Cooking With Intuition

The Standard Macrobiotic Diet allows broad scope for personal creativity and enjoyment and is easy to adapt. In making the transition it is important to proceed in an orderly way and not to try to make the change overnight. Begin with pressure-cooked brown rice, miso soup and a few basic vegetable, bean and sea vegetable dishes while diminishing in volume the foods previously eaten. Gradually introduce condiments, pickles, and naturally sweetened desserts, and vary the combinations and styles of cooking frequently so the food remains appealing and appetizing.

As you continue to prepare these foods, your health and judgment will improve, your taste for natural food will deepen and your ability to select the freshest items, prepare them properly and arrange them in a beautiful meal will develop naturally. Whole grains, vegetables and other natural foods lend themselves to endless combinations and variations. A complete meal can easily be prepared within an hour.

While cookbooks can introduce you to macrobiotic food preparation, until you have tasted the food and seen them prepared you will not have a standard against which to measure your own cooking.   In the beginning it is recommended that everyone study with an experienced macrobiotic cook. Only a few cooking lessons are needed to orient you in the right direction. Every family member should be encouraged to study proper cooking and to participate in some aspect of food preparation or cooking at home. Most of the foods used in macrobiotic preparations are available in natural food stores and in selected supermarkets. Mail order catalogs also provide excellent service. See our links for the many online food buying opportunities available around the country.

With experience you will eventually reach the point where you no longer need a book or teacher, but can cook with your own intuition as a guide, and nature and the universe as your primary instructors. By listening to the sounds of food as it cooks and by observing its moving energy, colors, shapes,  aromas and tastes, you will be able to answer endless questions and participate in the creation of life itself.