The Book of Jook: Chinese Medicinal Porridges, a Healthy Alternative to the Typical Western Breakfast

It is very difficult to find diet and nutrition books today that are based on real science. (Read my review on The Hundred Year Diet: America's Voracious Appetite for Losing Weight to see how the history of nutrition, diets, and health in America has been largely based on psuedo-science and driven by financial greed, not health improvement.) In my decades of searching, I have only found a few. Bob Flaws authors 2 of them. The Book of Jook presents the congee or jook diet - a traditional food in China used for health maintenance and longevity. Jook is an energetically balanced food that supplies all of body's nutritional needs, while being easy to digest AND simple to cook. Bob Flaws fills this book with quotes from numerous ancient Chinese Medicine texts that discuss the energetics of aging, proper nutrition, organ system balancing, longevity practices, and basic herbal theory. In addition, (and of great value) is the information that shows why the common Western food choices (milk, yogurt, fruit, sugar, greasy foods, etc) are harmful to a person's health. This book will give you all the information you need to create jook and to have confidence in the health benefits. A common critique of this book is that the herbs are not readily available in America. While this may be true, this does not at all prevent a person from successfully applying this diet and experiencing the benefits. This book is intended to give the lay person adequate knowledge to start a Chinese Medicine based diet. For the rare Chinese herbs, you may need to consult a Chinese Medicine herbalist. In American, due to the Naturpathic science of herbalism (which is symptom-based), herbs are often misunderstood and misused. It is always safer to find a Chinese Medicine herbal professional, rather than self-treat from magazine articles trying to sell the newest fad supplement. Bob Flaws is an author that I highly respect. Much of the wisdom of Chinese Medicine is being distorted and lost as America erringly combines Western diagnosis and nutritional advice with Chinese Medicine. Modern Western medicine and food science is based on a completely different understanding and research methods than Chinese Medicine. Modern medicine treats the symptoms; Chinese Medicine treats the underlying pattern that drives the symptoms. Modern food science compartmentalizes the chemicals of food as they appear under a laboratory microscope(carb, protein, vitamin A, etc); Chinese Medicine understands how the whole food changes the energy of the body. The two methods are rarely combined accurately and effectively. Only an expert in both systems can accurately combine the two. Most authors of diet books are not experts of both systems. Another great nutrition book by Bob Flaws is The Tao of Healthy Eating: Dietary Wisdom According to Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Tao of Healthy eating will go deeper into the energetics of food and provide a comprehensive analysis of the energetics

Every Chinese family is familiar with "Jook" or "Shi fan" in Mandarin. You grew up with it as an integral part of a cold or flu therapy. Even when you were feigning a cold to play hookey from school, out came the clanking jook pot by your grandma or amah! Then the jars of magic ingredients...hidden in a back cupboard. In a few hours you would be called to the table or served a big bowl of rice soup in bed. Depending on how sick you were, different ingredients were added, selected by the cook for its TCM potency or just making nourishing steaming hot rice soup. Just holding your head over the big bowl seems to make your stuffiness go away. After a couple bowls and a couple visits to the bathroom, your bladder and bowels are clean of the evil sickness spirits! In large cities, CN restaurants that stay open late for gamblers, movie or theatre goers, usually have some selections of Jook on the menu, also called congee or conjee. Usually a big bowl costs less than $5 for a minimalist one, green onion and fermented tofu. The upscale selections include fish balls, roast pork, duck, and oyster go for up to $10. So jook is not just for breakfast, but can be a snack anytime anywhere. I was absolutely amazed to see a book devoted to rice soup with an American-centric explanation as to the whys and wherefores of TCM. After reading many Chinese-centric books on TCM, Bob Flaws demystifies jook and makes it easy to make. The book has a confusing TOC with chapters numbered as if he combined two different books together. So Book1 has an introduction of 42 pgs and Book2 has the medicinal, recipes and preparation commentary. There are a few Reference footnotes in Book1. There is an 8-pg index and a 2-pg rice soup list in the back of the book. There are no CN characters, drawing, pixs, or illustrations and no tables of nutrients or TCM ingredients with similar properties. While the Preface's 2nd sentence says that "It is intended for use by professional practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the patients under their care" but since rice soup, in its basic simplicity, is innocuous and simple to prepare, this Reviewer would say that this book is patient-centric. Dr Flaws (OMD) has dumbbed-down the often confusing theoretical rhetoric of TCM. Chap1 The Problem of Breakfast has 2 pgs. Then in Chap2 CN Medicine & Digestion in the first 2 pgs succinctly describes the TCM basis. In other TCM books my eyes would glass-over due to extensive BS. Excellent job given the topic. You can skip the next 6 pgs in Chap2 as well as the rest of the chapters on TCM theory. If you have never made rice soup, go directly to the first page of recipes, p43. The first recipe for "Colds & Flu (Gan Mao)" is "Scallion & Glutinous Rice Congee (Cong bai nuo mi zhou)." This is the first introductory recipe that is the foundation for all to follow. All you need to get is available at any large American supermarket; a bunch of green onions, couple fingers of fresh ginger root,

From Flavor & Fortune published by the Institute for the Advancement of the Science and Art of Chinese Cuisine Combinations of any number of grains, vegetables, meat, eggs, and/or Chinese herbs make porridge known as Jook or Congee. For most folk, they are breakfast foods. They can easily be made overnight in a crock pot. They are economical, popular among the elderly, nutritious, and delicious; and all are healthy alternatives to typical Western breakfasts. They surely beat bacon and eggs on any health-rating chart; and, when you try them, you are bound to change your morning food practices, even some of those for lunch. Bob Flaws, a Traditional Chinese Medical practitioner (TCM) considered an authority on Chinese medicine, shares recipes collected from a number of Chinese language sources, all listed in the preface. Some have ingredients available only at a Chinese herbalist or a specialty store, but don't let than deter your efforts at tasting them even though it is difficult, perhaps, to find a Chinese food or herb source. Many only use ingredients available at your large local supermarket. One that may not be easy to make might be the recipe for Deer Antler Gelatin Congee. However, it can serve as an illustration of how the Jook recipes are presented. They start by listing their functions--in this case--it "Supplements the kidneys and fills the essence," then offers indications: "Essence insufficiency, infertility," etc., and next gives ingredients: "colla couru cerir (lu jiao jiao) 20 g., seven gyzae sativae (i.e. fresh ginger, sheng jiang), 3 slices" etc. Then the method of preparation and administration follows. In this case you first cook the rice into porridge, then add the powdered deer antler gelatin and ginger. It advises to: "eat for 3-5 days, most suitably in winter." Those without culinary concerns and those who enjoy experimentation will find this book an excellent overview of beliefs and practices of professional TCM practitioners and it is a useful means of learning about TCM's philosophy and complexity. Readers and health providers who find diet central to the development and treatment of many diseases should explore these Medicinal congees. They should not be overlooked when attempting to prevent disease. As books about Chinese medicinal therapy and TCM go, this one is simple and it has tasty recipes that are a wonderful and warm way to start your day. ©1997

Excellent advanced research of Chinese diet and medicine. The theories of this book are in line with other books that I've read. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to change their eating habits to a more healthful Eastern diet.