Tiny bit of inspiration

Red beans, green beans, soybeans, black beans, speckled beans. The Chinese pantry cannot do without them, says Pauline D Loh.

To the Chinese, food is medicine. Every mouthful is beneficial in some way, and there are strict rules as to when to eat, what to eat and how to eat.

It is only in the past 30 years that animal protein has played an increasingly large role in Chinese diets, a departure from the traditional daily meals where meat was frugally used as flavoring. The fatted pig, cow and lamb were killed only for major festivities.