[ARTS] Recipes - How to Cook with "How to Cook Your Life"

[Shosho]

Just in case anyone needs context, "How to Cook Your Life," is a book by Uchiyama Rōshi, featuring a commentary to Dōgen's Tenzo Kyōkun.

I've read this book a few Angos ago and since then it is my to-go book if I feel like I need to reconnect with the path. I am a cooking enthusiast. I love a good cookbook (which is any cook book).

Treeleaf is perfect as it is. With its perfects and imperfects. But! Where is the cooking? Where is the shojin ryori, or any adaptation of it? How have you, as a Buddhist practitioner, navigated vegetarianism/veganism?

In any case, I'd like to stir a few thoughts in a pot. If anyone wants to chat about vegetarian cooking which could integrate a Zen spice, then...Hi, I'm Shoshō and I'd like to know how you season your tofu.

My recent cookbook purchase is The Complete Tassajara Cookbook by Edward Espe Brown. I don't agree with his choice of pans.

Apologies if this post isn't on the correct thread.

Gasshō,
Shoshō
satlah

[Bion]

I was a vegetarian for maybe 7 years or so. I am not anymore. Cooking as a vegetarian was fun, and exploring the variety of ingredients and how to use them was quite an exercise, especially in a carnivore country like Spain. I like to look at cooking more from of a Nyoho perspective, or put differently, what does it mean to engage the Way when we feed ourselves? Nyoho always speaks in terms of amount, material and color. Many folks think Nyoho is only about the Okesa and sewing, but it is a much bigger thing. "What is the appropriate thing in this moment?" is always the pertinent question. How much food to make? How much do I need? Am I being greedy? Am I being too picky? Am I showing respect for the efforts that brought this food to me? Given that the entire world is contributing to my having this food, am I worthy of receiving such a gift? Do I fuel the fire of sensual desire through how I cook, eat and treat my food? Etc It is a continuous exploration of "this body-mind", of oneself, in relation to food.

Vegetarianism, on the other hand, is more of a Mahayana buddhist things. The Buddha was not a vegetarian and did not require us monks to be vegetarian. The idea is to receive the generous gift of food wholeheartedly, to not make it into an object of clinging and to use food as nourishment for our bodies as we practice the Way.

Have you tried the very simple cold tofu seasoned with olive oil, salt and basil? (more recipes here: SHOJIN RYOURI>> )

Apologies for running a bit long. Can't make this shorter than it is

Gassho
sat lah

[Kokuu]

Hi Shoshō!

Maybe we should have a forum area to share recipes? How to Cook Your Life is one of my very favourite Zen books and you may know that there is a film with the same name which is a documentary about Edward Espe Brown. I love his Tassajara Bread Book but for some reason The Complete Tassajara Cookbook is one I use very seldom.

Another food related Zen book you might enjoy, if you haven't already, is Gesshin Claire Greenwood's Just Enough which is a collection of recipes and thoughts from her time working in the kitchen of Japanese monasteries.

With regard to my own cooking, I like to keep it simple with good seasonal ingredients, and I always have bottles of mirin and tamari on hand, and furikake for seasoning. My favourite part is preparing vegetables, as you can really get to know them as you chop and use as much of each as you can.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

[Bob-Midwest]

Longtime vegan here, not cause some past figure, who may or may not have exited said so or not, but because it’s an unarguably a great way to reduce unmatched suffering and damage to the planet and my fellow humans.
Enjoy your cooking.

[Naiko]

Hi Shoshō,

I am interested in shojin ryori as well, but I am somewhat intimidated by it. There’s a quiet elegance and subtlety to it that I feel I’m incapable of mastering. Many traditional Japanese foods do make it into my daily cooking though (I’m making miso next weekend). I tend to make very homey and spicy meals. Always vegan. I marinate tofu in a bit of shoyu, sriracha and maple syrup before baking or air frying.

I believe my search to understand this life and my place in it led me to both veganism and Buddhism. I arrived at each separately, but to me they are intimately connected. This is what works for me.

My most recent cookbook purchase was Comida Casera by Dora Ramirez. It has vegan Mexican recipes, traditional and modern. The tortilla is perhaps one of humanity’s greatest achievements! Seriously.

Gassho,
Naiko
Sorry to run long. Stlah.

[Jundo]

Hi Shoshō!

Maybe we should have a forum area to share recipes?

That's a great suggestion. How about I move this thread to the ARTS section, where it can be a continuing thread with people offering recipes and such? Or, start another thread there for that ...

https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/treeleaf/practices/treeleaf-arts-music-sports-circle

It is the "Art of Cooking," after all!

Gassho, J
stlah

[Shinshi]

"How to Cook Your Life" is a favorite of mine and I really enjoyed the video as well. I like Gesshin Claire Greenwood's book because it is a nice balance between recipes and life stories.

The Sotoshu has some recipies.

https://www.sotozen.com/eng/practice/food/cooking/recipe.html

I looked into this a while ago and these are books I thought looked interesting:

• Zen Vegan Food: Delicious Plant-based Recipes from a Zen Buddhist Monk Hardcover – by Koyu Iinuma
• The Zen Monastery Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from a Zen Kitchen Paperback – by Cheri Huber
• 3 Bowls: Vegetarian Recipes from an American Zen Buddhist Monastery - by Edward Farrey and Nancy O'Hara
• Zen River Cookbook: Essentials by Tamara Myoho Gabrysch
• Zen River Cookbook: Recipes from a Western Zen Temple, Volume 2 - by Tamara Myoho Gabrysch

Just in case it is helpful.

Gassho,

Shinshi

[Seiko]

Please take a pinch of salt with my comments, I am a priest in training with much to learn.

Pardon me for going off at a tangent ...

What each of us chooses to eat is very personal. Debate about vegan, vegetarian and omnivore diets can all too often become inflamed.
But here's something different -
Rob Percival, Head of Food Policy for the Soil Association, wrote an eye opening book that I'd recommend to anyone who eats. It's called "The Meat Paradox". He presents the arguments and reaches the conclusion that *most* people in the West should eat LESS meat. In parallel to that, he says that, in certain regions of the globe, where the people suffer malnutrition year after year, their health would really benefit from eating MORE meat.

It's a page turner.

Gasshō, Seiko, stlah

[Shosho]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions on tofu and cookbooks!

Bion - thanks for sharing this! I had never connected Nyoho to the sentence "handle it as if it were your own eyes."

Kokuu - that documentary was an eye opener. Never saw a priest wrestle with a cheese pack! (available here to anyone interested: https://www.cultureunplugged.com/doc...cook-your-life)

Jundo - I would not mind having a thread or move this to another place. I think it would be interesting to experiment, thanks!

Gassho,
Shosho
satlah

[Jundo]

Okay, I created a little section in our Arts area, and moved this thread there to keep. I also found another recent thread on recipes which I moved there too!

https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/treeleaf/practices/treeleaf-arts-music-sports-circle/zen-cooking-aa

Bon apetit!

Gassho, Jundo
stlah