The revolving door of food trends – particularly those regarding vegetarianism and veganism – provides a unique opportunity for food cultures that are traditionally associated with religions to sit down at the table and enter the conversation. This thesis aims to investigate how the tradition of shōjin ryori – Japanese temple cuisine – manages to eke out a niche for itself within the broad genre of vegetarian cookbooks by altering the presentation of the teachings found in Dōgen Zenji’s Tenzo Kyōkun to better reach a large "spiritual-but-not-religious" audience. Not only do I look at the textual shifts present in the cookbooks that serve as the project’s data set, but also what role the modern fixation on visual aesthetics via social media (namely Instagram) play in promulgating these teachings. I argue that the changes in presentation and the decisions made regarding visual representation in the cookbooks are pragmatic moves on the parts of their authors, editors, and publishers that incorporate both the need to remain present in the global marketplace as well as the desire to encourage proliferation in today’s generations.
