Food for spring, time for "deep cleansing"

In anatomical terms, going into the spring means opening the chest, the back and the iliopsoas, expanding the lungs . In a spiritual sense, it means recovering the gifts of childhood and nourishing one's personal vision .

Food can help this process of opening up and expanding. Sauro Ricci, an Italian macrobiotic chef who moved to Lisbon, where he studied at the Instituto Macrobiotico De Portugal, and works as a second chef in the 5 Sabores restaurant, revealing how.

In spring we are in the Wood element: the Yang in growth, the Yin in decline. But then should you prefer Yin foods (fruits, oils, vegetables, foods with sugars, etc.) or make Yang ones prevail (fish, cereals, legumes, etc)? And cooking times should be short or long?

First of all I think it is appropriate to change the name of the energy phase Wood to Tree, so that the direction of energy is better expressed. In spring, the most important thing to do is to maintain a balanced diet, and as my teacher Martin Halsey advises, it would be appropriate to do a "cleansing" period .

Halsey proposes a food "Lent", a diet of forty days (or less, each with its own possibilities and based on its own motivation) in which one concentrates above all on cereals and vegetables, removing: animal products, oils, fresh fruit, baked and stimulating products. This means that the liver, the most energetic organ at this stage of the year, performs its functions of filtering the blood like never before, bringing us a profound well-being in the body. Beyond this, the typical cooking of this season is the quick sauté in a pan (no non-stick!).

Wood also evokes the green color, the natural strength of the wind and recalls the sour taste. What are the foods with an acid taste in macrobiotic cooking and with which other foods should they be combined?

There are no properly macrobiotic foods with an acid taste except for the condiments of the oriental culinary tradition such as the acidulated of umeboshi, rice vinegar, mirin etc, which have a strong acidity, but are in fact seasonings. As for the vegetables that have a sour taste like celery, leek or the many "green leaves" we use in the kitchen, these can be lightly scalded to accompany the dishes, perhaps with a sauce, or as is the case with leeks, of chives, can be cut very thin and used to open the flavor of soups or more composed dishes.

The flavor that I recommend to use a little more often this season is the sweet and sour which is very relaxing for the liver.

The organs associated with the element in traditional Chinese medicine are the Liver ( Gan ) and the Biliary Bladder in spring. The Liver is the impetus of life, but it is quickly exhausted if the support of the Kidneys is lacking. Do you give an example of a dish model made of foods that help both organs and combine well with each other?

Azuki beans cooked with kombu seaweed are excellent for the kidneys, we can accompany them with wholemeal rice cooked with a bit of barley that is together with the spelled the ceral which has more characteristics associated with the Tree energy phase, therefore excellent for the liver, and turnip tops blanched with a mustard sauce, a simple and very balanced dish, but I would say even if you allow, very good.

Spring, period of allergies and disorders related to asthma. These disturbances which senses convey in the macrobiotic perspective?

They are disorders related to the respiratory system as is obvious, but they are disorders that improve sharply if refined sugar and dairy products are eliminated, which are foods that are truly harmful to the lungs . There is no particular sense related to these diseases in the macrobiotic perspective. What I can tell you is that with a standard diet you can recover from allergies in four months, or 120 days, exactly the time it takes for the blood to renew itself completely.

The characteristic of the Wood phase is the growth of buds and shoots, after the winter rest; in symbolic terms, life that manifests its movement and exteriorizes itself. Does this energetic condition of rebirth and exteriorization affect your cook gestures, the spirit and the way to juggle between the stoves?

In my opinion the influence of nature on what I cook is fundamental and because the dish is balanced . This is to say that it is far from my instinct at this moment to cook a baked pumpkin, or overdo it with fish or maybe do very long cooking. Let's say that I often feel like a channel, a channel where energy passes, in which a creative force passes, but mind you I don't feel like a puppet, I make myself available to this force and relate to it, in short, the dishes I make are made four hands, two I put two and I come from far away .