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Tasting the Good and the Beautiful 67 TASTING THE GOOD AND THE BEAUTIFUL 67 Tasting the Good and the Beautiful: The Aestheticization of Eating and Drinking in Traditional Chinese Culture Da’an Pan California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Exploring traditional Chinese gastronomic culture in terms of its interdisciplinary expression and values, this article argues that eating and drinking, as sources of creative imagination and aesthetic pleasure, are integral to the creative process in Chinese literature and art, and possess a double value integrating the good with the beautiful. Gastronomic and artistic creations are mutually enhancing and mutually inspiring in their common pursuit of beauty. While exemplifying the holistic values of Chinese culture, the aestheticization of eating and drinking contributes to finer, richer gastronomic experiences. An investigation into this phenomenon opens a window to understanding the development of Chinese gastronomy, thus shedding cross-cultural light on the study of contemporary gastronomy. Beauty and Taste Discussing the semiotics of contemporary food consumption, Barthes (1915-1980) wrote, “One could say that an entire ‘world’ (social environment) is present in and signified by food.... To eat is a behavior that develops beyond its own ends, replacing, summing up, and signalizing other behaviors, and it is precisely for these reasons that it is a sign” (1997, pp. 23; 25). In traditional Chinese society the importance of eating and drinking as cultural and aesthetic signs goes beyond people’s physical existence. For many Chinese individuals food and drink are themselves aesthetic objects, and cooking, eating, and drinking are aesthetic pursuits. The notion of mei-shi (lit., beautiful food; i.e., gourmet food) is almost a household word. In contrast to Plato (427-347 BC), who deprecated cookery as “no art” but “a routine” and “a form of flattery,” and eating as merely serving human physical needs (Hamilton & Cairns, 1989, “Gorgias,” passim, pp. 245-47), Confucius (551-479 BC) associated proper cooking and eating with a person’s spiritual cultivation in the same moral and aesthetic contexts (1979, VII.14, p. 87). In The Analects Confucius prescribes the protocol of eating as a moral and aesthetic behavior, saying: “[The gentleman] ... did not eat his fill of polished rice, nor did he eat his fill of finely minced meat.... He did not eat food that had gone off color or food that had a bad smell. He did not eat food that was not properly prepared.... He did not eat food that had not been properly cut up, nor did he eat unless the proper sauce was available” (Ibid., bk. 10, no. 8, p. 103). For a Confucian gentleman, fine dining has played a dual function by providing nourishment to both the body and the mind. Underlying this perception is the mind-body holism in traditional Chinese philosophy, including medical philosophy. As Chang points out, “perhaps one of the most important qualifications of a Chinese gentleman was his knowledge and skill pertaining to food and drink” (1977, p. 11). The moral and aesthetic value assigned to eating and drinking in traditional Chinese culture has led gastronomy to constant refinement and ultimate sophistication, in the process inspiring the representation of this subject in literature and art. In the Classic of Poetry, China’s first anthology of poems, reputedly adopted by Confucius for moral education, eating and particularly banqueting (or feasting) take place on various occasions such as the celebration of good harvests, homage to benevolent rulers, and ancestral sacrifices. In traditional Chinese society banqueting is “an important ritual in the 68 PAN Fall 2003 social sphere” (M. M. Yang, 1994, p. 137) and one of the popular forms of socialization that contributes significantly to social order, unity, and harmony. In many poems in this classic public or private banqueting creates a festive mood blended with a moral aura. The poem “Deer Cries” vividly conveys the moral undertones of a state banquet when the king proposed the following toast: “... My guests of honor are all here;/ Your virtuous reputation resounds far and wide./ Please teach our people not to breach the proprieties;/ All gentlemen could follow your example./ I have fine wine,/ Let my guests of honor feast and play ...” (Ren & He, 1989, pp. 317-19). Traditional Chinese gastronomy possesses a double value integrating the good with the beautiful. Eating and drinking satisfy not only one’s bodily needs but also one’s aesthetic and spiritual needs. As banqueting was often highlighted with poetry-making, gastronomic appreciation and artistic creation became mutually enhancing and mutually inspiring. In Chinese literature and art and particularly literati literature and art, eating and drinking are aestheticized as worthy themes or subject matters, as the appreciation of gastronomic products, activities, and etiquettes is essentially an aesthetic value judgment. In a sense, Chinese gastronomy is a holistic art and a liberal art, and the study of Chinese literature and art necessarily involves gastronomy. As West explains, food “... was elevated at an early period [in China] from necessity to art, from sustenance to elegance; the subsequent high cultural status assured that food would remain a key ingredient in the language and structure of literature and art” (1997, p. 68). The Chinese concept of beauty is associated with that of taste. The Chinese character- word mei (beautiful; delicious) can be interpreted as a pictograph for a totemic emblem, or as an ideogram signifying a strong-bodied sheep, whose physical strength is beautiful, or the taste of mutton from a fattened sheep (Yü, 1984, pp. 117-19). It is synonymous with the character-word xian (delicious), whose ideogramic composition suggests fish cooked with mutton. The concept of taste acquires a metaphysical status in traditional Chinese metaphysi- cal and medical thinking when the so-called Five-Flavors (referring to sourness, bitterness, sweetness, piquancy, and saltiness) theory is incorporated into the Five-Elements (or Five Evolutive Phases, referring to wood, earth, fire, metal, and water) theory, forming the philosophical underpinnings of traditional Chinese gastronomy, including herbological gas- tronomy. According to The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine, one of the earliest classics of Chinese medicine, the harmonization of the five flavors in food, while embodying the harmony (and balance) of nature, contributes to the harmony (and balance) of the body and the mind (Ni, 1995, pp. 40; 93-94; 243-44). In his discussion on food in early Chinese literature, Knechtges analyses a discourse on the “perfect flavors” by Yi Yin, “the Chinese gastronome par excellence” (1986, p. 53). Citing Yi Yin’s discourse from the Chinese classic Lüshi chunqiu (The Annals of Lü Buwei), Knechtges interprets, “Blending the five flavors is an extremely delicate task, comparable to the subtle skill required of an archer and coachman, or even the mysterious movements of the cosmos” (Ibid.. Cf. Knoblock & Riegel, 2000, p. 308). Rooted in nature, the Five-Elements theory and the Five-Flavors theory both reflect human conceptualization of the law and order of nature and reify the dynamic balance that informs nature and characterizes nature’s beauty. Also rooted in nature is traditional Chinese aesthetics, which forms an inherent link between the Five-Flavors theory and gastronomy in that harmonious, good taste is not only a manifestation of nature’s beauty but also beauty in itself. To make and consume tasty food is to comply with the law and order of nature, and a taste for fine food is a taste for the beauty of nature. The appreciation and differentiation of taste demonstrate a human need for fine dining as a source of aesthetic as well as physical pleasure. Archeological findings from the Shang dynasty (ca. 1700 - ca. 1200 BC) and the succeeding Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1200 - ca. 771 BC) in ancient China indicate a large variety and an elaborate system of eating TASTING THE GOOD AND THE BEAUTIFUL 69 utensils and drinking vessels, their sophisticated craftsmanship made possible by an advanced technology (Yü, 1984, p. 120). The aesthetic of tableware is part of the gastronomic system, as beautiful tableware adds to the beauty of food and drink. This helps explain the avoidance of weapon-shaped eating utensils such as knives and forks at the Chinese dinner table. As Anderson notes, “This use of food as social lubricant, stimulus, and marker is traceable to the very dawn of Chinese civilization — and beyond, if the careful attention to beauty in the construction of Neolithic pottery means what I think it means” (1988, p. 200). As sources of creative inspiration and aesthetic pleasure, eating and drinking are integral to the creative process in Chinese literature and art. For example, the story of Yi Yin mentioned earlier “offers one of the most palatable anecdotes of Chinese mythology because of the rare ‘literary’ flavor it produces in our modern imaginations” (Yue, 1999, p. 40). Depicted in poetic elegance and imagination, eating and drinking are further aestheticized and better appreci- ated, which results in finer, richer culinary and gastronomic practices. Thus, a virtuous cycle is generated between eating-drinking and literature-art in their common pursuit of beauty. Many Chinese writers and artists, especially the literati, were gourmets who often incorpo- rated their gastronomic experience and imagination into their creative or critical works. Among the recurring subjects of traditional Chinese painting are banqueting, tea drinking, and wine drinking, as well as a variety of food items such as vegetables and fruit. Gastronomic discourses have entered various genres of Chinese literature, and even the traditional form of literary criticism known as shi-hua (lit., remarks on poetry). Indeed, as West observes, “Culinary arts and literature shared a vocabulary of taste and judgment ....” (1997, p. 68). For Chinese gourmet-readers the gastronomic component of a literary or painterly text is a source of vicarious pleasure.
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