ABSTRACT
The pleasures of food whether from production or consumption are manifold – growing, sourcing, making, eating, sharing, even playing with food facilitates concepts of taste, identity, and social status. Practices of feeding and nourishing in China are integral not only to healing practices, but also to everyday life and experiences of belonging. Chinese regional foodways, as well as other Asian cuisines, incorporate food as a significant element of health and wellbeing. By considering healing from a cultural lens, it becomes possible to view how medicinal foods may form part of preventative care on a daily basis. The chapter addresses the pleasures of eating in contexts of consumption in contemporary urban China. New generations of middle-class consumers, especially Chinese youth, in cities and suburban environments experience a particular period of abundance with access to multiple forms of food amidst highly designed and curated spaces.
