Macrobiotics in Toledo

So our Japan trip is finally done. We stopped briefly in Portland, OR and got to visit some of the great food carts that opened up while we were gone, like Native Bowl and Homegrown Smoker. Both were amazing, and they are stark reminders about why we need to get back to Portland as soon as possible.

We are now staying in a little suburb near Toledo, OH, and this might be harder than being in Japan. About an hour away is Ann Arbor, which has a Whole Foods (blech) and the People's Food Co-op (YES!) so we are certainly covered for any rare essentials, but the day to day is a bit rough. The local Kroger's, the midwest grocery superchain, has a 'natural foods' section, which, to its credit, carries alot of decent stuff. You can buy tofu dogs, varied alternative flours, gluten-free this-and-that, and even agave nectar.

Unfortunately, they have notsomuch in the way of organic produce. I hadn't been too interested in organics until recently... I had found that a few things (like avocados!) were worth buying organic, but other than that, I couldn't really see the point. Now, like many of us, after doing research on big agribusiness, GMO products, and various other horrors, I am finally understanding the importance of real organics.

In Japan the organic and 'eco' movements are very 'in'. In some ways, its great because I think if you truly believe in capitalism, this is how capitalism solves the environmental issue: people will pay out of pocket to save the earth. But the bad part is that because we live in a capitalist society, people are going to try to make some money off of this. And therefore, there's going to be greenwashing, and theres going to be 'natural' product labeling, and there's gonna be people just doing organic food as a way to get paid. Tokyoites seem to have cash (no car payments, possibly no rent, low unemployment...) and to some I'm sure organics are just another luxury item, like Louis Vuitton or the Green Car Trains, or $100 watermelons.

That being said, a large portion of the eco-food movement is centered around macrobiotic cuisine, which is much like a vegan diet, but stricter on the healthy food part, and much less strict on the animal products part. Seemingly, it is okay to eat fish and even some dairy or meat on occasion, although they are way out there on the yin & yang scale that the macrobiotic philosophy is built upon. In our experiences, the only non-vegan things we saw while exploring some 'macrobi' dishes was honey. But you would certainly not see things like refined sugar, white flour, or anything like nutritional yeast or frozen 'soy nuggets'. While all of those things can certainly be vegan, they aren't neccessarily healthy, eco-friendly, or part of the 'whole foods' way of life.

Now, I must admit, before leaving for Japan I was a bit... chubbs. I was getting close to 215 lbs, and not feeling so great about it. But being in Japan separated us a scary distance from things we knew and loved, like nutritional yeast, veggie burgers, tofu dogs, and even bread. But in doing so, I discovered the value of fresh foods, the pure tastes of simple cucumbers and eggplant, and really how to enjoy cooking. And I lost 30 lbs in 3 months.

So I'm going to take a break from 'nooch and Tease and Mock Duck and Oreos and try to get into the healthy, 'real food' side of veganism. I've been meaning to challenge myself with some books that I know I will disagree with. I can only read so many self-congratulatory books on animal welfare, so I picked up a book by a -non vegan!- and decided to give it a shot. It's 'Cook Food' by Lisa Jervis and this book seems the one I have been waiting for. I have been getting really tired of near 3-hour recipes that call for such exact and exotic ingredients, and have longed for something that just tells me 'how-to-cook' instead of what-to-cook.

Anyway, I meant this to be kind of a wrap-up post, but I think Lauralyn and I still have a couple of posts in us before this project is finished. I also picked up a couple of Japanese vegan and macrobiotic cookbooks that I am planning on translating, so I will definitely be posting up some recipes. So keep us on your RSS for a little bit... even if we haven't been posting so much :)