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In China, food and its preparation has been developed so highly that it has reached the status of an art form. Rich and poor, the Chinese people consider that delicious and nutritious food is a basic necessity. There is an old Chinese saying “Food is the first necessity of the people”.

This art has been cultivated and refined over hundreds of years. Legend has it that the culture of Chinese cuisine originated in the 15th century BC during the Shang dynasty and was originally introduced by Yi Yin, it’s first Prime Minister.

The two dominant philosophies of Chinese culture both had extreme influences on the political and economic history of the country but it is less well known that they also influenced the development of the culinary arts.

Confucius emphasised the artistic and social aspects of cookery and eating. The Chinese don’t gather together without involving food – it is considered to be poor etiquette to invite friends to your home without providing appropriate food.

Confucius established standards of cooking and table etiquette, most of which remain to this day. The most obvious example of this is the cutting of bite-sized pieces of meat and vegetables during the course of the food preparation in the kitchen, rather than using a knife at the table which is not considered to be good manners.

Confucius also encouraged the blending of ingredients and flavourings to become a cohesive dish, rather than tasting the individual components. Harmony was his priority. He believed and taught that without harmony of ingredients there could be no taste. He also emphasised the importance of presentation and the use of colour, texture and decoration of a dish. Most importantly, cooking became an art rather than a task to be endured and certainly he was instrumental in promulgating the philosophy of “live to eat” rather than “eat to live”.

On the other hand, Tao encouraged research into the nourishment aspects of food and cookery. Rather than concentrating on taste and appearance, Taoists were more interested in the life-giving properties of food.

Centuries on, the Chinese have discovered the health-giving properties of all sorts of roots, herbs, fungus and plants. They have taught the world that the nutritional value of vegetables is destroyed by over-cooking (particularly boiling) and in addition have found that things with a great flavour also have medicinal value.

Home cooked Chinese food is extremely healthy, even though much of it is fried. This is due to the use of polyunsaturated oils (used only once and discarded) and the exclusion of dairy products. In addition the inclusion of animal fat is minimal because portions of meat are small.

Extreme sports (also known as an action sport) is a term for any of several newer sports involving adrenaline-inducing action. They often feature a combination of speed, height, danger and spectacular stunts. Levels of danger vary widely, but there is always an element – an “extreme” factor – that causes an adrenaline rush which keeps participants loyal to their sport. Some participants termed ‘adrenaline junkies’ develop an obsession with their sport and even claim to be “addicted to adrenaline”. (This is the result of a misnomer, since often the high obtained is a product of increased levels of dopamine endorphins and serotonin).

Extreme sports are most often pursued by young adults who wish to push their own limits of fear and physical ability, and in doing so, also help to push the limits of their sport as a whole. Because of this youthful demographic, extreme sports often attract their own kind of youth culture with associated clothing fashions and music. Indeed, the distinction between an extreme sport and a conventional sport is often as much due to marketing as the level of danger involved or the adrenaline generated. For example, snowboarding has a more extreme image than skiing mainly because it is newer, even though skiing is a faster and at least equally dangerous way of getting down the mountain. Also, only individual sports are generally considered to be extreme, so a sport like Rugby Union, though dangerous and adrenaline-inducing, is disqualified both by its traditional image and because it is a team sport.

The term gained popularity with the advent of the X Games, a made-for-television collection of such events. Advertisers were quick to realise the appeal of the event and competitors and organisers are now flooded with sponsorship. The high profile of extreme sports and the culture surrounding them has also led people to invent jokey parodies, such as Extreme ironing, urban housework, extreme croquet, extreme unicycling, house gymnastics, and extreme wheelbarrow.

Purists often reject the stereotypical “adrenaline junkie” image and enjoy their activities for many diverse reasons. Practitioners might enjoy developing their physical and/or mental skills, seek mastery of inhospitable environments, look to escape from the mundane rigours of day-to-day existence, or simply love the wilderness environment in which many of these sports take place. Bob Drury, a paraglider pilot says:

“We do these things not to escape life, but to prevent life escaping us”.

Or, alternatively, from an anonymous source:

“All who live, die. But not all who die have lived.”

Several extreme sports, including snowboarding, were included in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Some extreme sports have been around for many decades and the proponents span many generations, often including well known personalities. For example rock climbing and ice climbing has spawned such immortal names as Edmund Hillary, Chris Bonington and more recently Joe Simpson. Another example is Surfing, which was originally invented centuries ago by the native inhabitants of Hawaii.

Extreme Sports are the latest craze in our culture and kids as young as four and five years old are fascinated with it. As a parent of a 16 year old who has been skateboarding and surfing since he was seven, I can tell you that it does make you nervous when they do the crazy tricks. Some people hate extreme sports and some people think they are a blessing, let’s take a closer look.

The positive side of kids being involved in extreme sports in that they are out getting exercise and the television in your living room is starting to collect dust, plus your electric bill is lower. You have probably been hoping for this to happen for awhile but you aren’t sure about the choice of sports. Although skateboarding is probably the first of the extreme sports, it is only the beginning. Some of the others that kids are really getting into these days include BMX biking and trickblading.

BMX bikes are like a regular bike on steroids, they are built heavy and tough to be able to take the punishment of all the jumps and tricks, plus they have special pegs for the feet and padding to protect the biker where they are most likely to come in contact with the bike. These bikes are designed mainly for tricks and racing and are mostly used on dirt tracks and courses.

Trickbladers use the same parks as skateboarders and wear specially designed roller blades with smaller thicker wheels and have an added feature called a grind plate to help them do tricks like sliding down rails. I know, it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it! The idea is to be able to do a lot of the same tricks performed by skateboarders.

Skateboarding is thought of as the original extreme sport beginning in the 1960s when surfers put wheels on short boards to give them a way to cross train when the surf wasn’t up. These early skateboarders are probably amazed at the way the sport has developed with the huge half pipes and long rails that you see skateboarders riding today. It just makes me cringe to watch as they slide down a handrail while standing on a skateboard but incredibly my son has done it for over nine years and never broken a bone.

If you are like me, the first time that you watch your child go sailing through the air on a jump or paddling out in eight foot surf you will feel like your heart is going to pound out of your chest and you will be cringing every time they fall but as long as they have the right safety gear and are always with a buddy they will be fine, injuries are far more common in traditional sports. Encourage your kids, these days it’s hard to get them to like anything.