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Food (and Drink) For Shakuhachi Thought:
These are foods guaranteed to improve your shakuhachi playing. I list both the food and general guidelines for frequency of consumption. If you are an ordained Buddhist monk or a fundamentalist layman you may want to avoid meat and alcohol.
Veggies and Fruit: Eat a lot especially the following.
Root Vegetables: Burdock, lotus root, daikon etc. have long been staples of the Zen diet.
Wild Mushrooms: As often as possible. Matsutake, Shiitake, Porcini (Boletus edulis) and morels are amongst the best.
Truffles: you can never eat too many truffles.
Seaweed: As often as you like. Seaweed from Maine, Iceland and Japan are preferred.
Berries: Cloudberry (from Scandinavia and Canada) is best, but any edible wild berry is a great source of energy.
Natto: fermented soybeans. Good for cleansing the system.
Grains: only whole grains such as wholemeal bread, brown or red rice, buckwheat soba, etc. Refined grains are harmful to the system.
Wild Rice: when you can find it.
Melons: Very cleansing.
Olives: You can eat them almost every day.
Nuts: Brazil nuts, cashews, walnuts, pinenuts, almonds, chestnuts. Once a week.
Seeds: Pumpkin seeds are the best. Likewise pumpkin oil. Flaxseed also good.
Seafood: Watch out for mercury poisoning!
Eel: At least once a month, especially in the summer. Japanese, Chinese and Belgian preparations are excellent.
New herring: if in Netherlands, mandatory.
Oysters: At least once a month. They may be consumed frequently but take into account their freshness and the purity of the water they come from. For example you can eat a lot more in Australia and New Zealand than in New Orleans because the water is purer.
Mussels and Clams: same as oysters.
Barnacles (percebes): Very powerful, but can only be found easily for culinary purposes in Spain, Portugal and Southern France.
Abalone-the best comes from Tasmania.
Monkfish: the meat and liver are excellent.
Uni (sea urchin): best comes from Santa Barbara. Contains many minerals conducive to increasing lung strength.
Game birds: healthier than industrialized poultry, beware avian flu.
Duck and goose: very healthy but no more than once a fortnight because it’s heavy.
Quail, Pheasant, Partridge, Pigeon, Squab: Once or twice a month, more if it’s local and fresh.
Conversely, except for the liver, chicken is not good for shakuhachi playing. Stick with game birds.
Meat: Don’t eat too much of this!
Bear: Good to eat but only once or twice in a lifetime.
Wild Boar: ordinary pork is neutral, but wild boar has a strong positive energy for shakuhachi playing.
Green Ants: Found in Australia. Tear off the abdomen and eat it. A good source of vitamin C. This may be the reason Riley Lee and some of the other Australian shakuhachi players are strong.
Other Insects: Grasshoppers, Crickets, Dragonflies, Grub Larvae and some other insects are powerful. They may be eaten whole. Take the wings off dragonflies before stir frying them with ginger and chili peppers.
Snails: We must eat escargot (lumache) at least once every six months. Snail risotto is particularly invigorating.
Liver: It is important to eat liver. Best ones are duck, goose, eel, monkfish and chicken. Calf, lamb and beef are also OK but less beneficial.
Honeycomb: Comb and wax are good. Royal Jelly is another fine food for developing lung strength.
Drinks:
Water: of course.
Tea and Infusions: number one drink for shakuhachi players. Best are green tea, white tea, oolong, pu erh and lapsang souchong. When traveling any infusion drunk by the locals, such as coca tea, rooibos, etc. is good.
Alcohol: is a great solvent. Any foods listed above infused in alcohol makes a good drink. Examples: truffle grappa, cloudberry liqueur. Aquavit is very healthy due to the spices and herbs infused.
Beer: Guiness is good for you, as they say. The best beer is from Belgium. It is made with many healthy spices, herbs and wild yeasts.
Wine: Healthiest are reds and late harvest wines (also known as icewine). But in reality any wine is good in moderation.
Vinegar: This stuff is really good for you. Hi quality vinegars like true balsamic "da bere" or aceto di miele from Italy and chinese ginseng vinegar can be taken straight.
Smoke:
There are numerous things we can smoke. Unfortunately the only thing that helps develop shakuhachi energy are Cuban Cigars. And then only in moderation. Middle Path, please.
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Wow, what a great list.
A few additional comments:
Monkfish is best for Fuke-shu pieces.
Boar is appropriate for Meian style Tsugo no Sugomori.
Eating grub larvae is kind of Kinko.
Oysters and truffles are both good for keeping the shakuhachi at the proper angle.
Green ants give one the immediate ability to read Chikuho notation.
When eating things like goose liver please consider the manner in which the animal was raised and slaughtered and how much suffering was inflicted. If eating any farm-raised seafood, please consider the ecological impact.
Support local farmers! (And local breweries.)
When hunting quail, watch out for Dick Cheney.
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What a fabulous list -- thanks for posting it! This has been on my mind a lot recently, as I am not the healthiest eater around. I do, however, have plenty of Guiness in the fridge!
I'm glad to see morels on the list. I live in central Missouri, and it's nearly picking season for them!
I drink tea every day. Typically I drink green tea, but often have a cup of camomile or jasmine etc. Are there thing to watch out for in particular teas? Should I avoid caffine (I try to anyway)? Are american tea companies (celestial seasonings etc) comparable to the expensive stuff from specialty shops?
Last edited by Travis Winegar (2006-03-06 11:29:23)
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Also Blueberries are very high in Antioxidants.So you can play Shakuhachi longer.
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/hk/article … 68,00.html
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Great list! I had some wild boar stew at a small Shinto shrine up in the mountains early New Year's morning this year; now I know why my shakuhachi playing later that day had good energy. I think miso soup (with lots of seaweed and tofu) in the morning is good too.
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eat burdock! Why? Probably will not affect your shakuhachi playing but it tastes damn good. Oh, and it is supposed to be good for you.
And here is a recipe:
tataki gobo (burdock with spicy sesame dressing)
take a long piece of burdock and cut in quarters, lengthewise. Then cut in inch long pieces. Boil for 10 minutes.
In a skillet, place one half teaspoon szechuan peppercorns and 3 tablespoons sesame seeds. Stir and toast till very fragrant. Then grind thse up with a teaspoon of sake and 4 teaspoons shoyu.
Any other chefs out there playing shakuhachi?
As Phil James said, Support local farmers! And support farmers!
phil
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Thanks Phil, I knew I forgot something! I added root vegetables to the list.
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Since moving to Tasmania I discovered that abalone is very conducive to developing practice skills. I had not eaten it enough in the past to realize that. So I added it to the list.
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If I lived in Tasmania I'd probably be camping outside either the Cascade or James Boags brewery... oh dear. I quite like the aroma of the Cascade Premium in particular.
Good call on the Belgian beers, especially the trappist ones. Delicious. As are the lambic ales.
(No, really, I'm not a raging alcoholic, I promise, hehe... I really do make an effort to eat well and exercise often.)
I'm fascinated by the cigar comment. Is it possible you'd be able to explain that one a little further?
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Ash wrote:
I'm fascinated by the cigar comment. Is it possible you'd be able to explain that one a little further?
Sure, I like cigars and I like shakuhachi, therefore cigars are good for shakuhachi playing.
On second thought maybe shakuhachi playing improves your cigar smoking.
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nyokai wrote:
When hunting quail, watch out for Dick Cheney.
Birdshot will be fine for the quail, but if you're lucky enough to spot a cheney, you'd best have slugs in the magazine.
Sorry, that was horribly un-vegetarian and un-Canadian of me.
-Darren.
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Thanks for the long list of healthy food.
Don't forget "white" tea (like Pai Mu Tan) which is even purer and more refined than green tea !
Jan
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JanF wrote:
Thanks for the long list of healthy food.
Don't forget "white" tea (like Pai Mu Tan) which is even purer and more refined than green tea !
Jan
I know. I wrote this before my wife got into the tea biz so I am a bit behind.
I guess I should also add new herring to the list for benefit of the Dutch players, shouldn't I?
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I'm surprised that Cheetos and Dr. Pepper didn't make the list... but I'm new to Shakuhachi.
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dstone wrote:
nyokai wrote:
When hunting quail, watch out for Dick Cheney.
Birdshot will be fine for the quail, but if you're lucky enough to spot a cheney, you'd best have slugs in the magazine.
Sorry, that was horribly un-vegetarian and un-Canadian of me.
-Darren.
Quite the contrary. It is a healthy and admirable sentiment
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I love goji berries from tibet. Also, I drink organic japanese green teas everyday. Either sencha,genmaicha, houjicha etc... Goats milk. No cheese. No alcohol or as little as possible
.Nothing from a cow or a pig. No smoking.
Free range chicken and wild caught salmon and flounder for protein.
Last edited by purehappiness (2009-04-22 09:53:33)
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Tairaku wrote:
Ash wrote:
I'm fascinated by the cigar comment. Is it possible you'd be able to explain that one a little further?
Sure, I like cigars and I like shakuhachi, therefore cigars are good for shakuhachi playing.
On second thought maybe shakuhachi playing improves your cigar smoking.
I'm a chronic cigar smoker, especially love the little ones. Now my Shakuhachi playing is taking away that finest of pleasures, damn! Why is this happening to me?
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Added bear.
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