Macrobiotic menu foods

Macrobiotic menu foods

What are the main macrobiotic food ingredients, main food categories, what kind of foods to eat daily in your menu plan?

When you are starting macrobiotic, concentrate on the simple menu plans before you get experienced and your macrobiotic recipe repertoire goes up and also your cooking style ability. Try to visit as many classes as possible at the beginning to widen your macrobiotic cooking, so you can supplement your menus with new food types. Basic macrobiotic menu does consist of few main macrobiotic food categories:

Whole Grain is the main food on your every plate, it does form 30-50% of the whole food plate. They can be cooked together with the beans, you can use them together with soups or mix with the vegetable and make a grain-vegetable salad. Sometimes you need to eat more vegetables and reduce the grain amount, your macrobiotic counsellor will tell you more details.

There are many condiments made from the whole grains. . You sprinkle them on top of your dishes lightly before eating them. These condiments are gomasio (made from roasted sesame and salt, melted together in the suribachi), powder from the shiso, goma-wakame and many other condiments that are very high in the minerals. You can buy these condiments at shops, but for gomasio it's always best if you prepare it fresh at home.

You will use many types of organic vegetables to compliment your whole grains. They are the second most important food (in the quantity meaning) after the whole grains. It's recommended by Aveline Kushi to use at least 7 different types of organic vegetables every day. But don't stress it too much. This is just the ideal, that's good to think about, but don't get obsessed. You can eat fresh uncooked vegetable salads many times through your week. Always consult exact amounts of each ingredient in your macrobiotic menu with macrobiotic expert counsellor. Sometimes raw vegetables are not suggested at all. The counsellor will tell you if you can use pickled veggies and how strong (with salt and pressing time) should they be.

Miso soup made from vegetables and miso is served every day. The amount used is 1-2 cups per person. It's usually made from onion, carrot, shitake mushrooms. All these ingredients are boiled together for 15 minutes and miso is added for the last 30 seconds of simmering. Try to make miso soup always different, by changing the vegetable types, cutting styles, cooking time, adding all kinds of seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, flax), using different types of cold pressed oils (sesame, sunflower).

Sea vegetables (seaweeds) are used daily in your macrobiotic menu, but in a very small amount in comparison to grains and vegetables. Recommended amount is 1 tablespoon of cooked seaweeds everyday. They are very rich in minerals and proteins. The types that are used: wakame, kombu, nori, aramame, hiziki.

Condiments as said above are used to give your food better taste. But don't overuse them because they are quite salty. It's good to use no more than 1/2 teaspoon per meal.

Pickles are used everyday to help your digestion and they have also alkaline effect on your body. Use them with 1-2 meals in your usual day. But be careful with the amount, because they are often quite salty. Use 1-2 slices of pickled vegetables. The most famous macrobiotic pickle is called takuan or pickle made from daikon (daikon radish pickle). Also organic sauerkraut is usually used for daily macrobiotic menu.

If you are thirsty, the number one macrobiotic drink is kukicha tea. You can drink it every day, after your meals or between them. Buy good quality kukicha teas made from roasted twigs. Drink the tea warm, not hot, not cold.

The other macrobiotic menu foods are: all kind of beans (adzuki, lentils, chickpeas), tofu, tempeh, seitan, natto - these are very rich in proteins and can form 10-15% of your plate. You can also use noodles, seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, flax), oats, natural sweeteners (rice syrup, rice malt, barley malt, maple syrup, fruits). Other foods can be incorporated into the menu if you know what you are doing or macrobiotic counsellor guides you. The informations provided in this article are only informative and are very basic and you should investigate more detailed descriptions of macrobiotic menu plans in the books of Kushi and many others.



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