Celebrating food, culture and months Aapi with Remy Morimoto Park

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

I am a cookbook writer and the creator of health and wellness content. I started the Veggiekins blog while I was in college as a means of exchanging recipes and spreading Vegan’s lifestyle and has since become a full -time work, which was absolutely incredible. I am also the founder of a Matcha brand, Frauth. Outside of work, I divide my time between New York and Los Angeles and you can usually find me in a farmers market!

From your experience, how did you find food to tell a story and configure the culture?

I think when you come from any kind of culture, food is so important because it is a way that culture is transferred from generation to generation. I think this is why the sharing of recipes and their passage is so important for conservation of culture. In my Asian cultures – Japanese, Korean and Taiwan – I think food is really important because it is also how we communicate with each other and share love. In our cultures, it is not so common to express orally that you love someone. We really don’t talk too much about emotions, but we always gather around the table to share a meal as a family and many of our vacations and family gatherings revolve around food. There is a joke that your Asian parents may not apologize or say that they love you, but they will always put food on the table for you or cut a fruit plate to communicate. So, in mind, I think food is a central part of Asian culture. For me personally, many of my childhood memories revolve around a particular meal or have a particular dish tied with it. Food causes many really powerful memories and I think it’s a really great vehicle for narration in this way.

How do you train people about the intersection of food, health, community and culture?

When it comes to most Asian cuisines, there is not really much dairy, which I think are incredible. It also makes them such great foundations for many Vegan -friendly options. Also, in my three cultures, there are different types of existing plant diets followed by religious groups, for example. I think there is a lot to explore and so can be said about most cultures. For example, in Korea, there are monks who eat the food of the temple, which is mainly based on plants. In Japan, the shojin kitchen is also mainly based on plants. And in China, many Buddhists do not eat any meat or animal products. In addition, my grandparents have always told me that when they were younger, they ate mainly plants-mainly granules and vegetables-because meats and animal products were so expensive and exclusively for the upper classes of society. Today, I think people associate meat to Asian cuisine (eg Korean barbecue), but in fact, a lot of Asian cuisine has historically revolved around the beans and plants.

What are some vegetable ingredients and vegan dishes that you would like to highlight as traditional in your cultures and/or other Asian cultures? What are your favorites to cook?

A herbal ingredient that I think is essential for Asian culture is tofu, of course! No Asian man is familiar with tofu and I think it’s incredible because it’s such a great source of vegetable protein. Rice and other granules are also usually used in all Asian cuisines and some of my personal favorites include Tempeh and some of the most unique Asian vegetables you will not usually find in a conventional grocery store (eg bean shoots, bok choy, morning glory). There is a wide variety of vegetables to choose from in Asian cuisine.

As a plant -based chef, what do you envision as the way forward to encourage people to include more fruits and vegetables in their diet?

One of the things I like to emphasize most is that vegetables can be treated with so much care, if not more, than meat and other animal products. I think many people make the least effort to prepare vegetables or can even eat them raw. When marinating, smoking, sous vide, roasted or slow cooked, the result is so different.

Today, people have developed this hunger for more world cuisines and are more interested in tasting dishes from other cultures, which is a great way to encourage people to integrate more fruits and vegetables into their diet. When you start exploring beyond the United States, for example, and see what people have to offer, you find that there are so many different types of fruits and vegetables that you can enjoy. In addition, there are so many more flavor profiles and spice mixtures to work together to get to your vegetables. Keeping interest in the palate is so important!

What does Aapi month do for you and how do you celebrate your heritage?

Aapi month means a lot to me because I am not only Asian but Asian American. I was born in the United States to parents who had already emigrated here and were mainly talking at home. I don’t feel 100% Asian and, of course, I don’t feel 100% American, so I think the distinction is really slim and makes me feel to see. It is an incredible sign that people really embrace others and diversity, which is so important. It has helped to introduce other cultures to other people and to encourage curiosity and hunger for knowledge for others.

I really celebrate my heritage through food and share recipes that feel they are authentic in my culture and my Asian-American family. It is such a pleasure so that we can share it with others and especially to make this vegetable!

Tell us a little bit about your cookbook, Sesame, soybeans, spice; And what inspired you to write.

My cookbook was really inspired by my family and my upbringing. “Asian American” is really the best way to describe my family and the food we eat because we are Asian (and three types of Asian in it), but we are also very American. Growing up, the food on our table looked like a combination of both western and American foods, as well as the Asian dishes I grew up with. For example, one thing I like is popcorn, but with Japanese spices furikake at the top. Sometimes we could retreat from the chili paste or hot gochujang sauce, a Korean fermented red pepper.

Throughout my cooking book, I really wanted to emphasize that eating vegan does not mean that you have to abandon your culture and that it can really be so fun to reconnect with your culture by trying to recreate these favorite recipes as vegan. It not only makes a vegan life more exciting and comprehensive, but also more viable because there is more variety of foods you eat. When I first became vegan, I thought I could only eat foods such as salad cups, cereal cups and smoothie cups. Then I realized that it is not really a diet, but a way of life and that almost any kitchen can be Vegan -friendly if you become creative in the kitchen.

Through the short stories in my cookbook, I also substantiate my journey to becoming vegan and peace with my relationship with food. I share the story of how to be vegan teaches me compassion and helped on this journey. The writing process of the cookbook was very important for my family because we really got to connect more than ever through food. I would discuss with them about childhood recipes that I wanted to try to recreate and talk on the phone while we were both in the kitchen, trying to get a recipe. It was a very nostalgic time for me because, often, we would end up remembering the memories of my childhood while cooking.

Crunchy pillow Thai inspired salad

1 to 2 servings, 10 minutes preparation

For Pad Thai Inspired Dressing ½ fresh lime, juicy 2 umami tbsps umami sauce 2 TSPS Tamarind Puree 1 cloves garlic, fine -grained 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar 2 tablespoons of cashew butter (optional, for cream) For the salad 2 cups sliced ​​purple cabbage 3-4 mini cucumbers, Julienned 1 large carrot, Juliennned ½ cup chiffonaded radicchio Handful of sliced ​​breakfast radishes 1 cup sliced ​​green papaya (optional) Optional Fresh Thai peppers Crushed peanuts to garnish Dried chili flakes to garnish Green onions to garnish

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, add all the dressing ingredients, then beat together. Adjust the taste. If you use Cashew butter, you can choose it with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.
2. Add all the salad ingredients to the bowl, then fly, using your hands or tongs to cover the vegetables.
3. Garnish with peanuts, chili flakes and green onion, if desired.

Super soup

8 servings, 30 minutes preparation, 15 minutes of cooking, 30 minutes soaked time

For the Dashi broth 10 cups filtered water 5-6 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms 3 pieces of kombu (about 3 x 3-inch) 1 Green Straper, Diagonal slices 1 carrot, slices diagonally 3 onions (white parts), half ½ yellow onion, half 12 oz business Silken Tofu ¼ cup dried wakame Other ingredients 5 Tbsps Red Miso Paste 5 Tbsps White Miso Paste For garnish Onions (green tops), thin slices Ichimi Togarashi, to taste Cooked mushrooms (optional)

Instructions

Prepare the Dashi broth

1. In the cooking container, add water, dried mushrooms and kombu. Allow to enjoy about 15 to 30 minutes. (The more you enjoy, the more taste it will be released).
2. Boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Leave the simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add leek, carrots, onions and onion and cook for another 10 minutes.
4. Add the tofu and then remove the container from the heat.

Repeated Wakame

1. In a small bowl, add the dried wakame with enough warm water to cover. Allow to enjoy until the wakame is soft to the touch, then drain and set aside.

Add Miso paste

1. In a small jar or bowl, add the red and white miso with a little water. You only want to add enough water so that the misos is converted into a thin paste. Use a hit or chopsticks to break the paste to be full.
2. Add the wakame and the tangled Miso to the container and mix gently to combine. Adjust the taste.
3. Garnish with green tops scallion, ichimi togarashi, and cooked mushrooms, if desired.

For more information about REMY, check the blog; Instagram; Tikitok; YouTube.