by happyass » 02 Aug 2007, 08:09
well, it looks overwhelming. but with anything new you try, you want to go into it slowly and explore a few things at a time.
i like to think of myself going in the direction of macrovegetarian.
i take principles from macrobiotics and apply them (i am not even 30% close as i haven't grasped the cooking styles, the seasons and how they fit in, and understanding the yin/yang concepts, etc.) but also trying to keep vegetarian friendly. mostly organic and without putting refined items in my body - this is hard to do while traveling for work; at least for me it is.
the great thing about macrobiotics is that it doesn't make you abandon fish and chicken. or meat for that matter. you want to have organic. you want to have as white meat as you can - hence chicken and fish are the best options. and if you need to, you can have meat, as long as it is lean and very sparingly - and not the main portion of your meal.
however, you can also explore other great meat alternative such as tempeh and seitan and veggie meatballs, hot dogs, sausage (i love this the best as a substitute in my lasagna or spaghetti or baked ziti).
other than that, there are a lot of great things to come from macrobiotics and one of the hardest ones is incorporating miso soup in your diet if you are not used to it. the good thing is that there are many types of miso soup bases and many ways to make it. i don't make it using dashi as i think that is nasty. but authentic japanese miso soup has dashi. i just can't do it.
if you use salt, stop. get sea salt. or better yet, find some gomasio - this is sea salt with seasame seeds. it's very tasty and adds flavor where you normally use salt.
i also love tekka. it's a ground condiment that adds a dark rich flavor and looks like grinded coffee beans but very soft. it is tasty over rice, in soups, on pasta, or even steamed veggies.
also, it helps if you take an approach using the principles of macrobiotics and finding more down to earth, american equivalents to help you make the transition instead of overloading with all these asian ingredients. of course, unless if you want to.
modern day macrobiotics is a great new paperback book by simon brown.
the macrobiotic way by michio kushi is a great theory/practice book that started it all in the us. it is old but in reprint but gives you a very strict regimen history and ideas of how to incorporate it. i go back to this book for inspiration although i don't recommend it to convert over night. it takes time. but the book does well in explaining important principles and history.