Peng Zu, known as the founder of Chinese cooking, was chef to Emperor Yao around the beginning of the 21st century BC.

But not all chefs used their power benignly; some had nefarious motives. Zhuan Zhu of the Wu State served as an assassin in the late years of the Spring and Autumn Period. In order to support Prince Guang's rise, he learned a special technique of "roasting fish" from a famous chef. Through his culinary deftness, he was able to meet Prince Liao of the Wu State, the enemy of Guang, and assassinate him.

During the Song Dynasty female chefs became extremely popular. Known as Chu Niang these women charged higher fees than their male counterparts while serving the imperial family, nobility, scholars and wealthy patrons. At one point female chefs were in such high demand that a school was established solely to graduate female culinary artists. The school taught manners, presentation, organizational tactics and conduct along with culinary skills.

Sometimes these women directed enormous banquets and thus acted as a conductor does while directing a symphony. One renowned female chef, Song San Niang, sat at a desk while she presided over a "Thousand Guest Banquet" for Premier Wang Zeng. With her staff of over eighty assistants this remarkable woman used little colored flags to give orders. She hoisted blue, red, yellow, purple and white flags to indicate to her staff in matching uniforms when to start steaming, boiling, frying or cooking something. Not only did she effectively and efficiently put out the food but also she put on a great dramatic display for the premier's guests.

Not just in China - anywhere in the world making food is much more than just a job for a man or a woman: it's a pursuit that is crucial for human survival. Sex is the only other vital activity that humans engage in with as much enthusiasm as cooking and eating. Kao Tzu, a Warring States-period (475-221 BC) philosopher, said that the urge for food equals the desire for sex in humans.

But making food and making love are quite different from each other. Humans tend to be more bestial when it comes to sex; culinary pleasures have more variation and more refinement than simple procreation activities. Moreover, the types of food and how it is prepared defines a specific culture, going beyond the parameters of simple survival.         

The way food is categorized, preserved, prepared, displayed, as well as the amounts eaten, the way it is eaten, who eats it and when – all vary among civilizations. Furthermore, inside each culture are sub-categories for food: eating differences covering economics, religious, age, time and seasons, even occupations and physical health. Most anthropologists and culinary historians assert that China undoubtedly has the widest range of all these categories regarding the production and consumption of foodstuffs.

Chinese cooks and chefs throughout history, despite how they cook, or who they cook for, or what kind of cuisine they prepare, or the season they prepare a dish, always adhere to the one overriding concept: food as medicine. This ancient theory best highlights Chinese culture and its cuisine in view of other culinary dynamics, modern and ancient.

While Confucianism was concerned with the social and aesthetic aspects of food and dining, texture and appearance, the Taoists, seeking longevity and health, were developing hygienic rituals for food and cooking. The principle objectives of this philosophy carried a wish for longevity and a desire to promote health.

For centuries the Chinese have cultivated food as medicine and used cooking as a conduit to bring out the medicinal vales of various foodstuffs. Western thought uses food to provide energy and nutrition, with medicine as a separate category to treat illness. But Chinese feel that all food has a unique capacity to aid in promoting and retaining health. The way food is cooked and combined, along with the amount, the time of year and the person eating it – all combine in a positive way to support health. It can be suggested that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) originated in the kitchen and has never really left.   Ancient chefs, such as the aforementioned Yi Yin, preached the value of a diverse diet and devised specific preferences that each internal organ needed to remain healthy (heart & mind -- bitter taste; the liver--sour; the lung--pungent; the 'spleen' -- sweat; and the kidneys, reproductive and adrenal functions -- salty). He and others were regarded as more than purveyors of food; rather they resembled a combined sort of physician/magician, making chefs greatly revered.