ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997 TAG: 9704090010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES THE ROANOKE TIMES
LOTS OF PEOPLE light candles for special meals.
"I'm starting to light candles when I go in to cook," Patrick Branch said about the time he spends preparing his macrobiotic foods. "It feels like everything about it - the cooking and the eating - is more special."
On Saturday, Branch and food expert Nancy A. Maurelli will teach a basic course aimed at introducing people to macrobiotic cooking.
Macrobiotics is a much misunderstood and maligned concept, Branch and Maurelli said recently. They said that, to some extent, overly zealous practitioners caused macrobiotics to get a bad rap. And part of it is simply misinformation or mistrust about a system that is based on Oriental Yin and Yang rather than Occidental principles.
"It's not a new thing that came about in the '60s," Maurelli explained.
The word itself dates back about 2,500 years. Loosely translated, it means long life. It is often attributed to Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine. The discipline aims to create balance within philosophical, spiritual and dietary bounds.
"It's much more than a food angle. The whole reason for following the diet is to become a more balanced, peaceful person, and that would spread out from the individual through the community, to the nation, to the world," Maurelli said.
``It's also easier for people to hear it and to talk about it if you don't say macrobiotic `diet,' if you say it without the `d' word,'' Branch added.
Yet, diet - what you eat; the techniques that go into the food preparation; and the mindfulness with which the foods are eaten - is a big part of what macrobiotics is about.
Its dietary guidelines include eating correct combinations of only natural, organic, living, unprocessed, preferably locally grown and seasonal whole foods. "Someone living in Virginia and eating macrobiotically might not want to eat tropical fruits like bananas and pineapples because we don't grow them here, but stick more with apples and pears and peaches and grapes and the fruits that we do grow," Maurelli explained.
The diet is high in natural carbohydrates and low in animal protein. It encourages slow eating, thorough chewing and stopping eating before you're uncomfortably full.
A meal breaks down to about 50 percent to 60 percent grains, about one-third fresh vegetables, 10 percent soup, 10 percent beans and 5 percent sea vegetables.
Low-fat fish, eggs, fruits, seeds and nuts may also be used sparingly. The diet recommends avoiding white sugar, white flour, coffee, tea, chocolate, tobacco, alcohol and excess dairy and oils.
Macrobiotics' multi-syllabled name and specific guidelines and rules intimidate some people, who fear they'll do something wrong. But Branch said that for him, one of macrobiotics' most pleasant surprises was its simplicity.
"It was like coming home. It was so simple and it made such simple sense," he said.
Among its biggest challenges, Branch said, were: "In the beginning, I had this overeagerness to make complicated dishes." He'd also sometimes make too much food.
The diet's greatest joy: "It just seems very beautiful and constantly sort of interesting at each meal you're preparing," Branch said.
One of macrobiotics' most famous proponents was George Ohsawa, who popularized the diet around the end of World War II, when he purportedly used it to cure himself of tuberculosis. Since that time, the discipline and diet have often been attributed to cures of terminal diseases, such as cancers.
Branch said that he had for years been plagued with inexplicable infections, which in hindsight, he believes were at least partly caused by stress and hit-or-miss eating habits. Since becoming a serious macrobiotics practitioner about two years ago, his symptoms have disappeared, for which he credits his lifestyle and dietary changes.
However, both Branch and Maurelli emphasize that they are not making any curative claims about macrobiotics.
"Its concept as a cure needs to be examined," Maurelli said, pointing out that "possible preventive" might be a more accurate description.
"It provides an environment in which the body can heal itself. It's not a magic bullet. It's a reasonable, good way to eat and may have therapeutic value," Maurelli said.
Branch and Maurelli also clarified that they are not certified macrobiotic chefs. Branch is a classical artist and organic gardener. Maurelli, a certified lifestyle and weight management consultant, has 14 years of restaurant and catering experience, has taught cooking classes in Richmond, Charlottesville and Roanoke, and has written a weekly vegetarian cooking column for four years for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. She and her mother, Mary Ann Maurelli, R.D., operate Health Management Systems & Support, offering nutrition and exercise programming, at 315 King George Ave. in Roanoke.
"There are unquestionably people around here who are more expert at this than we are," Nancy Maurelli said.
She listed among those experts Bill Shaffer, who oversees purchasing for the macrobiotics section of the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op, and Annie Kay's Whole Foods co-owner Clark Webb, who recently began coordinating monthly macrobiotic potluck dinners in Blacksburg.
The next potluck, which is free and open to the public, will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday at 1003 Highland Circle, Blacksburg. Attendees are requested to bring a macrobiotic dish and its recipe. For information, call Webb at 552-4848 or practitioner Paula Markham at 961-3974.
``We're interested, experienced and the class will be at the beginner's level,'' Maurelli said.
The teachers promised that names, telephone numbers and references would be provided for people who wish to study the subject further.
Saturday's class will cover macrobiotic food preparation techniques and philosophy and introduce some new and different foods.
``And we'll try to make it fun,'' Maurelli said.
The class will meet from 10 a.m. to noon at the downtown Roanoke YWCA, 605 First St. The $18 fee will include food, beverages and handouts. Pre-registration is required.
Maurelli will also teach at the YWCA a class in gluten-free allergy cooking from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 15; a ``quickie recipes and time-saving techniques'' class from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 29; a tempeh and seitan class from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. May 20; and a totally tofu class from 10 a.m. to noon May 31. A 20 percent fee discount is being offered to students who register for all five classes. For information, call Maurelli at 345-4090.
Recipes for:
TEMPEH PASTA
MISO SOUP WITH CARROTS AND TOFU
LENGTH: Long : 124 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/THE ROANOKE TIMES. 1. Such macrobioticby CNBcooking ingredients as sea salt and seaweed are available at
health-food stores. Vegetables and other more common items can be
found at any well-stocked grocery store. 2. Macrobiotic cooks
Patrick Branch and Nancy A. Maurelli will be teaching a basic course
Saturday on their way of preparing food. color.