SOURDOUGH PUMPKIN MUFFINS

More pumpkin fare. These are all-purpose sugarless sourdough muffins, i.e. yeasted muffins risen with a sourdough batter, in this case with mashed pumpkin.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups of wholemeal flour
1 cup of plain flour
Half a teaspoon of sea salt
2 teaspoons of Dutch cinnamon
2 cups of mashed pumpkin
1 egg
Half a cup of almond milk
Half a cup of rice syrup
Half a cup of corn or sunflower oil
A good handful of dried sultanas or currants
Enough sourdough batter to render into a cake mix consistency

METHOD

Mix all dry ingredients into a large bowl.
Warm the bowl and the dry ingredients in a very low oven.
Add the oil, mashed pumpkin, egg, rice syrup and almond milk. Mix.
Add portions of sourdough batter until it forms into the cake consistency. It should be runnier than a dough but thicker than a batter. Add more flour if necessary.
Set in a warm place for about six hours. It may take longer. It should expand and show air bubbles - evidence of active yeast.
Spoon into an oiled muffin tray. Let stand in a warm place for a bit longer.
Preheat the oven. Bake at 200 deg. C. for about 25 minutes.

Add more cinnamon if you prefer or more dried fruit for sweeter muffins.
You can replace the rice syrup with maple syrup - excellent!
You can use stewed apple 50/50 with mashed pumpkin. I just happen to have a huge pumpkin harvest on hand.

These muffins are yeasty, moist and chewy and not too sweet - quite different to your standard muffin.

A POACHED CHICKEN DINNER

It is moving into short days, long nights and cold weather here down south. It is time for more substantial foods including some occasional white meat. In this picture poached free range chicken breast, a brown rice pumpkin medley with bok choy and shiitake mushrooms, homemade sourdough croutons, a short cabbage pickle and a tahini sauce. Almost all of it homegrown and in season.

Poaching chicken breast. It has a reputation as an invalid food but it is really an excellent way to prepare chicken. Use a heavy metal skillet. Fill with enough water to cover the chicken and a good pinch of quality sea salt. Bring to boil. Place in the chicken and set it to a low heat. Cover with a lid. Simmer very slowly. Don't bring it back to the boil since this will tend to make the meat tough. Use free range chicken - it's worth the extra cost.

A short pickle? It's what I (usually) call a short-term pressed salad. Slice a cup or two of cabbage, place in a bowl and cover with a mixture of brown vinegar and several teaspoons of quality salt. Place a plate and a heavy weight upon it and leave for anything from two hours to a few days. In this case it was 24 hours. Drain, rinse in running water, store in the refrigerator. A short pickle. Best to use brown rice vinegar, but otherwise any good quality brown malt vinegar will do, or perhaps an apple cider vinegar if you prefer.

The tahini sauce. Two tablespoons of unhulled tahini. Two tablespoons of soy sauce. Stir and moisten with the water from the shiitake mushrooms or any suitable stock. Keep adding liquid and stirring until you have a sauce/gravy consistency according to your preference.

Wholemeal sourdough croutons fried in corn oil (or olive oil if you prefer) add another texture and another grain to the meal. It's baking weather these days so I always have sourdough bread on hand. Croutons are a great addition to cold weather meals.

The bok choy is booming in the garden. It will start to bolt soon but is still tender and an excellent green to add to brown rice.

OBSESSING ABOUT HEALTH - A CULTURE OF NARCISSISM

Speaking at a public lecture on the philosophy of George Ohsawa and macrobiotics a few nights ago I made the statement "I'm not really into health!" It was intended to be provocative. I then qualified it by saying that, of course, I would be into "health" if I was sick and that that was exactly my point - health is for sick people. Health is a proper aspiration for someone who is ill. Unfortunately, the health food subculture is full of perfectly healthy people who spend their time and their money obsessing about "health". Which is very unhealthy. It is symptomatic of a culture of narcissism and self-obsession. It is as true of macrobiotics as of any other "health" modality. You are very likely to meet very healthy people at health resorts - they devote their time and money to worrying about imaginary ailments and having their cholesterol levels taken every five minutes. It's neurotic. You are very likely to find macrobiotic people like this. Their whole mind-set and their conversation revolves around this abstract notion of "health". They are constantly talking about health - all the latest reports in the media, all the latest research, all the latest fads. It is, as I say, unhealthy. It is not good to obsess about health. 

Health, rather, is a platform from which to move forward to other, greater things. It is not an end in itself. This is the symbolism of the spiral, a motif to which George Ohsawa often referred. Obsessions go round and round in circles. Real health moves forward in spirals. It is unfortunate that macrobiotics has tended to degenerate into just another "health" fad. This has particularly been its fate in contemporary America. People think it is an anti-cancer cure or a weight loss program. They have lost sight of what lies beyond health. Health is a meager objective. Health is only the first step. There has to come a time when you stop obsessing about health and start looking to the Great Life (macro + biotic) beyond it. The question is: what are you going to do with your health? To what noble purpose will you apply your vitality?  

On a side note, the spiral was adopted as a symbol by the premier Australian macrobiotic supplier, Spiral Foods Inc. Their products are highly recommended. Top quality. Their logo quite properly underlines the *spiral* nature of Ohsawa's "oriental dialectics". The dialectical process moves from thesis to antithesis to synthesis. It is two steps around and one step forward. Yin and yang are not cyclic. Their dialectical complimentarity generates movement and vitality, life. The best symbol of the process is the spiral. Spiral Food's logo explains it precisely. Health is one thing, but life is another. The point is not just to be healthy - the point is to live! The proper aspiration of a healthy person is the Great Life. In traditional oriental spirituality, such as in Taoism, there is a continuum of life that goes: health - longevity - immortality. Macrobiotics is much, much more than a "health diet". It is sad to see it reduced to a health diet these days. Rather, it is a philosophy of life that just happens to take the form of a dialectical cuisine. Look beyond "health", I say. Extend your reach to the Infinite. That's what macrobiotics is about. Circles are static and self-obsessed, rank, fetid and closed. This is why George Ohsawa said that dualism is the first and last enemy of humanity. Systems of two (duality) rot. Spirals grow. 

If you are looking for more on macrobiotic philosophy, I recommend the account given by Phiya Kushi at her website. 

https://phiyakushi.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/the-philosophy-behind-macrobiotics-understanding-yin-and-yang/

PUBLIC LECTURE IN BENDIGO - Slide Show

On Monday 13th April I gave a one hour presentation on George Ohsawa and his philosophy at the Bendigo Public Library as part of their Philosophy in the Library Series. The slides below are from the presentation that accompanied my talk. There is not much you can say in one hour, and the emphasis was necessarily on philosophy, not cooking or cuisine, but these slides give some indication of what was covered. 

I began with a brief introduction to George Ohsawa the man - a short biographical sketch. 

I talked about the background to macrobiotics in the work of Dr Sagan Ishizuka. 

I mentioned Ohsawa's family background and the impact of tuberculosis. 

I talked about Ohsawa in Paris. 

I mentioned the possible precedents of macrobiotics in the work of Christoph Hufeland. 

I noted that Ohsawa was a pioneer in the struggle to bring Oriental medicine to the West.

I talked about Lima Ohsawa. 

I talked about Ohsawa's experiences during the Second World War and the impact of the War upon him. I then turned to aspects of his philosophy. 

I noted that Ohsawa's philosophical position is essentially non-dualist. 

To underline the non-dual theme I pointed out that the notion of non-dualism and the expression of a philosophy through food is not alien to Western concepts. 

I noted other philosophical diets. I emphasized the idea of "the radiant mind" - a diet that looks beyond mere "health" to aspects of consciousness. There was some discussion about how macrobiotics has become just another "health fad" when in fact Ohsawa's vision extended far beyond the idea of "health". 

I discussed how Ohsawa had inverted traditional poles of yin and yang and gave a quick sketch of the philosophical basis of this. 

I discussed the yin/yang polarity issue in relation to tradition ideas of the "inverted plant" analogy, especially as it is found in Plato. 

Regarding the issue of vegetarianism, I discussed the much broader matter of taboos on meat-eating in relation to an evolutionary scale. I discussed, for example, an historical Japanese taboo on eating monkeys and pointed out that such taboos, like the Semitic taboo on eating pork, possibly have a basis in taboos on cannibalism. In any case, as Michio Kushi explains, it is better to eat creatures that are distant from us on the evolutionary scale, crustaceans, fish, birds, rather than mammals. 

PUMPKIN TIME

It's pumpkin time! The harvest is in. This year I only planted two pumpkin plants but the results were very good - a whole year's supply of long-keeping pumpkins. The variety is Queensland Blue, an old Australian favourite with hard blue-green skin and rich orange flesh. It needs a long growing season, but here in Central Victoria that is not an issue. The pumpkins can range from 2 to 6kg in weight and will keep in good conditions for a long time as long as the "plug" in the top is intact. The growing technique I use is Chadwick's double-dug raised beds with compost, soil from the chicken yards and a liberal dose of blood-and-bone meal. Water well. Hopefully, we will be enjoying homegrown pumpkin for up to ten months or more, certainly all through the Australian winter.

In this climate pumpkin is probably the most high yielding vegetable we can grow. The crop is relatively low maintenance but the yield is substantial and long keeping. You really only need to grow a dozen Queensland Blues. Cut into quarters and use one quarter each week. 12 x 4 weeks = pumpkin for a year.

Here is a recipe for a good quick pumpkin soup:

INGREDIENTS

1 leek, sliced
A good amount of pumpkin, skinned and cut into 2 inch pieces.
A teaspoon of caraway seeds
1 clove of garlic
Half a teaspoon of fresh black pepper
A good pinch of mace (or nutmeg)
A sprig of fresh rosemary
A teaspoon of good quality sea salt
A 3 inch strip of kombu seaweed
1 dried shittake mushroom
A dribble of sunflower oil

METHOD

Oil the bottom of a pressure cooker.
Lightly fry off the leek, garlic and spices
Add the pumpkin, seaweed and mushroom
Just cover with water.
Add the salt.

Pressure cook on full pressure for fifteen minutes.
Blend with a blender stick or similar until a smooth consistency.
Serve with chopped parsley and sourdough bread.
Excellent as the day's grow shorter and the night's grow colder.

STILL HUNGRY?

A friend related to me that some time ago she and her man travelled to visit her sister (and her man), the sister being on a so-called "macrobiotic diet". But the food at the sister's was so meager and so unsatisfying that my friend (and her man) were compelled to drop into a fish and chip shop on the drive home to fill up on greasy potato and low-grade shark. She laughed. "We were famished!" she said. The only cure was a good dose of comforting junk food.

Similarly, another acquaintance reported to me recently that when she (and her man) were "into macrobiotics" years ago they were "always hungry" - the food just wasn't sufficiently satisfying. "All we could think about was food," she complained. Their "macrobiotic diet" left them feeling under fed.

 My response to such accounts is simply that, if macrobiotic food leaves you feeling hungry then you are doing it all wrong. For a start - as I insist in other posts - macrobiotics is not a "diet" - unless you are on some therapeutic regime because you are sick. Rather, it is a cuisine, and like any cuisine you should eat enough of it to feel satisfied. The idea that macrobiotics is some sort of starvation diet is wrong, although there are people who impose it upon themselves in this sort of way. Macrobiotics is, properly speaking, a mode of cuisine, an approach to food (and much more!) and you should eat your fill. If not, you're doing it wrong.

How much is a "fill"? That depends on numerous factors. There are no general prescriptions. Again, macrobiotics is not a "diet" in that way. It is an art form. There are guidelines but no set rules. One such guideline is that you should eat what you need. If you don't, then you will be left hungry. This is bad in all sorts of ways, not least because you are then likely to binge on junk food. How much do you need? It depends on your build, your metabolism, your occupation, your age, your climate - dozens of variables. The whole idea of macrobiotics is not to follow some "diet" but to develop sound judgment and a knowledge of your own true needs.

That, certainly, is my advice. Eat what you need. You should not feel deprived. Go ahead - have another bowl of soup or an extra serving of brown rice. Don't leave the table until you've had enough. At the same time, of course, be careful not to over eat - but don't ignore the dangers of under eating. It's no good if, like John and Yoko, you raid the refrigerator to gnaw on chicken drumsticks in the middle of the night. Meals should be planned and organised such that people are well fed and satisfied according to their needs.

One point to bear in mind, perhaps, is that the 'standard' macrobiotic meal is very Japanese inspired, yet Western people generally are bigger boned and fuller framed than the relatively petite Japanese. Europeans tend to need larger portions. This is quite natural, and meals should be adjusted accordingly. Don't under feed yourself or your guests. Macrobiotic cuisine is supposed to be a joy and a celebration, not a punishment. Eat as much as you like. It is all good and wholesome. Don't over eat or gormandize, but don't leave yourself empty either.

If you are sick and come to macrobiotics as a food cure then that is different. You may need to be on some controlled "diet" with particular foods in particular quantities. But for healthy people cuisine macrobiotique is a feast - the feast of the good earth - and you should feel satisfied and reenergized after every meal and not need to go looking for more. This is very important if you want to change your eating habits for the better long term. To avoid lapsing into bad habits and binges, don't under eat. Serve yourself - and your guests - generous portions such that no one goes wanting.

OHSAWA ON SUGAR