How has cooking vegetarian or vegan meals changed over the past 20 years or so?
I think it is a revelation that vegetarian cooking can be fun. The flavor of each of the dishes comes from the ingredients and fresh herbs. When I [first arrived in Japan] 25 years ago, [many people] did not understand what it meant to be a vegetarian. They presumed that vegetarians only ate salads or stir-fried dishes, steamed or boiled vegetables. So it was very important to explain … that you could be eating delicious food from different cuisines and still be a vegetarian [or] a vegan. In your cookbook, you emphasize how the different Asian cuisines have influenced one another. Do you feel that Asian dishes are constantly evolving? Oh, absolutely. More and more you feel as if the boundaries, the lines that distinguish each cuisine, are getting less and less distinct as they are almost merging in flavors. That’s the beauty of sharing and exploring [what] each cuisine offers…. You can be cooking … Burmese food with Indian ingredients, and you can add two more ingredients and mak
