Why are all the yummy fruits bad for you?

We are starting a lesson that deals with food today, and our teacher told us that the Chinese have a long-held belief that food (fruits and vegetables, but not meats) can be categorized in two categories -- heaty and chilly -- and that the objective is to eat a balance of foods. Should one be out of balance, traditional Chinese medicines or a diet of certain kinds of "bu" foods are prescribed (more on "bu" later).

Heaty foods are foods that cause your body to produce heat, and too much of it may cause a bit of discomfort, such as dehydration or dry mouth. These include mangos, dragon eye fruit, lychees, all of which are the most sublimely delectable summer fruits that one should, based on their heatiness, avoid during the summer (so long mango shaved ice! adios refreshingly juicy fresh lychees!). Chilly foods are foods that causes the body to cool down, and too much of it may result in cold hands/feet, which includes melons. Ironically, hot beverages are believed to have a cooling effect, while cold beverages raise the body's temperature. Ergo, one should drink hot tea in the summer, and iced tea in the winter. It's all very counter-intuitive for my feeble Western mind.

Health seems to be a national obsession. Based on my experience, the typical Taiwanese love to discuss their health, take medication, and eat "bu" (foods with high medicinal value which often includes all sorts of exotic endangered species and other cute critter parts) to address a plethora of non-existent deficiencies. There's a night market in Taipei that specializes in snake meat, which I think is meant to boost virility. I recall my parents once bought a few slices of of deer antler from a tribe of aboriginal Taiwanese, and when I told a friend of mine about it, she explained that deer antler is supposed to be amazingly "bu" and good for health. Incidentally, also during that little shopping trip, the aborigines were selling bottles of honey complete with a section of honeycomb and a few bees marinating in the honey. Another friend recounted a childhood horror story when she discovered a dark package wrapped in thick plastic in the freezer, and when she inquired about it, her parents replied that it was a bear's paw (yup, my friend was totally freaked out too).

Well, if you think about it, I suppose these exotic cures are not entirely unheard of, I mean humankind has been employing natural cures for thousands of years now. After all, many of us grew up being told that fish is brain food and eating it will make us smarter. I recall reading about how the Arabs used to produce a concoction called "mellified man," wherein the corpse of an old man soaked in honey for 100 years, the resulting honey infusion is then used to cure broken bones. Did it work? Who knows. I think I would still prefer wearing a clunky cast.

I don't honestly recall whatever happened to our deer antler slices.

A few other "bu" foods:

• shark's fin (as in shark's fin soup)
• sea cucumbers or sea slugs
• bird's nest soup
• bear bile

Are you grossed out yet? I am.