ZANZIBAR, Tanzania, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- After about 15 years in the kitchen, Tanzania's Zanzibari chef Salum Ali Khatib thought he knew food well. But a recent encounter with Chinese culinary traditions gave him something he had never considered before: food could be prepared not only for taste and nutrition, but also with health and well-being in mind.
"I had never thought about using food as medicine," Khatib said.
The idea first reached him not in a kitchen, but through a friend who had received traditional Chinese medicine treatment at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, where Chinese doctors have worked for years.
As a chef, Khatib was immediately curious. He wanted to know how food could be connected with traditional Chinese approaches to health, and eventually contacted Chinese medical personnel on the island in hopes of learning more.
His curiosity led him to a culinary exchange organized with members of the 35th Chinese medical team to Zanzibar, where he learned about Chinese medicinal cuisine and how its ideas could be adapted using ingredients familiar to local kitchens.
Among them were cloves, ginger and nutmeg -- spices that are hardly exotic in Zanzibar, an archipelago renowned for its centuries-old spice trade.
This time, however, Khatib was looking at those familiar ingredients through a different lens.
Chinese specialists explained how ingredients could be selected and combined according to traditional Chinese ideas about diet and health. They also discussed how cooking could take into account Zanzibar's hot and humid climate.
One example was chicken soup prepared with spices available locally. Rather than simply teaching Khatib to reproduce a Chinese recipe, the specialists showed him how Chinese culinary ideas could be combined with ingredients already found in Zanzibar.
For Khatib, that made the lesson practical.
"I was fortunate enough to come here and receive some training on how to prepare this type of food using Chinese expertise and ingredients, especially those that are readily available here in Zanzibar, including cloves, ginger and nutmeg," he said.
What impressed him most was not a particular recipe, but a new way of thinking about his profession.
"Their knowledge really surprised me because, despite having worked as a cook for about 15 years, I had never thought about using food as medicine," he said.
On the Chinese side of the kitchen was Wang Zhongqiang, a chef with 32 years of professional experience who is responsible for preparing meals for members of the Chinese medical team.
For Wang, cooking for doctors working far from home is first and foremost a responsibility.
"I consider the culinary profession to be quite sacred," Wang said. "I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to take part in this work."
But in Zanzibar, the kitchen has also become a place for cultural exchange.
The Chinese medical team includes two TCM doctors, while two local chefs had expressed an interest in learning about traditional Chinese medicine and medicinal cuisine. That coincidence gave Wang and his colleagues an idea: instead of simply introducing Chinese dishes, why not combine Chinese culinary knowledge with Zanzibar's own ingredients?
The answer was almost everywhere around them.
Known for its spices, Zanzibar offered cloves, ginger, nutmeg and other locally available ingredients that could provide a natural starting point for the exchange.
"Zanzibar Island is known as a 'fragrant island,' and its spices are particularly abundant," Wang said. "So we first integrated the local spices, and then taught the local chefs about medicinal cuisine."
The approach also meant that learning did not flow in only one direction.
As Wang shared Chinese cooking techniques and ideas with the Zanzibar chefs, he was also learning about local ingredients, tastes and culinary practices.
"During our daily learning, we also exchanged ideas with the local chefs, learning from each other," he said. "During this time in Zanzibar, I feel that I have also gained a lot of valuable knowledge."
Such exchanges add an everyday dimension to a much longer story of China-Zanzibar medical cooperation. Chinese medical teams have worked on the islands for decades, providing medical services and introducing practices including TCM to local communities.
This time, however, the exchange took place not in a consultation room, but around a stove.
For Khatib, the experience has already changed the way he thinks about the work he has done for 15 years. The cloves, ginger and nutmeg are still the same familiar Zanzibar spices. What has changed is what he sees in them.
"After receiving this training, I will certainly start sharing this knowledge with other people," he said. ■