LOW fat, low sugar, low cholesterol that is the formula for modern people's dining style. There are detailed descriptions on packaging explaining how many calories and how much fat the food items contain. Some people only eat after carefully adding up the quantities of different nutritional components.
Such anxieties have replaced the simple pleasures that food once brought people. So is there a less troublesome way of ensuring our diets are properly balanced?
"Yes, there is," answered Huo Junsheng, director of the Department of Food Science and Technology of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and prevention. "Balanced nutrition in daily diets is the key to remaining healthy," he said.
New scientific research has shown that "synergistic foods" can help to maintain health, especially by reducing cholesterol levels. In fact, they can be as effective as drugs in lowering cholesterol.
Huo's suggestion of combining soluble fibres (such as oats), vegetable protein (soybeans), plant phytosterols and almonds in the diet has inspired the creation of an almond feast by celebrity Beijing chef Li Bin.
The idea of using various food together as an alternative to drugs when treating certain diseases has a long and honourable place in the history of Chinese dining culture. Li said in ancient dynasties there was a position somewhere between doctor and chef, for a person responsible for recipes as tonics.
I had the chance recently to taste Li's culinary innovation at the Jinmao Tower in Shanghai (his original recipes had been changed a little by chefs at the Grand Hyatt, because - as you know - famous chefs always like to display their own styles).
Chinese people are used to including chestnuts, peanuts or pine nuts in dishes, but all these nuts are quite soft in texture. Almonds, which are comparatively hard, are seldom used. The small almonds that grow in China are also slightly bitter and contain a toxic substance if not processed properly. For these reasons, Li chose California almonds instead.
The almond feast started with two cold dishes - almond salmagundi and garlic flavoured almonds, lily and long beans. These dishes were similar to Chinese salads.
The first one, a mixture of tofu, broccoli, carrot, lotus root, mushroom and a key seasoning - aromatic sesame oil - was appealing in its colours and tasted like a rather salty salad. Li said the use of almonds added texture to the dish, complementing the velvety tofu with crispy almond, although I thought the almond pieces were a little too crunchy to harmonize with the other ingredients.
The other six courses were family-style hot dishes, with more northern features. They included either almond slices or minced almonds.
The almond lettuce wrap tasted very similar to "xu xiang rou si" (spicy pork slices), although it replaced the usual peanuts with almond bits. It was served in a lettuce leaf and the refreshing and juicy wrapper helped to balance the spiciness of the dish.
My favourite course was the fried almond eggplant pack. It had several layers: the innermost being a spongy fish ball, covered first by a piece of eggplant and then by almond bits. Li had replaced the flour that was usually used to make the crust, using almond bits instead.
Almonds are quite filling, so I found it hard to finish the following courses. Even though the sweet corn and cod fish almonds was also delicious, I could only manage a few mouthfuls.
But even though these almond dishes were all refreshingly novel and tasted good, I think I will still prefer to eat almonds as a snack.
