In both traditional Chinese cuisine as well as herbal medicine, there has never been a strict distinction between the roles of "food" and "medicine" in the kitchen or the clinic. One of the most basic premises of traditional Chinese medical therapy states, "When illness occurs, first try to cure it with food; only when food fails should one resort to herbal medicines." This means two things: first, that properly prepared food which has been correctly balanced for specific conditions is always the best cure; second, that food is always the best means for delivering medicinal herbs, especially tonics, into the human system. Tonics such as Ginseng and Wolfberry, for example, are more therapeutically effective and readily absorbed into the body when they are taken with fortifying foods such as chicken and pigeon than when administered alone. Only when a person's condition precludes such foods are the herbs prescribed alone as decoctions, powders, or pills.
Cooking food with medicinal herbs to increase both their therapeutic and nutritional values is one of the most ancient and original principles in traditional Chinese cuisine. Indeed, within the royal palaces and wealthy households of ancient China, it was always the custom to retain professional herbalists to formulate all of the recipes prepared in the kitchen, after which the cooks did the actual cooking. Herbalists decided which medicinal herbs should be combined with which foods, and these herbal formulas have remained an integral part of traditional Chinese recipes down to the present day, which explains why therapeutically potent herbs such as garlic, ginger and spring onions appear in almost every Chinese dish.
In addition to the basic herbs used to balance both the flavours and essential energies in food, the medicinal herb most highly favoured in Chinese herbal cooking is the tonic variety. Tonic dishes are specially blended combinations of fortifying foods and tonifying herbs, and their primary functions are to increase strength and stamina, enhance energy and immunity, boost sexual vitality and fertility, and prolong life. While many tonic dishes also have curative value for various common illnesses, their main role is to keep people healthy and make them stronger, and extend the enjoyment and vital functions of life to a ripe old age.
The recipes presented in this book rank among the all-time favorite tonic dishes on the Chinese menu, both for their exotic taste and their potent therapeutic values, and all of them are easily prepared at home. Many of the common tonic herbs, such as Chinese Wolfberry, Job's Tears, cinnamon, gingko nuts, lotus seeds, white fungus, dried lily bulb and red dates are available in Chinese food markets, as well as in the Asian food sections of well stocked supermarkets. Others can be purchased in any Chinese herb shops.

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