History of Natto and Its Relatives (1405-2012 - SoyInfo Center

soy concentrate, textured soy fl our, textured soy protein,
toasting, tofu, transgenic, triglyceride, trypsin inhibitors,
unsaponifi able matter, unsaturation, vanaspati–vegetable
ghee, wet-milled, whole-pressed cottonseed–mechanical
extracted, winterized oil, yuba. Address: 318 Main St., P.O.
Box 84, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609. Phone: 207-288-4969.
1587. Gonzalez-Watanabe, Yvonne; Watanabe, Joji. 1997.
Introducing tofu to Hispanics. Visit to the House Foods
America Corp. tofu factory in Garden Grove near Los
Angeles (Interview). SoyaScan Notes. Nov. 9. Conducted by
William Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: Yvonne and her husband Joji (who fi rst
contacted Soyfoods Center on 12 Sept. 1997) are interested
in translating The Book of Tofu into Spanish and introducing
tofu to the Hispanic community, starting in Los Angeles.
Yvonne, age 24 was born in the USA, where her parents
(who are both from Costa Rica) lived for 30-35 years; her
father was a pharmacist. She learned to speak some Spanish
at home. Her parents have returned to Costa Rica. Yvonne
(who was raised a Catholic) now works in a real estate offi ce
and teaches vegan cooking classes at the Kanzeonji Non-
Sectarian Buddhist Temple and Shiva Ashram Yoga Center
at Mt. Washington in Los Angeles; there both she and Joji
practice Zen meditation and yoga. Rev. Ryugen Watanabe,
Joji’s uncle, is a Soto Zen master, yoga teacher, and the head
of this temple. Both Yvonne and Joji are vegetarians, and she
is a vegan. Her sister is an editor for El International, a big
Spanish language magazine located in Miami, Florida.
Yvonne got interested in vegetarianism and soyfoods
through Rev. Watanabe. She had had severe migraine chronic
headaches for many years. After trying every possible
remedy to no avail, she told her uncle, Rev. Watanabe, about
her problem. He said simply but forcefully, “It’s your diet.”
She thought: “He’s crazy. I have a great diet.” In 1994,
although she had been eating meat for 30 years, she tried
the vegetarian diet he recommended and got quick relief.
Following his advice, she began by giving up red meat and
pork, then phased out chicken and fi sh until after 8-9 months
she was consuming a vegan diet. As Yvonne began educating
herself about vegetarian nutrition, she was looking for
alternatives to meats as a source of protein. Rev. Watanabe
told her about tofu, and even taught her how to make it at
home from whole soybeans. Now Yvonne teaches other
people how to make tofu at home.
Yvonne has great admiration for Rev. Watanabe. “He’s
really great. He’s been teaching Zen and Yoga for more than
20 years and he still charges the same, low prices–$2.00
for a Yoga class. If you can pay, you pay. If you can’t, how
about rolling some incense. It’s wonderful. I’ve never seen
someone so committed to people.”
Yvonne has been a vegan ever since and has not had
a headache in almost fi ve years. A friend of Yvonne’s
had migraine headaches that were so bad, she had to give
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 494
herself shots. Yvonne suggested that she try switching to a
vegetarian diet. She hasn’t had a headache in a year. Over the
years many of Yvonne’s female relatives (her mother, sister,
cousin, etc.) have become vegan–largely because they want
to lose weight.
Joji, age 36, was born in Tokyo but has lived in the
USA since age 6. He speaks Japanese and English and is
a fi nancial consultant. Joji graduated from USC, and now
works in a corporate environment in real estate fi nancing.
His grandmother, Masa Miyai, lives with them. Four years
ago they shut down their business selling medical supplies
to Latin America. Now they are developing a project to
introduce tofu to Hispanics.
On Oct. 18-19 Yvonne and Joji visited Soyfoods Center,
where they talked with Bill Shurtleff about their project and
book publishing. They photocopied many Spanish-language
documents and recipes related to tofu. Upon returning to
Los Angeles, they developed a one-page Spanish language
brochure on tofu, visited with Margaret Endo in order to
arrange for a booth in next summer’s Tofu Festival, and
began to do research.
Their fi rst research project was a visit to the House
Foods America Corp. tofu plant in Garden Grove, Southern
California. After a brief meeting with employee Miyuki
Nagano, she took them on a walking tour of the plant, so
they were able to observe the entire tofu-making process.
It is completely automated, except when a worker smooths
the curds in the pressing trays before they are pressed.
The company employs about 120 people at this facility.
Of the 78 workers in the factory (including shipping and
receiving), 98% are Hispanic men, but the offi ce workers
are all Japanese. The company has its own delivery trucks;
its marketing is focused on California, in part because of
increased competition from companies outside the state–as
in Massachusetts [Nasoya Foods]. The company invites
the Hispanic workers to take home tofu, but they don’t–
probably because they don’t know what to do with it. The
company has a full test kitchen and laboratory, and Miyuki is
interested in developing tofu recipes that Hispanics will like.
The company also makes natto at this plant.
Update: Talk with Yvonne. 1997. Nov. 23. Her cousin,
Alejandra Jimenez, from Costa Rica has just arrived in Los
Angeles to work with her on the tofu project. Alejandra’s
native language is Spanish but she also speaks perfect
English and has a master’s degree in English. Another cousin
from Costa Rica is part of an all-male rock band, whose
members are ages 30-37; all were born and raised in Costa
Rica. She served them 3 tofu recipes–which they liked very
much: (1) Tofu cubed in miso soup; (2) Chilled tofu, cubed
with sesame oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce; and (3) Crisp
freshly deep-fried tofu cubes, with soy sauce. They are
interested in using tofu as part of a weight-loss program.
They all went to a Chinese vegetarian restaurant in
nearby San Gabriel named Vegetarian Delights. Run by a