei, to the south of Dongting lake, is Hunan Province, thus its name “south of the lake” that goes back to the Tang dynasty. Humans have inhabited Hunan going back 18,000 years, and have also been cultivating rice there for some 10,000 years. Often associated with its spicy cuisine, Hunanese cooking has heavily relied upon a relatively recent import from the New World, the chili pepper. Hunan is also home to Mao Zedong, the most consequential ruler of China since Qin Shihuangdi. It was also in Hunan where a significant player, Marshal Peng Dehuai, discovered firsthand the ravages of Mao’s disastrous Great Leap Forward (1958–62), and his criticism of Mao Zedong that followed was the proximal cause of the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). Being somewhat remote from the more economically vibrant regions along the southeastern coast, it is for this reason that a significant number of China’s “floating populations” from Hunan spend much (if not all) of their lives working and living outside Hunan province. One can infer this based on the discrepancy in numbers between Hubei’s census figures and its official household (hukou) registered persons.
Guangdong, China’s most populous and, arguably, its most dynamic province, was a key conduit for business with the outside world in the nineteenth century via its capital of Guangzhou City (“Canton”). Once considered a southern backwater for disgraced imperial bureaucrats and other undesirables, Guangdong has since developed into a province of unique and prosperous character. In addition to having played a key role in mercantile trade internationally, not to mention the ignoble trade in opium, Guangzhou was home to the violent uprising of the Taiping Rebellion in the mid-nineteenth century. Then, 50 years later, led by Guangdong’s most famous son, Sun Yat-sen, the province was the springboard for the 1911 revolution that overthrew millennia of imperial rule and created modern China. Now an economic powerhouse, Guangdong Province famously served as a key test base for free enterprise and capitalism, helping to bring mainland China out of a moribund, Maoist quagmire into a modern, world-class superpower. Furthermore, the dynamism of Guangdong is reflected in the patterns and growth of its population: with an official hukou family registered population of just over 95 million, and a resident population of over 126 million (based on the 2020 census), a significant number of China’s “floating population” is to be found amongst Guangdong’s economically vibrant cities, notably Shenzhen.
With the rapid development of society and improvement of material conditions, people begin to focus on internal needs, claiming more complicatedly about the social value of food and the way it presents. The meaning of food not only stays at the material level, but is more of an internal symbol of a regional. Its symbolic meaning reflects the internal culture of the region and the complex social and relationship between the local region and other regions. This research involves service design thinking into the research process of sustainable development of food culture in Zhenze Region of Suzhou, China, focusing on how service design can meet the challenge of complex social development issues, and how to deal with the obstacles of food inheritance and innovation under the background of sustainable development. Specifically, the structural relationship of service design participating in the development of regional food has been combed, and the process model of discovery - exploration - opportunity point - proposal - experiment - execution is provided for the construction of regional food system in China, while playing the role of service design in this process. Furthermore, this paper explores the value of food service design from the perspective of social sustainability, promotes and expands a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of regional, explores the relationship between regional and food, deconstructs and reconstructs the various possibilities of regional food, social sustainability and people. We emphasize the ability and creativity of service design to solve the development issues of regional characteristic food, establish short chain communication between people and regional space, meanwhile, push forward the upgraded food innovation, convey more diversified value significance, and promote the sustainable development of society.KeywordsRegional food cultureSocial sustainabilityService designFood designDesign value
It is commonly asserted that Chinese diets before the market and production reforms of the 1980s contained little or no meat. Yet this nearly universal assumption remains untested: Unlike other forms of material consumption, the question of meat in Chinese diets has received almost no systematic attention from historians. Focusing on the early twentieth century, this article examines who in China ate meat, and how meat consumption was shaped by regional and household patterns. It combines insights from three sorts of data. First, Japanese price surveys from the 1920s show a high degree of variation in the preference for one type of meat over others, and the price availability of meat versus wages or other food products. Second, production data, including slaughterhouse tallies and industry estimates of animal by-products show the seasonality of animal slaughter and the vast scale and dispersed geography of China’s livestock production. Finally, nutrition and diet studies from the 1920 to the late 1940s examine actual household consumption, emphasizing how social forces and cyclical fortunes shaped individual choices. The composite picture from these three perspectives confirms that China’s meat consumption was hardly inconsequential. But more than simply triangulating a result, the exercise of comparing perspectives of price, production, and nutrition also highlights the collection of survey data as a series of historical moments.
This chapter examines the idea of cultural keywords conceived as symbolic focal points which lexicalize salient values, attitudes, and concerns in Chinese language and culture. After a brief review of the origins of the idea in British cultural studies and its manifestations in philological, anthropological, and psychological research, it introduces a linguistic approach to the study of cultural keywords, known as the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to meaning, offering arguments in favor of employing it to render and represent culturally specific meanings in a non-ethnocentric fashion, with two case studies of Chinese cultural keywords. They pertain to the domains of Chinese emotions (the word xīngfú 幸福 “happiness”) and sociality (the word rènao 热闹 “lively; hot and noisy”). While highlighting various aspects of Chinese culture, the presented analyses of Chinese cultural keywords are couched within the Natural Semantic Metalanguage framework situating them within a developing field of cultural keyword studies.
The nature of global dietary supplements is transitioning from animal derivatives to plant based. Industries around the world are seeking vegan alternatives to animal-derived supplements. The microalgal industry is expected to undergo a market boom in the current decade. Microalgal supplements (power based and extracts) as well as microalgal fuels are expected to show a significant increase in market value. Microalgae are an under-utilized source of high-value products. They are rich reservoirs of multiple compounds capable of enhancing immunity, fortifying nutritional diets and improving cardiovascular health. Microalgae are also high lipid producing organisms, which make them viable candidates in the global search for energy alternatives. However, the inability to translate in vitro results onto the industrial scale is a major drawback of the microalgal research landscape. It is therefore, vital to find a robust microalgal species capable of producing a feasible quantity of high-value compounds. This paper investigates the potential of four microalgae sourced from the coastal town of Mangalore, India as candidates for nutraceutical industries and the clean energy industry. Desmodesmus komareikii (MK990101) was found to be rich in total lipid, while the three Chlorella species were found to be relatively richer in total protein yields. Chlorella thermophila (MN006612) is capable of yielding harvests up to nearly 280 tonnes/acre/year. Chlorella thermophila (MN006612) yielded the highest amount of both mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The fatty acid profiles of Chlorella thermophila (MN006612), Chlorella vulgaris (MN252517-18) and Chlorella sorokiniana (MN011568) can be explored as an alternative edible oil. Desmodesmus komareikii (MK990101) yielded the highest amount of saturated fatty acids, which are used in the production of clean and quality biofuels.
This essay explores the relationships between food and health in Chinese history, from ancient times to the present. It briefly reviews how historians have written about dietary knowledge in China's past, from a midcentury focus on discoveries that prefigured those of modern nutrition science to a more expansive recent understanding of healthy eating. From there, the piece draws on scholarship from the past 2 decades to highlight the complexity of pre-modern Chinese ideas about food and its connection to ritual, social order, moral rectitude, pleasure, and physical and emotional well-being, all of which factored into dietetic prescriptions and prohibitions. Finally, the last section focuses on the modern period. It suggests that while Western foods and nutrition science acquired great prestige in early twentieth-century China, by the early 21st century both had lost some of their luster, and interest in classical and folk understandings of diet—inflected by the postsocialist political and economic order—was again flourishing.
Rice is one of the most culturally valued and widely grown crops in the world today, and extensive research over the past decade has clarified much of the narrative of its domestication and early spread across East and South Asia. However, the timing and routes of its dispersal into West Asia and Europe, through which rice eventually became an important ingredient in global cuisines, has remained less clear. In this article, we discuss the piecemeal, but growing, archaeobotanical data for rice in West Asia. We also integrate written sources, linguistic data, and ethnohistoric analogies, in order to better understand the adoption of rice outside its regions of origin. The human-mediated westward spread of rice proceeded gradually, while its social standing and culinary uses repeatedly changing over time and place. Rice was present in West Asia and Europe by the tail end of the first millennium BC, but did not become a significant crop in West Asia until the past few centuries. Complementary historical, linguistic, and archaeobotanical data illustrate two separate and roughly contemporaneous routes of westward dispersal, one along the South Asian coast and the other through Silk Road trade. By better understanding the adoption of this water-demanding crop in the arid regions of West Asia, we explore an important chapter in human adaptation and agricultural decision making.
Kebutuhan rempah-rempah yang sangat besar membuat bangsa Eropa memulai jalur pelayaran ke Asia Tenggara guna mencari langsung sumbernya pada abad ke-15. Namun, sesungguhnya bangsa Tiongkok telah mengetahui jalur rempah ke Asia Tenggara jauh sebelum bangsa Eropa memulai pelayarannya. Pada abad ke-6, para pendatang dari Tiongkok bahkan telah mendirikan pemukiman di pesisir utara pulau Jawa. Fokus dari penelitian ini adalah keterkaitan antara jalur rempah maritim, akulturasi budaya di Pulau Jawa serta pengaruhnya terhadap karakteristik batik Peranakan Tionghoa dari pesisir utara Jawa. Dalam penelitian ini, studi kasus yang diambil adalah batik tulis buketan Oey Soe Tjoen. Metode yang digunakan adalah metode kualitatif, serta menggunakan teori akulturasi dan morfologi estetik dalam menganalisis data. Morfologi estetik digunakan untuk mengidentifikasi persamaan dan perbedaan karakteristik dari batik buketan Oey Soe Tjoen generasi pertama, kedua dan ketiga. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk memberikan informasi bagi masyarakat mengenai keterkaitan antara jalur rempah maritim dan perkembangan tekstil di Indonesia. Hasil akulturasi yang terwujud dalam batik Peranakan Tionghoa memiliki kontribusi bagi perkembangan kain batik di pesisir utara Jawa, misalnya desain batik Oey Soe Tjoen yang memiliki pengaruh dalam desain batik Pekalongan. Penelitian ini juga dapat menjadi sumber referensi bagi akademisi, kolektor maupun peminat batik Indonesia untuk mengidentifikasi perbedaan karakteristik batik buketan Oey Soe Tjoen dari generasi pertama, kedua dan ketiga.
Kata Kunci: batik buketan, morfologi estetik, Oey Soe Tjoen, Peranakan Tionghoa
Drawing on the novel-to-the-field rice theory, we study how subnational cultural heterogeneity impacts target performance improvement following an acquisition. Data from domestic acquisitions in the Chinese beer industry show performance is significantly impacted by cultural characteristics formulated through agricultural subsistence activities. We find that both cultural similarity and dissimilarity influence performance: (1) in transactions in which both the acquirer and target are located in rice culture regions, targets achieve greater performance improvement than in those in which both firms are located in a wheat culture region, and (2) targets located in wheat culture areas bought by acquirers from a rice culture area gain greater performance improvement than rice culture targets acquired by firms from a wheat culture area. We also find that acquirers’ experience with rice targets is less beneficial than their experience with wheat targets.
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