Page 4 'RAIN November 1976 Sometimes all the pieces of a puzzle come together in a very fine way, de.lighting our minds' search for wholistic patterns. It happened the other day when Bill Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi walked into the RAIN House bearing copies of their Book of Tofu and Book ofMiso arid a vision that links together world food utilization, good eating, cottage industry, local self-reliance ·and a Zen way of thinking. They are a fine example of what a couple of people can do with a strong pur- . pose and lots of well-directed energy and generosity. An initial love of tofu and curiosity about its making led to research in Japan, the writing of tWo very fine and thorough books on tofu and miso (see below), and to a resulting mushrooming of interest in these protein-rich food products. Bill and Akiko have set up the New-Age Foods Study Center to help carry out their work and now divide their time between networking here to help development of tofu and miso-making and s~udying and writing in Japan about food processihg techniques. · Bill is learning the new art of sea far,ming-the cultivation of a wealth of vegetables common to the Japanese diet-nori, wakame, kombu, agar, kelp and more. They have also discovered that kuzu, a valuable delicacy in Japan, grows wild all over the Southern part of the USA, where it is presently considered an uncontrollable pest. They are planning a book on the.full story of using kuzu in cookery and natural medicine, aswell as employing the plant for fodder, fertilizer and erosion control. (LdeM) TOFU and MISO Tofu-also known in the West as bean curd or soybean cakehas been the low-cost protein backbone of the East Asian diet · for more than 2,000 years. Discovered. by a Chinese prince in · 164 B.C., tofu is·presently the single most important soybean food for more than one billion people and is prepared fresh each morning at 38,000 shops in Japan alone. Now widely available across America, tofu is the answer that millions of nutrition- and cost-conscious people have been searching for. Natural and inexpensive, it makes fullest use of the earth's nutritional resources-and offers a resolutionary yet simple approach to meeting the world's critical food requirements. - A Family of Distinctively Varied Foods For many of us in the West, the word "tofu" refers to the most popular variety, known for its firm custard-like texture, delicate flavor and cream-white color. However, in its broader sense, "tofu" refers to a family of more than fourteen different high-p.rotein soybean foods, .each with its own unique flavor, texture and appearance; each suited to distinctively different types of cookery. The various forms include deep-fried, grilled, wine-fermented and silken-smooth tofu, plus a host of others, as shown in figure 1. Each is available in the West at natural food stores, co-ops, supermarkets, Japanese and Chinese food markets, or, at reduced rates, directly from the more than ~5 tofu shops now in operation throughout Amedca. These tasty and highly nutritious tofu products are versatile enough to become indispensable -ingredients in many of your favorite Western-style dishes, including dressings, spreads, dips and hors d'oeuvres; salads, sandwiches, soups and sauces; egg, vegetable and grain preparations; barbecued and deepfried specialties, casseroles, and even desserts. A traditional favorite in vegetarian cuisine, tofu can serve as the key to planning delicious.meatless meals. A Storehouse of High-Ouality Protein Nutritionally, tofu is perhaps the finest known source of lowcost, high-quality protein, free of choiesterol and low in . saturated fats and calo~ies. The protein value of any food depends on two basic factors: the quantity of protein in the EATING HIGH AND LIGHTLY food and the quality of that protein. Quantity is usually expressed as a simple percentage of weight. By comparing the following figures, it can be seen that tofu and other soybean products rank at the top of the l(st-ahead of_meats and dairy products. Food · Dried-frozen tofu Soy flour (defatted) Dry soybeans Cheeses Fish Chicken Beef (steak) Tofu pouches (agel %Protein By Weight 53 51 3.5 30 . 22 ' 21 20 19 Food Tofu burger (ganmo) Hamburger Eggs %Protein By Weight 15 13 13 Chinese-style tofu (doufu) Tofu cutlets (thick agel Tofu 11 10 Brown rice (uncooked) Milk (whole) Due to the principle of protein complementarity-explained in detail in Frances Moore Lappe's best-selling Diet for a Small Planet-tofu's unique amino acid composition makes it not only a basic protein source, but also a truly remarkable protein booster. Since tofu contains an abundance of lysine, an essential amino acid that is deficient in many grain products, the use of even small amounts of tofu together with these cereal foods can produce large increases in usable protein. For example, by serving only 2% ounces of tofu together with 1 cup of brown rice, we obtain 32 percent more protein than if we served these foods separately. A rich source of calcium, tofu provides about 3.8 percent of the daily requirement per 8-ounce serving and has therefore served as a key calcium source in countries and diets where dairy products are not 'widely used. It is also rich in iron and contains a healthy balance of vitamins and other minerals. Unlike so many other high-protein foods, tofu has an alkaline composition which promotes long life and good health. Low ·in chemical toxins, tofu and soybeans have only about onetwentiety the pesticide levels found on the average in meats, fish and poultry. For the rapidly increasing number of Westerners who find that a meatless or vegetarian diet makes good sense-whether
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