Ancient Recipes for a Vibrant Life: Dietetics in the Mawangdui Medical Manuscripts
Hidden for over two millennia, the Mawangdui tombs unearthed a treasure trove of early Chinese texts, including manuscripts that shed remarkable light on medicine and health practices dating back to the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C.. Among these fascinating documents are detailed recipe manuals, offering a glimpse into the dietary wisdom of the time, particularly as it related to macrobiotic hygiene, or yangsheng (nurturing life).
The sources highlight two key recipe manuals found among the Mawangdui medical manuscripts: MSIII (“Recipes for nurturing life”) and MSIV (“Recipes for various cures”). These texts are far more than simple cookbooks; they document a significant part of the medical tradition of macrobiotic hygiene prevalent among the elite.
Recipes for Macrobiotic Hygiene
The contents of MSIII and MSIV reveal a fascinating approach to health maintenance and enhancement through food and drink. These texts contain numerous recipes for tonic drugs, foods, and beverages. Rather than prescribing a radical overhaul of one’s eating habits, these recipes appear primarily intended to supplement the usual diet.
MSIII, in particular, organizes its recipes under headings that clearly indicate their hygienic purpose. Examples of these categories include:
• Cultivation
• Wheat-and-egg
• To Facilitate Approaching the Inner (Chamber) (often related to sexual intercourse)
• To Lighten the Body and Increase Strength
• To Purge the Inside and Increase Vapor
• To Cultivate Strength
• Mash-liquor to Benefit the Inside
Specific Culinary and Medicinal Examples
The sources provide details on the types of recipes found within these manuals, illustrating the blend of food, medicine, and specific health goals:
• Fermented Beverages and Longevity Drugs: MSIII documents recipes for fermented beverages that incorporate medicinal plants. A notable example is a recipe for a fermented beverage made with asparagus (dianji). Asparagus was recognized as a well-known longevity drug in later Han xian (transcendent) cult texts. The MSIII recipe provides early documentation of its use within the medical tradition of macrobiotic hygiene. MSIII.74 is mentioned as a well-preserved fermentation recipe for a “sophisticated and potent cordial”. Liquor itself was considered a drug and an ideal medium for other drugs, praised for its ability to penetrate vessels and permeate the body.
• Boiled Foods for Specific Purposes: The texts also include recipes for boiled foods that served specific functions within the macrobiotic regimen. For instance, a dish involving boiled asparagus, chicken parts, and dog parts was consumed at the late afternoon meal to “facilitate approaching the inner (chamber),” a euphemism related to preparing for sexual intercourse. Another recipe details boiled beef, specifically stating that one can eat “whatever amount of meat you wish,” with the purpose of fortifying the body. Foods like grain, fruit, and meat were all considered “drugs” in this broad sense within the materia medica documented in these texts.
• Integrating Drugs with Food: Many recipes involve adding pulverized drugs to liquor, vinegar, or other beverages to be drunk. The combining of substances in specified proportions suggests definite ideas about how drugs worked in combination, even if the underlying theoretical framework isn’t fully explicit in the manuscripts.
Dietetics as Part of a Holistic Hygiene
These recipe manuals demonstrate that dietary practices were a key component of the broader tradition of macrobiotic hygiene. This tradition encompassed a range of techniques aimed at nurturing life, including breath cultivation, exercise, and sexual cultivation. The dietetics described in MSIII and MSIV were not isolated practices but were integrated into a comprehensive approach to bodily care.
While MSIII and MSIV focus on supplementing the diet with tonics and specific functional foods, it’s worth noting that other texts explored more ascetic dietary practices. MSII.A, for example, discusses the technique of “eliminating grain” (quegu), which involved shunning ordinary foodstuffs and replacing them with drugs and breath cultivation (“eating vapor”). This practice, sometimes associated with later xian cults, contrasts with the more supplement-oriented approach of MSIII and MSIV.
In conclusion, the recipe manuals MSIII and MSIV from the Mawangdui medical manuscripts offer invaluable insights into early Chinese dietetics as a fundamental part of macrobiotic hygiene. They reveal a medical tradition that utilized a variety of foods, beverages, and tonic drugs, often combined with liquor, to supplement the diet for specific health benefits, ranging from increasing strength and facilitating sexual activity to promoting longevity. These texts underscore the integral role of diet within the ancient Chinese understanding of nurturing life and maintaining well-being.