Did you ever ask yourselves what do zen monks eat? The answer is: Shojin Ryori.
Literally meaning “devotion food”, Shojin Ryori is common in various countries in Asia where Buddhism is present. In Japan, this type of cooking was originally prepared and eaten by monks since the 13th century when Zen Buddhism was first introduced. While in other countries you can find various kinds of vegan meals eaten by monks, in Japan, Shojin Ryori is quite structured.
Shojin Ryori is based mainly on tofu, sesame, fu, miso, rice, and seasonal vegetables. You can also find quite a big variety of root vegetables such as daikon, lotus-root, and bamboo-shoot.
In this sense, Japan is different from other countries. In the traditions of Buddhist cuisine, eating root vegetables is believed to prevent the plant from continuing its life cycle, soin other Asian countries, Buddhists don’t eat them.
Well – in Japan they do (however, garlic and onion are an exception and are not eaten).
Fu is also quite unique – it’s steamed wheat gluten mixed with mochi rice flour. It might look like bread but its texture is completely different. For the making process of fu, see this video – it’s really awesome!
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