My journey to veganism

1. My World Peace Diet
Simple Vegan Recipes
by
Gerry Yokota

2. Introduction
This little collection of recipes was inspired by this book,
The World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle. I am infinitely
grateful to my dear friend Tamarah Cohen for
introducing me to this book. I have created this slide
show (which may also be printed out as a small
booklet) simply because going vegan has brought me
such peace of mind and body that I want to share it
with as many people as possible.
Peace on Earth,
Good Will to All!
Gerry Yokota
Winter 2014-15

3. Note to My Busy Friends
You know me, I am no Earth Goddess. I work full-time and have a family and my fair
share of household duties. And I am no gourmet cook. All these recipes are simple vegan
variations on what I grew up eating or learned to cook when I first came to Japan. I have
found vegan cooking to be not only less stressful but much easier, quicker, tastier and
satisfying than traditional cooking with meat, dairy and eggs, and I hope you do too. I
used to hate grocery shopping. Now I love it. I used to hate cooking and banged angrily
around the kitchen. Now I waltz around the kitchen humming and singing as I cook. I
don’t think I was being possessed by the angry spirits of the animals whose lives I had
taken needlessly. I think it was more like I was tortured by my own repressed guilt. Now I
feel free.
P.S. This is a work in progress. I still need to reduce my reliance on prepared seasonings,
especially those containing sugar. Suggestions welcome!

4. This is an example of a typical day of meals in our home. Nutrition is based on the following daily balance:
3 servings of grain, 3 servings of beans, 4 servings of fruit, 5 servings of vegetables, and 1 serving of nuts. This
core adds up to about 1300 calories, so you can add other favorites freely to fill out your personal allotment of
1800~2200. And of course remember, this chart doesn’t include things like the oils and seasonings. I just offer it
because I found this sort of visualization to be very helpful when I was getting started and I hope you do too, as
you start planning your own meals plugging in your own favorites while maintain similar nutritional balance. I
adapted this from the cookbook BecomingVegan by Brenda Davis andVesanto Melina.

5. Vegan Taco Rice
1. Cook rice.
2. Reconstitute crumbled soymeat. Fry with salt and garlic.
3. Add 2 Tbsp. ketchup, 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce, 1 t. soy sauce and Tabasco
to taste. Cook 15 minutes.
4. Prepare fresh toppings such as lettuce, rucola, tomatoes, black olives, corn,
avocado, and green peas.
5. Place a large lettuce leaf on each plate, add rice, then arrange toppings to taste.
6. Garnish with crushed multigrain tortilla chips.

6. Vegan Minestrone
1. Empty 1 can of diced tomatoes and 1 can of water into ceramic pot.
2. Add onions, green beans, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, corn, mixed
beans, fake bacon bits, and a little olive oil. Cook for 20 minutes.
3. Add macaroni and cook for another 10 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Wilt in a few handfuls of spinach leaves 1 minute before serving.

7. Vegan Kimchi Stew
1. Heat sesame oil in a frypan. Fry shironegi and kimchi.
2. Add 1 cup konbu stock, bring to boil, and lower heat to medium.
3. Add 1 Tbsp. miso, 1 block tofu, bok choy, nira, bean sprouts, enoki
mushrooms, carrots, and/or whatever else you like.
Check the kimchi label with care! Many contain fish products.

8. Vegan Red Lentil Soup
1. Cook carrots and onions in olive oil with dry lentils for 10 minutes.
2. Add 1 can tomatoes, 1 Tbsp. tomato puree, a little olive oil, salt, pepper,
oregano, basil, paprika, and 3 cups water. Cook 30-40 minutes.

9. Vegan Cornbread
1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Sour 1 ½ cups soymilk with 1 ½ Tbsp. vinegar.
3. Mix 1 cup corn grits, 1 cup flour, 1 Tbsp. flaxmeal, 2 Tbsp. sugar, ½ t. salt, 1
t. baking powder, and ½ t. baking soda in a large bowl.
4. Add the soymilk and 2 Tbsp. oil. Stir until just blended.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
P.S. I have had no trouble substituting soymilk for cow’s milk in any baking
recipe.

10. Vegan Mabo Dofu
1. Reconstitute crumbled soymeat. Cut scallions finely. Smash garlic.
3. Fry soymeat. Add garlic, 1 Tbsp. tobanjan, 1 Tbsp. kanmenjan, 1 Tbsp. rayu, 1 Tbsp.
touki, and a little ichimi. Add 150 ml. konbu or vegetable stock.
4. In a separate pot, bring salted water to boil and add cubed tofu. When it floats to the
top, move it to the frypan. Add scallions.
5. After boiling a little, add 1 Tbsp. shokoshu (Chinese wine), 1 Tbsp. soy sauce, salt
and pepper.
6. Thicken with starch, then add a little more rayu.
Variation with daikon instead of tofu: Start by cubing and microwaving daikon for 10
minutes. Also good with fried eggplant.

11. Vegan Yin-Yang Curry
1. Place ingredients in the pot in this order: 10 g. finely chopped ginger, 200 g.
tomatoes, 50 g. green peppers, 4 cups canned beans, 3 bay leaves, 250 g.
chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic, 80 g. carrot, and 50 g. lotus root.
2. Add 4 cups water. Cook 30 minutes. Add salt and soy sauce to taste.
3. For seasoning and thickening, I prefer just blending 2 tsp. of curry
powder with 1 Tbsp. oil rather than making a roux with flour. I thicken the
curry at the end with starch instead.

12. Chikuzen Stew
1. Saute lotus root, bamboo shoots, konnyaku, gobo, carrot, shiitake, satoimo,
and green beans.
2. Add 2 cups konbu dashi, 2 Tbsp. sake, 2 Tbsp. oligofructose, and 2 Tbsp. soy
sauce. Cook until veggies are soft.
3. Add 1 Tbsp. mirin and atsuage. Cook until atsuage is heated through.
Usuage or boiled soybeans can be substituted for atsuage.

13. Ganmo Stew
1. Scald ganmodoki to remove excess oil.
2. Place 1 cup konbu dashi, 2 Tbsp. sake, 2 Tbsp. soy sauce, and 1 Tbsp. mirin
in a pot with the ganmo. Cook 1 minute.
3. Add 1 bunch of komatsuna stalks and white part of bok choy, cook 1 minute.
4. Add 1 bunch komatsuna leaves bok choy leaves, cook 1 minute.
5. Add shimeji mushrooms and cook 5 minutes.
Atsuage can be substituted for ganmodoki.

14. Christmas Dinner Menu
Tabouleh-Stuffed Tomatoes
Soymeat-Stuffed Red and Green Bell Peppers
Boiled Spinach with Sesame Seeds
Red and Green Lentil Soup
Cornbread
Baked Apples
Eggless cake from Cozy Corner
made with soymilk and rice flour,
topped with strawberries

15. A Real-Life Down-to-Earth Application of Deconstruction
Walking the walk instead of just talking the talk
1. What’s “natural” about
artificial insemination, the
process of forcibly inserting bull
semen deep inside the cow’s
vagina while positioning the
equipment by jamming a human
arm into her rectum?
2. What’s “natural” about
forcing bulls to ejaculate using
an instrument called
an electroejaculator?
3. What’s “natural” about the
use of the constraining device
that the industry calls a “rape
rack” which is used to perform
artificial insemination?
4. What’s “natural” about an
animal’s udders being hooked
up to computerized milking
machinery?
5. What’s “natural” about
manipulating the reproductive
systems of female cows
through genetics to get them to
produce 6 to 9 times more milk
than their bodies were designed
for?
6. What’s “natural” about
artificially breeding millions of
cows only to slaughter them at
a fraction of their natural
lifespan when their milk
production declines?
Deconstructing the “Dairy Is Natural” Myth
by Free From Harm Staff Writers
The dairy industry has most people believing that
cow’s milk, and the cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream
and other products derived from it, are “natural” for
us to consume. But if they are indeed so natural,
then why does the dairy industry have to use such
extremely unnatural practices to extract milk from
cows?
7. What’s “natural” about
stripping the calves away from
their mothers at birth and
forcing them to live in isolation
or just killing them immediately
if they are unmarketable as
veal?
8. What’s “natural” about
feeding their calves raised for
veal a diet that makes them
anemic and malnourished?
9. What’s “natural” about
inserting a spiked nose ring in a
calf’s nose to prevent him from
suckling on his mother’s udders?
10. What’s “natural” about
consuming the breast milk of
another species intended for
their own calves, into our
adulthood, when even that
animal’s own offspring are
weaned off of their mother’s
milk by the first year?
11. What’s “natural” about
drinking dairy milk when most
of the global population can’t
even digest or tolerate it?
12. What’s “natural” about
dying from a heart attack or
stroke at 50 because our arteries
are so clogged with cholesterol?
13. What’s “natural” about
forcing our children to consume
something their bodies were
never designed for, causing
asthma, allergies, rashes, early
sexual maturity, and
juvenile diabetes?
14. What’s “natural” about
forsaking our compassion and
harming other animals not
because we have to, but just
because we can and derive easy,
perverse pleasure from it?