"When you cook with your heart, that's really good chef-ing"

While Chef Vinita is generally upbeat, she positively glows this morning as she gives her Macrobiotics lecture. She says she has previously taught three-month programs on the subject, so synthesizing it into an hour's lecture is challenging.

The term comes from two Greek words, makro (long) and bios (life). The main principle is one of balance, the yin and yang, as well as the belief that your health, well-being and happiness are strongly influenced by your food. Some of the concepts we find so "contemporary" and even obvious, such as the mind/body connection, moderation in all things, living in the moment: these precepts were considered revolutionary when they became widely publicized in the US in the 1960s.

My earliest encounter with macrobiotics was through my "study" (translation: slavish fan behavior) of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In their 1980 interview with David Sheff of Playboy Magazine (which I own in hardcover, evidence of slavish fan behavior), they provide a fairly succinct definition of the philosophy:

PLAYBOY: What does your diet include besides sashimi and sushi, Hershey bars and cappuccinos?

LENNON: We're mostly macrobiotic, but sometimes I take the family out for a pizza.

ONO: Intuition tells you what to eat. It's dangerous to try to unify things. Everybody has different needs. We went through vegetarianism and macrobiotic, but now, because we're in the studio, we do eat some junk food. We're trying to stick to macrobiotic: fish and rice, whole grains. You balance foods and eat foods indigenous to the area. Corn is the grain from this area.

PLAYBOY: And you both smoke up a storm.

LENNON: Macrobiotic people don't believe in the big C. Whether you take that as a rationalization or not, macrobiotics don't believe that smoking is bad for you. Of course, if we die, we're wrong.

One key component of the macrobiotic diet is flexibility: staying true to your geographic and seasonal location, and acknowledging that our individual differences affect a "balanced" diet. It's not a cookie-cutter approach: in fact, George Oshawa, the Japanese philosopher who is credited with codifying macrobiotic principles and bringing them to the West (via Paris), described ten "ideal" diets.

Andy and I talked about the differences between the vegan diet and macrobiotics, at least as presented by Chef Vinita, over today's buffet. Macrobiotics seems to be a positive, affirming philosophy, with an emphasis on individuality and balance, whereas a vegan diet seems more about saying "no," and "I will not."

I spent the morning making two "puddings" and some green beans. The beans were very simple: trimmed, blanched, then briefly sautéed in sesame oil and sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds and sea salt. Beautiful. The puddings were a side-by-side grain comparison. I cooked both brown rice and millet. (Millet = "The birdseed you see in the pet store," according to Chef Vinita. "I love it!") Then each was further simmered with apple juice, cinnamon and a touch of sea salt. (Salt is generously used in macrobiotics, as opposed to vegan cooking, where we were urged to use it sparingly, if at all.) I finished each pudding by stirring in a big handful of freshly toasted chopped walnuts. They were both delicious, with the rice having more body overall. I brought home leftovers, because I think they'll be great for weekend breakfast, rewarmed and topped with a big spoonful of that luscious (full-fat, non-macrobiotic) Greek yogurt.

We also had stir-fried marinated tofu, a green salad with bean sprouts and a carrot-miso dressing, red snapper with mango salsa, coconut milk risotto, stir-fried vegetables, Jamaican-spiced pinto beans, and three soups: miso, barley/mushroom, and a gingery winter vegetably purée. Dava roasted barley and made an iced tea with it, which was surprisingly refreshing. Nutty. (It's a common adjective when describing our dishes, lately.) I tasted the tofu, but not the cauliflower. I'm learning where my true limits actually are.

Jim and Travis were in class today, though Aaron wasn't, and Rudy's been missing all week. "He's gonna have a lot of work to make up," Derrick said, as we were cleaning up after our tasting. "He'll have to make a tempeh wedding cake."

In a separate conversation, Silvia asked, "How big is a bunny egg?" [She also stood for several hours at Pier 27 when the Queen Mary II was in town — she wanted to get a glimpse of Her Majesty, debarking.]

And just in time for Saint Patrick's Day ("Amateur Night," as Chef Afreen noted), we learned that a cup of miso soup is a most excellent hangover remedy.