The Five Elements of Chinese Cuisine

Chinese beliefs state that people are surrounded and influenced by five different energy phases, or ‘chi’. Known as the ‘five elements’, each force is linked to various aspects of Chinese culture, including the food that people eat and what effect this has on the body.

It is believed that if one of these elements is altered or becomes unbalanced, then a person's life and health can change. We take a look at the five elements and how they are linked to Chinese cookery.

What are the five elements?

In Chinese culture, the five elements are considered to be fire, earth, metal, water and wood. Like with yin and yang, the five elements are all about finding the perfect balance between each part.

For each of the five elements, there are believed to be two main relationships; the ‘mutual generation’ and the ‘mutual overcoming’. These relationships are taken from the way these elements interact in nature.

For example, mutual generating could be ‘Water helps Wood grow’ because a tree will grow when given water. On the other side, mutual overcoming would be something like ‘Water can stop Fire’, or ‘Metal can cut Wood’. So the mutual generation sees growth, whereas the mutual overcoming is typically more of a destructive energy.

How do the elements relate to cookery?

In keeping with the ideas of balance, Chinese physicians believe that too much or too little of each element in your life can lead to illness.

As such, each element is representative of one of our main organs; heart (fire), lungs (metal), liver (wood), kidneys (water), and spleen (earth). Each element also has a number of other connected body parts; however, the mentioned organ will be the main one.

The elements also have an associated colour; red for fire, green for wood, yellow for earth, white for metal and black for water. It is therefore thought that if you are feeling unwell in a certain part of the body, eating the related food colour type will help to improve your health.

For example, if you had heart pains, you should eat something red, such as red pepper, apples or tomatoes.

Black Food / Water

Black (or blue) foods are said to be good for promoting healthy kidneys, ears, bones and reproductive organs.

Of course, black foods are not as high in number as the other colours, yet related ingredients could include black beans, aubergines, blueberries, seaweed, tea and black grapes.

White Food / Metal

White food is related to the lungs, nose, respiratory system, skin and large intestine.

With the Chinese cuisine staples, rice and noodles, counting as white food, it is important to balance out any meal with the other elements or colours. White foods also include onion, garlic, milk, tofu and sugar, among others.

Yellow Food / Earth

Your spleen and digestive system will be improved through the consumption of yellow-coloured foods, according to the five elements theory.

As a common colour food, this can involve items such as corn, squash, egg yolk, honey, orange and soybeans.

Red Food / Fire

Red is good for your heart, brain and small intestine.

Foods in this category can include tomato, red pepper, chilli and even carrots!

Green Food / Wood

The last colour is green, representative of the liver, eyes, muscles and joints.

Green is one of the widest colour options, with most fruit and vegetables included in this section. Other examples include wasabi, Chinese leeks and mung beans.

Of course, the five elements theory, when applied to food, is meant as more of a guide to enjoying a balanced diet than a way to avoid the doctors! If you would like to try an exciting variation of green food, why not try some oriental pickles!?