GROW A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE WITH ANCIENT
SHOJIN JAPANESE VEGAN CUISINE
By Stacey Kumagai
The elementary nutrition we learned in school is: You are what you eat. So if you eat at Shojin in Downtown Los Angeles, you are organic, natural, healthy, pure, plant-based, vegan and you are even driving out negative energy from your mind and body. That certainly would get you an A+ in nutrition!
Shojin cuisine is very traditional Japanese cuisine, which originated as Buddhist vegetarian cooking. It is NOT teriyaki or sushi or a lot of the Japanese dishes that most people think of when they think of dining on Japanese cuisine. When you look at Shojin’s menu you can tell they’ve not only applied an entire spiritual concept of health and wholeness to their food, but they have taken great care to make sure each and every item is prepared with extreme consciousness. Their macrobiotic inspired Japanese food is all plant-based ingredients (no meat, fish, eggs and dairy products).
There are no chemicals such as chemical seasonings and harmful additives. According to Shojin Executive Chef, Kimiko Ikeda, the restaurant cooks with high quality ingredients, such as organic vegetables and natural seasonings. Both the Miso and the soy sauce are imported from Japan and they use sea salt. Instead of sugar they use brown rice syrup, pure maple syrup and maple sugar for sweetening. Everything is natural, fresh, organic and pure, much like how it originated. “I think most traditional vegetarians would be surprised, because of our uniqueness,” states Chef Ikeda.
“The word “Shojin” means “to drive out the evil thoughts and strive for Buddhism with one's whole heart.” It also means “to make every effort to achieve something.” Inspired by his spirit, we aim to offer healthy and delicious meals using organic and natural foods to achieve a healthy and happy life, giving our whole mind to the name, Shojin,” explains Shojin owner,Tsuguhiro Morishima and Marketing Manager, Sohei Kozaki.
“Dogen Zenji, a founder of Soto sect of Zen, one of the Buddhism religions in Japan in the 13th century started teaching daily Shojin cooking as one of the most essential training courses, to emphasize the importance of making the most of natural flavors, while pouring your heart into whatever ingredients you are using, and not discriminate against them,” Morishima and Kozaki add.
Shojin is food you can feel good about eating, and its food that makes you feel good. From the beta-carotene and fiber-rich Kabocha pumpkin chowder, an Organic Soba Noodle Salad made with wholesome buckwheat noodles, fresh vegetables and delicious cashew soy dressing; to Barbecued Seitan (wheat meat) with vegetables and a dessert of Green Tea Moss Cake with Sweet Azuki Beans…. Now that’s healthy!
They also have a Daily Bento (lunch) Box with soup where you can enjoy four dishes – three of them vegetables with brown rice and your choice of one entrée…Crispy Seitan Cutlet with home made miso demi-glace sauce or Barbequed Seitan with original sweet soy barbecue sauce or a Garden Seitan ball with home made all natural ketchup.
You’ll also be pleasantly surprised to find how creative Shojin can be with tofu – offering both savory and sweet creations, inventive miso and soy fusions for dressings and sauces with orange, garlic, scallions, balsalmic, cashew and citrus; cilantro basil pestos and gluten-free mozzarella.
“Our cooking style is very simple, but we spend a great deal of time and effort on all handmade cooking. Seitan, sauce, ketchup and dressing are all our hand-made original items, so we can accomplish our meals to be 100% natural. I just enjoy cooking imaging our customers feel delight and happy with meals that I made,” explains Chef Ikeda.
Shojin is on a mission. They want to help create greater health awareness in the United States and are hoping their initiative to offer such healthful and mindful food is inspiring for people to eat better and to live better by making better choices. But first the choices have to be there… and they are doing their part to create options that are not only healthful, but delicious and creative.
“I think awareness of organic cuisine is growing, but the health awareness to diet in U.S. is not known enough. Many studies show that more plant-based food intake helps reduce the risk of stroke, diabetes, heart disease and cancers. More American people become unhealthy though their bad diet, and even though they aware the importance of diet, it is a challenge for them to change their eating habits, because I think there is not much of alternative to eating meat, state Morishima and Kozaki.
Healthy and nutritious meals aren’t the only thing Shojin pays conscious mind to. Aside from an education about this ancient vegan style of Japanese cooking, Shojin artistically demonstrates that ‘healthy food’ can also be beautiful to look at. With great attention to detail, these dishes are beautiful masterpieces of art in the plating, delivered with a warm hospitality in a beautiful presentation.
“When we started this project, we put an emphasis on hospitality. We wanted to provide great customer service, so our customers have a good experience with our restaurant. We want customers to feel safe and heal from natural vegetarian meals. That’s the way we present our “hospitality” to customers. We want our customers to achieve a healthy and happy life - with relaxing, warm, healing energy through our meals,” add Morishima and Kozaki.
Shojin lives up to its authentic definition of being able to drive out evil thoughts… as you walk away satisfied mind, body, soul and stomach. This sounds like the healthy and delicious ZEN we can get used to.
Shojin is located at 333 S. Alameda St. Suite 310 -
Little Tokyo Shopping Center 3F,
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213-617-0305
For more information go to www.theshojin.com