Tag: TCM

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量太麻烦了 – It’s too much trouble to measure ingredients

The same dish, a slightly different taste every time, but always with the same love, care, and intent on healing

Creator:
Sorella Zhang 张筱媚 (she/her)

Medicine isn’t just about curing diseases and ailments – it can also be able preventing diseases and ailments, and maintaining good health. This kind of perspective about health is characteristic of a various traditional systems of medicine, whether it’s traditional Mongolia, Iranian, Indigenous, or Chinese medicine, amongst others. By seeing medicine as preventative rather than reactive, this allows edible items with medicinal properties to be incorporated into food that can nourish and heal people on a continuous basis. Sorella presents a cookbook filled with recipes involving ingredients that are known to have various medicinal properties in Traditional Chinese Medicine; but it also is filled with a lot of love. The central them is certainly food; but one can see/feel/sense the love and intimate connections that emanate from these recipes. How can we all incorporate traditional medicinal ingredients into our food in a responsible manner?

Click on the following to reveal (first) the cookbook, and (second) the creator’s notes (Note: PDF viewer not compatible with some mobile platforms; but it is available for download or to view via mobile PDF viewers)

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It’s a lifestyle

It doesn’t really feel like taking medicine to me

Hosts:
Cynthia Chen 陳霈詠 (they/them)
Claudia Fu 符藴楓

Guest:
Andre Shih (Taiwanese heritage; TCM Herbalist, Accupuncturist)

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is widely practiced among people from East Asia; but using TCM is often seem as being in opposition to Western medicine. When does one use TCM, and when does that same person use Western medicine? The most difficult part of this question is the fact that TCM encompasses so many facets of one’s life – it’s not just about being sick, but more about being healthy in general. It also creates a lot of identity clashes, and for many Asian Canadians, it brings up issues of the Model Minority Myth and having to choose one culture to abide by. And how do these things get wrapped up in racism? And does it have to be a zero-sum choice? Listen to Chen and Fu as they unpack their own experiences. They also interview Andre Shih, a TCM Herbalist and Accupuncturist operating out of Vancouver, who answers questions about the challenges of being a TCM practitioner in Canada. Ultimately, knowing how important TCM is to vast numbers of diaspora in Canada, how can we re-envision the landscape of healthcare regarding TCM’s relationship with Western medicine?

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不能喝涼水 – Don’t drink cold water

Chatting With 陳 – Our Journey With TCM

Hosts:
Richie Chan 陳俊亨
Daniel Chen 陈丹宁 (he/him)

Guests:
Lisa Chai 齊麗霞 (Chinese heritage)
Wendy Chen 陈晓柔 (Chinese heritage)

One of the biggest areas of tension diasporic individuals experience in Canada is between adherence to traditional heritage medicine (e.g. Traditional Chinese Medicine [TCM], Ayurvedic medicine) versus Western medicine. Because of the holistic nature of traditional medicines, this tension not only impacts moments of illness, but pervades all aspects of life – from physical behaviours, to the temperature of food and drinks throughout one’s day. In this podcast, Chan and Chen (united by their shared family name 陳), explore their own respective journeys as they grew up grappling (and continue to grapple) with this medical tension. In particular, they discuss important questions such as how to reconcile when one’s own real experiences are so at odds with prevailing arguments and assumptions behind Western medicine? And how are TCM principles transmitted across generations?

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Click on the following to reveal the podcast’s transcript (Note: PDF viewer not compatible with some mobile platforms; but it is available for download or to view via mobile PDF viewers)

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