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Tahoe, where they all stay for two days and one night at the
Shurtleff family cabin near Meeks Bay. July 26–The fi rst
Takai catalog of small and medium scale tofu equipment
(printed with dark brown ink on glossy white paper) arrives
in the USA.
July 27–Takai and Shurtleff fl y together from San
Francisco to Ann Arbor, Michigan, on an afternoon fl ight.
July 28-30–Meeting in Ann Arbor of about 70
soycrafters (mostly tofu makers) from around the United
States. The conference opens on the evening of Friday,
July 28. The fi rst meeting is held upstairs in a large room at
the University of Michigan student union–slide shows and
discussions. Attendees stay in the university dormitory–
which is largely empty since it was summer. On Saturday
there are meetings and practical workshops throughout the
day at The Soy Plant, 211 E. Ann St., several blocks from
the university. Mr. Takai notes: “New tofu makers are young
vegetarian. Almost all Caucasian with long hair and beards.
They eat tofu instead of meat.” On Sunday, July 30, the
Soycrafters Association of North America is founded. Steve
Fiering, Jerry MacKinnon, Sue Kalen, and co-workers at
The Soy Plant (211 East Ann St.), in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
organized and hosted the meeting–which was a great success.
We elected an executive director (Larry Needleman of Bean
Machines, California) and a Steering Committee [board of
directors] of six: Tom Timmins, New England Soy Dairy,
Massachusetts. Lester Karplus, Vegetarian, Inc., Illinois.
Steve Fiering, The Soy Plant, Michigan. Steve Demos, White
Wave Tofu, Colorado. Kathryn Bennett-Clarke, Southwest
Tofu, New Mexico. Bill Shurtleff, New-age Foods Study
Center, California.
After the meeting, Shurtleff and Takai travel around the
United States, by airplane and rented cars, visiting existing
tofu companies.
July 31, Monday–Fly from Ann Arbor to Boston,
Massachusetts. From Boston we drive (using a rented car)
to the New England Soy Dairy (Tom Timmins and Richard
Leviton) and Nasoya (John Paino and Bob Bergwall); both
are quite new companies. Mr. Takai notes: “New England
was very woody and beautiful. First saw soy mayonnaise at
the New England Soy Dairy; it was served in a dip at dinner.
Nasoya extracted soymilk with a big hydraulic press.” Mr.
Takai noted that Japanese eat tofu itself, whereas Americans
generally use it as an ingredient in recipes.
Aug. 1–Spend the afternoon in Boston’s Chinatown
visiting two or three old and well-established tofu makers.
While walking through a fancy building in the area, Shurtleff
fi rst sees someone (a secretary) using a word processor.
Aug. 2, Wed.–Fly from Boston to New York City. Visit
Hashizume (Mr. Yokoyama) and Tanaka-ya (Mr. Murakami),
both well established tofu makers run by Japanese
Americans. We then take the run-down, graffi ti-scrawled
subway to visit Tokyo Food Processing Corp. (c/o Japan
Food Corp.) at 40 Varick Ave., Brooklyn (Terry Terahira
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 149
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and Mr. Shimazaki); this is also an established Japanese-
American company that makes tofu and other Asian foods in
a bombed out-looking, scary part of the city. Mr. Shimazaki
notes that tofu is starting to become popular in America, and
their tofu is selling well. One afternoon Shurtleff is invited
to be on the Gary Null Show (radio) to talk about tofu. While
in New York City, Shurtleff stays with Larry Needleman at
the home of his parents (Hy & Sylvia, in New Hyde Park,
just outside New York City), while Mr. Takai stays at a hotel
in the city. One night Needleman and Shurtleff have dinner
with Mr. Takai, as his guest, at the Rainbow Restaurant in
Manhattan, near the top of some skyscraper. Mr. Takai had a
black-and-white photo taken of the three seated at a dinner
table; it appeared in the Japanese newspaper Hokuriku
Chunichi Shinbun on 14 Sept. 1978, and Mr. Takai kept the
original. Soyfoods Center also has a copy (8 by 10 inches,
fi led at Soyfoods Center). Our last morning in New York
City (Saturday, Aug. 5), we three travel by subway to the
southern tip of Manhattan and take a ride on the Staten
Island Ferry.
Aug. 6, Sunday–Shurtleff and Takai fl y to Miami,
Florida, to visit Swan Foods, founded by Robert Brooks
and Mary Pung; a new and extremely innovative company
making tofu and soymilk (with organic soybeans), plus
a line of soy yogurt, tofu cheesecakes, etc. and full-page
nationwide ads. Mr. Takai recalls that Mr. Brooks wanted to
start a chain of tofu businesses across the United States.
Aug. 8–Fly from Miami to Summertown, Tennessee, to
visit The Farm Tofu Shop (Alan Praskin). Mr. Takai recalls
visiting Light Foods in St. Louis, Missouri, to deal with
problems in their FM50 roller extractor.
Aug. 10–Fly from Tennessee to Denver, Colorado, to
visit Denver Tofu (Mr. & Mrs. Haruhisa Yamamoto; an
old, well-established Japanese-American company, which
now fi lters all water used to make tofu). Shurtleff travels
to nearby Boulder, Colorado, to visit White Wave on Pearl
Street (Steve Demos, very new and small tofu maker).
Aug. 11–Fly from Denver to Los Angeles. Visit Hinodeya
(Mr. Yamauchi; an old, well-established Japanese-
American company, perhaps the largest in America).
Aug. 12–Fly from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Note: Mr. Takai’s notes of his itinerary, which he wrote
for himself in Japanese before and after the trip, indicate that
he arrived in San Francisco on Aug. 12. But Shurtleff’s notes
indicate that he arrived in San Francisco and Lafayette on
Aug. 9 (Wednesday). Shurtleff has clear memories of visiting
Denver Tofu and White Wave, but no memories of visiting
Tennessee or Los Angeles on this trip. Mr. Takai does not
recall visiting Lake Tahoe. Address: New-age Foods Study
Center, Lafayette, California.
349. Beuchat, Larry R.; Nail, B.J. 1978. Fermentation
of peanut milk with Lactobacillus bulgaricus and L.
acidophilus. J. of Food Science 43(4):1109-12. July/Aug. [15