The old shamanic belief that the universe exists within our body has now become an all-evolving core-spiritual philosophy of all religion. Beyond the demarcation of states and land, this universal belief reign the heart of any spiritual belief.
China being a food centered culture nicely merges this concept with their own spiritual definition. Food is not just an integral part of the universe, but the body too. What we consume, also consumes us. And with people growing consciousness, food is shaping not just our body, but also the intangible aspect of our lives-our emotions, mind, and how we perceive.
This Women’s Day with that at the back of our mind, we at Chowman have tried to write this blog where food becomes analogous of a woman’s body. Here are six interesting food ingredients, turned to a wonderful dish by our chefs that we believe beautifully signifies the idea of womanhood.
Egg White Fried Rice: A simple and light dish of the commons, the core ingredient of this item is the egg. For a woman, egg is one of the significant elements that nurtures femininity and womanhood. Symbolic of fertility, nurture, protection, egg is one significant ingredient that has come into the making of popular and very common Chinese dish- the egg fried rice.
Seafood Meifoon/ Rice noodles: When we see a strand of rice noodles, what makes it symbolically different and unique from the usual trait of longevity signifying a noodle strand is how translucent it appears because of the grinded rice and sleek strand. This is almost close to a woman’s long hair. In the Asian culture, the significance of long hair for beauty and other spiritual belief has been reigning. Not only a long hair symbolized beauty, where in earlier days women would make complex hair styles, use decors and pins and sleep with it for days or maybe a week. In many parts of Asia, hair is considered to be the most susceptible element to absorb energy. This is why, many parts of Asia, uses incense sticks all across the hair to drive off evil energies/spirits.
Asian Greens Fried Rice: Rice is symbolic of abundance, wealth and prosperity. And our Asian Greens Fried Rice is one veg rice with basic and minimum veggies to omit that overpowering inclusion of meat or fish. In various parts of Asia there are idols of Goddesses with open hands signifying the linear flow of wealth, blessings, prosperity. In the south east Asian countries, the hand further plays a significant role in the making of sushi ball. The right fold, the exact pressure from the hand is all behind the perfection of one good rice ball.
Green & Red Pepper Chicken: Chowman’s Green & Red Pepper Chicken comes to taste with the right proportion of chilli pepper. And what makes the chilli pepper one of the significant ingredients of a Chinese dish is its fiery note. Same is the trait of a woman enveloped in fierceness, prowess and the feminine energy oozing out the strength in her.
Crispy honey lotus stem: Lotus stem has now become a quintessential element in the art of Asian Cooking, with its native origin in the culinary field being that of China. And Lotus has a major significance in Asian culture in terms of Buddhism. It says that Lotus is synonymous to peoples’ lives, retaining beauty and resilience despite growing in the mushy water. It’s almost close to a woman who has to undergo the grinds of the society, the patriarchy and other chores of life, yet not surrendering to falter. An embodiment of resilience, patience, contentedness and calm, women are the epitome of everything that a lotus signifies.
