Energetic Food Temperatures according to Rambam (Maimonides)

In summer, one should eat cold foods without excessive amounts of spices, and one should also eat vinegar. In the winter, one should eat hot foods with lots of spices, and small quantities of mustard and asafoetida as well. One should also follow this rule in hot or cold places, and in any place where it is suitable to do so.
From: Rambam’s (Maimonides’) Mishna Torah

Foods for the summer
What does the Rambam mean when he says to eat cold foods in the summer? Does he mean to eat frozen ice cream, chilled coke with ice and cold fruit? Clearly not. For one thing, there were no frozen foods in the 12th century, and secondly, he advices people to warm their bodies prior to eating. Obviously eating cold foods is counterproductive to a warm body. The Rambam is not talking about physically cold foods, he is talking about energetically cold foods. In order to understand this concept we first need to understand how food is viewed in the medical system of the Rambam.

Cold foods
According to Greco-Unani medicine and all Eastern medical models, foods posses a pre- and post- digestive temperature. This does not mean the actual physical temperature of the food. It means the effect the food has on the metabolism of the body post digestively. Energetically cold foods not only lower the basal temperature of the body they also tend to slow down the metabolism and circulation. Warm foods, conversely raise the basal body temperature while stimulating and invigorating the metabolism and blood circulation. Energetically cold foods also tend to be quickly digested and excreted by the body, not providing long-lasting energy and sustenance. Fruits and vegetables are examples of cold foods. They are quickly digested, provide a quick boost, but do not provide long lasting energy and warmth (try only eating fruits in the winter and see how you feel). In large amounts these foods actually hinder digestion. This is evidenced by the fact that large amounts of these foods, particularly in their physically cold and raw forms, produce digestive upsets such as gas, bloating and diarrhea.

Digestion is a warm process
Being that the body is naturally warm and digestion is a warm metabolic function, warm, cooked foods are most easily digested by the body and therefore should make up the bulk of a persons diet. Though cold foods do have a place in the diet. In moderation, they can be used to maintain balance by cooling an excessively hot body (working in the sun) and can balance a meal when hot/spicy foods are eaten. But excessive amounts of cold foods are depleting to the body and difficult to digest. They should only be eaten in small amounts and when the body is strong, just enough to balance the body. Additionally, cooking fruits and vegetables and adding spices sufficiently warms them up to take the cold “edge” off, making them more balanced and easier to digest, while retaining their therapeutic cold nature.
Spices tend to be warm and should be limited during the summer so as not to create too much heat within the body.
To Summarize, being that in the summer our bodies are hot and easily overheat, we should eat smaller meals of warm nourishing foods with the addition of more fruits and vegetables. If fruits are eaten, eat them as a seperate meal or snack so as to not upset the digestion.

Vinegar
The advice to drink some vinegar in the summer is very prudent being that vinegar, among other things, protects the body from food poising. Vinegar also promotes appetite and aids digestion. For this purpose drink one to two teaspoons of non distilled, natural apple cider vinegar mixed in some water before meals.
Vinegar possesses some very useful health benefits. According to Chinese medical theory, vinegar functions to relieve food poisoning, stops bleeding, invigorates blood circulation, resolves toxins, inhibits bacteria and kills intestinal worms. In professional Chinese medicine, various Chinese medicinals are stir fried in vinegar in order to either help target them to the live-gallbladder or to increase their functions of moving the qi and quickening the blood.

Winter foods
During the winter when it is cold outside and the threat of colds and flu are real it is important to eat foods that are energetically warming with lots of spices. These foods will not only aid digestion, they will also warm our bodies by increasing our circulation. Warm spices also have anti microbial properties that protect us from colds and flu and can actually treat them during the early stages of an illness. Spices that are in the warm-hot category also act to increase digestive enzymes, cellular metabolic function, and ensure complete assimilation of micro nutrients. Spices also protect the stomach from rotten food and keep foods fresher longer, preventing them from rotting.
Eating and drinking hot temperature foods and drinks, such as hot water and soup, do not heat the body deeply enough and do not stimulate metabolic fire. For this warming spices are needed.

Mustard and asafoetida
Mustard and asafoetida are warm spices that the Rambam recommends be taken during the winter. Asafoetida is a very popular spice and has been in use since the Roman times in the Middle East, Persia and India. It is an essential ingredient in Indian cooking, imparting a pleasant onion/garlic flavor to dishes and is a regular substitute for garlic. In its raw form it is incredibly odorous, reminiscent of rotten garlic. But with cooking, the flavor mellows considerably. It possesses numerous health benefits namely protecting and enhancing digestion, preventing and treating colds and flu and is of great value in coughs and asthma. It is called ‘hing’ in Indian markets and it is popularly used as a mixture called ‘hingashtak,’ which is a compound powder of fried asafoetida, ginger, pippli long pepper, black pepper, ajowan (carom), cumin seeds, nigella seeds (also known as black caraway, black cumin, or wild onion seed) and rock salt. Being that it is very helpful for food stagnation, weak digestion and flatulence it is of great value during holidays when large meals are eaten.
Black mustard seeds are used more than the white mustard seeds for medicinal purposes. For this purpose use mustard powder or crushed mustard seeds and add to dishes during cooking. Mustard is a valuable remedy for winter coughs, stimulates appetite and digestion and increases blood circulation.

General guideline
The last sentence of the paragraph is teaching us how to follow the diet in any situation or locale. Rambam instructs us that these principle should be followed by everyone regardless where they live by following the principle of “warming coldness and cooling heat.” Whether we live in a cold climate or a hot one, whether on mountains or by the sea, simply follow the “principle of opposites.”
This principle is the cornerstone of many healing traditions including Chinese and Indian dietetics and is the key principle in many herbal traditions the world over.