www.michiokushi.org
December 28, 2014
I write this to pay homage to an extraordinary man, as well as educate those not familiar with his work or impact on society.
Today is a day of mourning yet celebration for those in the natural foods movement, whether it's your career or you ever made a conscious choice to buy organic.
Michio Kushi, generally conceded to be at the genesis of the natural foods movement in America, passed away today at his home in Massachussetts. He was eighty-eight years old.
Mr. Kushi, who emigrated here from Japan in the 1950's, along with George Oshawa and Herman Aihara, is best known for his bringing to the forefront the macrobiotic movement. Macrobiotics, literally means ""great life" and is best known for the dietary regimen that brought us brown rice, sea vegetables, as well as the popularization of pressure cooking, cooking methods emphasizing steaming, nishime, kinpira, and root vegetables such as daikon radish, and burdock root, along with soyfoods such as tofu, edemame, and the super-food known as miso. Many of these products were originally imported from Japan, and, in fact, can be found today on the shelves of the large health foods supermarkets. Originally, these foods were part of the product line of Erewhon, started by Mr. Kushi. Many of those involoved in the grassroots of Erewhon went on to careers in the natural foods movement.
In addition, macrobiotics also emphasizes the essentialness of clean lifestyle choices, such as using natural products on the body , in the home, a clutter-free living space filled with oxygen-giving plants, non-stressful exercise such as tai chi, yoga and walking. Macrobiotics also sometimes recommends shiatsu massage, especially the barefoot style developed by one of Mr. Kushi's disciples, Shizuko Yamamoto.
One of the anecdotes that appears in books regarding Mr. Kushi, was his successful attempt, along with his wife Aveline, to persuade the Lundberg family, one of the largest rice growers at the time, to earmark some of their acreage exclusively for the growing of organic brown rice. They eased the Lundberg's concerns by guaranteeing the crop and not arguing about the price. A half century later, organics has become ubiquitous.
Mr. Kushi authored or co-authored many books on health, including Your Face Never Lies, which explained iridology, physiognomy, and pulse diagnosis, as well as intoductory macrobiotic theory books and cookbooks with Aveline.
He was the recipient of many awards for his endeavors in promoting world peace, which is the goal of macrobiotics.
The macrobiotic movement reached its peak in the 1980's when a doctor from Philadelphia, Anthony Sattilaro, given a terminal diagnosis, went into complete remission after aborting traditional allopathic treatment, to the consternation of his doctors, who still monitored him, , and adopting the macrobiotic diet see this link. His story was published in the Saturday Evening Post. Satillaro eventually was introduced to Michio through the intervention of Satillaro's macrobiotic counselor, Denny Waxman, of Philadelphia. Upon being examined by Michio, Satillaro was given a clean bill of health. This was later was corroborated by Satillaro's doctors, through a battery of tests.
In turn, a woman in New Jersey, Elaine Nussbaum, read of Sattilaro's account, At the time, she was battling stage V uterine cancer which had metastisized to her spine, Her miraculous and surreal recovery can be found in her autobiography Recovery from Cancer.
There were other recovery stories, but these were two of the more publicized ones, and macrobiotics went through a cult following for a while. And while the movement flatlined and slowed down in recent years, and macrobiotics, more or less has been assmilated into a larger macrocosm of a holistic lifestyle, sharing its components with raw foods, veganism, vegetarianism, various types of bodywork, the fact is, thirty years ago, if someone had broached the subject that one could buy black quinoa, tempeh, or miso in a supermarket, they would have been dismissed as dreamers.
Mr. Kushi, depsite health challenges in recent years, brought about by his tireless work and travel, still lived eighty-eight years. More than the amount of years, is what he accomplished. He took full advantage of the opportunites offered in the United States, attending Columbia University, building a business empire, a thriving consultation business (there were often waiting lists for a private appointment), authoring many books, raising a family, as well as many philanthopic efforts. He frequently lectured to AIDS patients and gave them hope.
I was fortunate to meet Mr. Kushi when he entered a natural foods restaurant in New York in the 1990's. This small eatery had an aisle down the center, with tables on either side. When Mr. Kushi entered, patrons in the aisle parted it like the Red Sea, as virtually every patron sitting on the aisle held out their hand for him. He was a rock star, but acted so humbly. That will be my impression of Mr. Kushi. Let us hope that his students, clients and family will keep his name alive for future generations.
