Macrobiotic Cooking
MACROBIOTIC COOKING
Cooking is an important element of our activities and takes a prominent role at Macrobiotic School Japan. Cooking is also a central aspect of the macrobiotic way of life and everyone is encouraged to learn the basics and enjoy cooking. Nutritional science has made progress in recent years noticing that whole foods offer many advantages. Also recognizing that traditional plant based diets are the most suitable for maintaining nutritional balance and helping prevent lifestyle related diseases and many other conditions common in our society.
However, little development has yet been done in the area of cooking and we would like to contribute to fill this gap. Paying attention to suitable food proportions and food quality are two important aspects to consider when beginning to eat in a healthful way. But just as vital is food preparation and the way we eat. Because no matter how good the foods may be, if they are not properly cooked or eaten we end up losing much of their benefits.
Cooking has always been an essential healthful aspect of traditional food cultures and close attention was given to the whole process of food preparation. But because this aspect has not yet been carefully evaluated and examined by nutrition science, cooking remains poorly understood and little appreciated today. Meanwhile traditional food cultures are becoming lost and their precious ways of producing, preparing, and cooking food are not being passed down to younger and future generations.
“We will guide you every step of the way to help you become a good cook”
We are committed to help you become a good cook. Cooking requires basic skills that can only be attained through practice. Our main course, The Macrobiotic Way Program, have been devised to guide you every step of the way through the whole process of cooking. Our hands-on approach will help you develop your cooking ability and begins with the very essentials including careful selection of wholesome ingredients, through preparation, mindful cooking, graceful serving, and attentive tasting.
“Macrobiotic cooking is not difficult and everyone can get started.”
Macrobiotic cooking is not difficult and everyone can get started. Keep in mind that every good cook when they first entered the kitchen they did not know how to cook. And along with guidance, practice, repetition, and diligence they acquired the dexterities required to become good cooks. For those who already know how to cook this training will also be profitable because macrobiotic cooking pays close attention to details that are usually overlooked. And it is often in the little things that we find the most significance in life.
“Macrobiotic cooking has no limits and it all depends on your ability and intent.”
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Once you learn the basics, you can then continue to develop your cooking as much as you want and in any direction you choose. Possibilities for cooking in a macrobiotic way are endless and can include simple daily fare, quick cooking for those with limited time, family favorites, healthy adaptations of popular contemporary dishes and sweets, variations on regional and traditional styles of cooking, arrangements in international ways, fusion of foods and cooking styles, elaborate preparation presented in more refined ways such as those served in restaurants and cafes, or in any other style that you may wish to cook. Macrobiotic cooking has no limits and it all depend on your ability and intent.
Cooking may also be perceived as an art and as with any art it also requires originality and creativity. The key is maintaining quality and a good sense of balance so that the food we prepare besides being tasty, satisfying or beautifully presented can also serve the purpose of being wholesome and healthful. And while everyone can get started cooking in a macrobiotic way anytime, mastering the art of cooking is a lifetime endeavor since there is always more to learn, skills to refine and new ways to discover. At Macrobiotic School Japan we organize a variety of workshops for exploring new and delicious ways of cooking with wholesome foods and help develop the culinary arts in a more healthful direction.
In addition to learning how to cook well and being able to prepare delicious healthful meals, macrobiotic cooking incorporates certain unique aspects that we would also like to transmit to you. In macrobiotics we approach cooking in a holistic way that not only looks at food from a physical or nutritional aspect, but also from an energetic point of view. This implies that each food contains a certain energetic quality that can be further altered through the process of cooking for your own advantage and desired outcome.
“The idea of using Yin and Yang in the kitchen is to acquire an innate sense of balance that will be reflected in your cooking in dynamic ways.”
One way to achieve this is through the application of traditional Oriental principles of Yin (also referred as expansion/cooling effect) and Yang (also referred as contraction/warming effect) in food selection and cooking. The idea of using Yin and Yang in the kitchen is to acquire an innate sense of balance that will be reflected in your cooking in dynamic ways.
Yin and Yang provides a tool that will enable you to come up with dishes and meals that are nourishing and harmonize well with the environment whether seasonal changes or differences in climate among others. It is also helpful to create improvements in your condition and adapt your way of eating to your own particular needs and lifestyle. The application of Yin and Yang in the kitchen results in enhanced health and greater overall balance that manifests as a deeper sense of wellbeing and renewed vitality.
Based on a balanced macrobiotic way of cooking along with some adjustments and specifications, a variation is included which is specifically designed to help improve health. This way of cooking is based on a deep understanding of food and makes a more detailed use of Yin and Yang principles including the application of The Five Stages of Energy Transformation theory (abbreviated as the Five Transformations and also known as the Five Elements theory).
“Health and harmony begin in the fields and backyards, kitchens and pantries, where our food is grown and prepared.”
This modification of the macrobiotic way of cooking and eating includes the selection of specific foods, carefully chosen food combinations, and particular ways of cooking them for preparing especial dishes and simple beverages. It is also used for planning specialized menus and making some adjustments in the way of eating all of which can be used to treat a wide range of conditions, strengthen the function of specific organs and body systems, and make improvements in the energy flow within the body.
“A balanced diet derived from everyday natural foods is the best preventive medicine.”
This unique approach to food and cooking has many applications for preventing and helping relieve many conditions and chronic disorders that is introduced and expounded in The Macrobiotic Way Program. Based on the traditional notion that food may be used to improve our health, this modern interpretation is a practical tool enabling us to take health into our own hands more easily and effectively from the kitchen. And it is also helpful for those wishing to complement the macrobiotic dietary and lifestyle approach to health along with other therapies and healing practices to achieve better results.