People eat a lot of strange things in the quest for good health, vitality and virility. Nowhere is this more evident than in China. For centuries, the Chinese have been ingesting food items which they believe to have medicinal value. Perhaps as Westerners, who traditionally eat food for flavor and not as a tonic, we do not understand the benefits of eating these curiously unidentifiable animal and plant goods. We decided to probe further and find out exactly why anyone would want to eat things like bird’s nest, deer antlers, sea horses, snake, gecko and shark bone. In addition, if we were to eat it, we wanted to know how we would cook it and exactly what health benefits we’d be getting out of our culinary trials.

Our investigation took us to Wing Lok Street and Ko Shing Street in Sheung Wan, two odoriferous streets full of mysteriously dried goods which are purportedly ‘edible’. Most of the shops here have been in the business of importing food items for many decades. However it seems that some of the shops are more reputable than others- after all the quality and efficacy of supplements like ginseng and deer penis vary greatly depending on where the food item is sourced. Some of the food import shops are just out to make money so they might tell a customer that the item is from somewhere it’s not and swindle them into to pay a premium for it.

We randomly stopped by the Shing Tai Ginseng Company on Wing Lok street to begin our investigation. Their main product was ginseng from Korea, America and China. Their employees were busy slicing the roots into boilable form. We were drawn in by the sea horse skeletons and things that looked like long horny extensions tied up in a red ribbon.

My colleague was translating but was afraid to ask the proprietors for information as they are likely to shoo away people who are ‘just browsing’ and have no intention of buying anything. However the owner was quite nice and gave us a bilingual catalogue which had everything they sold, what it was good for and how to cook it.

We were fascinated by the sea horses so he took out a huge plastic bag full of them. They were all different colors- some were white, some were greenish some were almost black. Most of the sea horses came from the Philippines. When he opened the bag, a distinctly fishy odor invaded the room. He proceeded to take out an old-fashioned scale made with a stick that looked like bone. Attached to one end was a brass weight. With ceremonious movements he weighed a bunch of the sea horse carcasses and announced that we could get 2 for 60 HKD. Before we could say no, one of the helpers wrapped them up and presented them to us. I gave the guy 60 HKD more for the catalogue and the experience rather than the sea horses.

Apparently sea horses should be slowly boiled in a soup and this is good for the kidneys. Anything good for the kidneys are also good for the sexual organs according to my Chinese colleague. There were also sea dragons- a longer cousin of the sea horse which was apparently even more effective for kidney functions.

There, we also learnt that one of the most common ingredients is deer’s antler which is usually sliced and pre-packed. Deer’s antler is unossified antler of a male deer. Since it is so tender, it is also called velvet. It is supposed to be good for kidney, hence, sexual ability for males, and deficiency of “blood” for females. Apart from being an ingredient for soup, deer’s antler can also be swallowed after grinding.

Speaking of ground specialties, we also noticed that ground pearls were available for sale here. I wonder why people would grind the beautiful pearls instead of wearing them. The owner explains that as a kind of jewelry, the grain of pearl should be big and round, but as a kind of medicine, the small pellet of pearl is the best. Pearl is supposed to induce sedative effect. My colleague told me that in Cantonese TV sitcoms, rich kids are always fed with ground pearls if they have a nightmare or experienced something horrible. Pearls are also useful in detoxification and whitening skin. Therefore, wealthy Chinese women sometimes mix it with bird’s nest soup as breakfast.

$60 “entrance fee” paid for the Museum of Chinese Medicine-Wonders with a pair of seahorse as souvenir and an Introduction to Chinese Medicine 101 in hand, we left the shop and meandered down to the corner where there was a huge shop full of all kinds of things which looked totally gross to my western eyes. On the corner was a cordoned off area where construction was being done. They were sea-drying strange seafood at the small construction site! In this place, we also saw some weird dried animal. After some enquiries, we realized that they were geckos. Apparently, gecko is famous for being a sex-medicine for males because it is excellent for the kidney. If making soup is too troublesome for you, you can also soak the geckos in liquors.

Speaking of “sex-drugs”, we have to mention the famous seal’s penis (with balls) and deer’s penis. When we pointed at the seal’s penises and asked what they were, the owner called it seal’s kidney. My colleague doubted it and so we checked our Introduction to Chinese Medicine 101, and learnt that seal’s penis is nicknamed seal’s kidney. The terminology really explains how closely the well-being of kidney and sex are related. Both seal’s penis and deer’s penis can be sliced for making soup or soaked in liquor for drinking. We asked the owner which one is better and he answered “Look at the size and you can tell”. We compared the sizes and learnt that the bigger the merrier (for the seller).

Leaving the corner shop, we continue our walk to Ko Shing Street from the end of Wing Lok Street. The shops in Ko Shing Street are in smaller scale compared to those in Wing Lok Street. Therefore, we saw house-wives coming for retail-shopping there. Most ingredients we saw there were used for making soup, which is one of the must-items for a family home-make dinner, though Chinese do not always have soup with “medical-values” every day. Perhaps it is because these shops are more retail-oriented, they offer a lot more vegetarian choices which are fairly affordable compared to deer penis, ginseng and pearls.

Some of the vegetarian medicines look as weird as the animal ones. We saw a kind of herb which looks like a snail. It is called herba dendrobii. It is supposed to taste cool and sweet and good for balancing the body during hot and humid season. We also saw another kind of herb that looks like a worm. It is called dong chong cao. My colleague said her mother always uses it for soup because it is good for “qi”, literally translated as “air”. What it really means is the circulation of blood, air and energy. We suppose it is good for the lung and liver. It says in our Chinese medicine bible that dong chong cao can also be used for the treatment of impotence and wet dream. I guess it is also good for “kidney” too.

In a small shop populated by grandmas, we found a lot of bark-like medicines including du zhong and ba ji. The owner told us that du zhong is literally the bark of a plant. She also said it is good for the bone and sore knee because it can relax music and joints. No wonder it is a senior's best friend. We also saw ba ji, the root of a vine plant which is good for curing sore knee and cold limbs. My colleague told me that her cousin who is a Chinese (medical) doctor often use du zhong and ba ji for his 65 year old mother. Our bible says that ba ji is also used to treat wet dream and premature ejaculation. Seems like it is not only good for grandpas but also their teen grandsons.

There we also saw some more commonly known Chinese medicines that you might have seen in a typical Chinese restaurant. We saw Chinese yam, meldar and cinnamon. Chinese yam is the rhizome of the yam family. It is white in color. You might have tried Chinese yam stuffed in duck or baby pigeon in a Chinese meal without noticing it. It is nourishing and good for the general well-being of the body. I suppose it is because of its high energy value because it is rich in starch. Meldar is a dried ripe fruit in the potato family. It is orange-red in color and is as small as a dried raisin. My colleague told me that every Chinese knows meldar is good for “qi” and is usually used in soup together with Chinese yam. Sometimes people mix it with tea too, for its medical value and its slightly sweet taste.

We were quite surprised that cinnamon was available in this traditional Chinese shop. Cinnamon is very commonly used in western cuisine, especially for dessert. In terms of Chinese medical value, we were told by the owner that cinnamon is supposed to be good for the stomach keeping the body warm. She reminded us that it must be put in at the final stage of brewing. This cooking method is very similar to the western style. Also, cinnamon as a “warm” food also reminds me of how much I crave for a bowl of hot oat meal mixed with honey and cinnamon or a cup of hot chocolate refined with some cinnamon power on the top. Um…Chinese medicine might not be as bad as we think (sometimes).

On the way home, I asked my colleague if she wanted to take the seahorses home for her mom. “No. Thanks. I don’t think my mom knows how to use it. I’ve never tried it in my whole life.” Although seahorse is supposed to be good for the liver, my weekend alcoholic co-worker seems to prefer pure-water and oily pizza to seahorse soup as the best medicine for hangover. “Plus, I don’t trust the whole medicine thing that much. It seems like 8 out of 10 medicines are good for the “kidney”. She added, “And I don’t think Chinese guys are that horny and impotent.”

Oh dear, how far would you go for the magical values of Chinese medicines? Seahorse soup, sliced deer’s penis, drunken seal’s “kidney” and gecko rice wine, do you dare try?
 
(Hiphongkong does not advocate the consumption of any kind of endangered species- particularly of shark's fin. This article was meant to explain the beliefs of the older traditional generation in regards to food that supposedly heal-however we are not convinced any of the foods mentioned have any medicinal value)