While there are many historical and modern schools of Taoism, with different teachings on the subject, it is safe to say that many Taoists regard their diet as extremely important to their physical, mental and spiritual health in one way or another, especially where the amount of qi in the food is concerned.
Contents
Fasting
Some early Taoist diets called for bigu (simplified Chinese: 辟谷; traditional Chinese: 辟穀; pinyin: bìgǔ; Wade–Giles: pi-ku; literally: "avoiding grains"), based on the belief that immortality could be achieved in this way. The ancient Taoist texts of the Taiping Jing suggest that individuals who attained the state of complete ziran would not need food at all, but instead could sustain themselves by absorbing the cosmic qi.
Veganism
Chinese word for food or dishes, 'cai' (Chinese: 菜) originally means green vegetables. Taoist religious orders and literatures often encourage practitioners to be vegan to minimize harms, because all life forms are considered sentient. Taoist levels of dietary restriction, however, are varied.
Chang Ming longevity diet
Chang Ming meaning "long life" is a traditional Chinese diet from Guangdong and Shandong which according to Aileen Yeoh in a series of articles in the Straits Times is common knowledge as a health diet in China and has also migrated to Singapore and Malaysia.