Age, Biography and Wiki

William Shurtleff was born on 28 April, 1941 in Oakland, California, is an American food researcher and author (born 1941). Discover William Shurtleff's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 82 years old?

Popular As N/A
Occupation Researcher and writer about soyfoods
Age 82 years old
Zodiac Sign Taurus
Born 28 April 1941
Birthday 28 April
Birthplace Oakland, California
Nationality United States

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 28 April. He is a member of famous researcher with the age 82 years old group.

William Shurtleff Height, Weight & Measurements

At 82 years old, William Shurtleff height not available right now. We will update William Shurtleff's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
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Who Is William Shurtleff's Wife?

His wife is Akiko Aoyagi (married 1977-1995)

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Akiko Aoyagi (married 1977-1995)
Sibling Not Available
Children Joseph Aoyagi Shurtleff

William Shurtleff Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is William Shurtleff worth at the age of 82 years old? William Shurtleff’s income source is mostly from being a successful researcher. He is from United States. We have estimated William Shurtleff's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income researcher

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Timeline

1941

William Roy Shurtleff (born April 28, 1941) also known as Bill Shurtleff is an American researcher and writer about soy foods.

Shurtleff and his former wife Akiko Aoyagi have written and published consumer-oriented cookbooks, handbooks for small- and large-scale commercial production, histories, and bibliographies of various soy foods.

Shurtleff was born in Oakland, California on April 28, 1941.

He attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, where he studied engineering.

After graduating from Stanford, he joined the Peace Corps and taught school in Nigeria.

He then joined the Tassajara Zen Center, where he meditated and worked as a cook for 2 1⁄2 years.

1960

In turn, the new availability and cultural acceptance of tofu and related foods enabled the creation of new manufactured soy-based foods such as Tofutti and Tofurkey, and arguably gave a push to the vegetarian movement in the West that had begun in the late 1960s.

1970

These books introduced soy foods such as tofu, tempeh, and miso on a wide scale to non-Asian Westerners, and are largely responsible for the establishment of non-Asian soy food manufacturers in the West beginning in the late 1970s.

1971

He was also a student of Suzuki Roshi who sent him to Japan in 1971 in order to help Roshi set up a Tassajara center there.

While in Japan, Shurtleff met his future wife Akiko Aoyagi, who at that time worked as a Tokyo-based fashion designer.

While he had initially developed an interest in soy foods at the Tassajara Zen Center, Shurtleff had also read the (then) recently released Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé, which argued that soybean’s were a superior source of protein.

Using Lappe’s book as a reference, Shurtleff wanted to learn more about Tofu.

Aoyagi then introduced him to “Kyoto’s Haute cuisine Tofu restaurants” where a 12 course meal was about three dollars.

It was during one of these meals that they decided to create “a tofu cookbook that that would show Westerners how to prepare tofu.” Over the next few years they conducted research, traveling, visiting tofu factories, ashram’s, and “grandmother’s who still remember the old ways,” learning the various elements of tofu production.

They then began to work on the book, with Aoyagi focused on developing, creating, and writing recipes, both Eastern and Western, and providing the technical illustrations.

Meanwhile, Shurtleff researched the production and manufacture of the soy products.

They soon "decided to do for tofu and other soy foods what Johnny Appleseed did for apples.”

1972

In October 1972 Shurtleff and Aoyagi began full-time research on soy foods in Japan.

1975

In 1975 they published their first book, The Book of Tofu.

The Book of Tofu (1975) is aimed at the general public in the West.

It combines a cookbook with Asian and Western recipes, a history of tofu, and descriptions of small-scale producers of tofu in Japan.

The book includes sections on related products such as soy milk, okara, fermented tofu and yuba.

1976

In August 1976 they founded the Soyinfo Center (named Soyfoods Center until 2006) in Lafayette, California.

All three books have recipes that do not use meat, poultry or fish products, though the authors mention some traditional uses of the soy foods with these ingredients.

The books do have recipes that use dairy, eggs, and honey.

Shurtleff and Aoyagi researched and wrote a similar book on miso, The Book of Miso (1976).

It focused on Japanese miso, with some attention to similar condiments in other Asian cuisines.

1979

Shurtleff and Aoyagi went to Indonesia to learn about the manufacture of tempeh, and published The Book of Tempeh in 1979.

This book focuses on traditional Indonesian types of tempeh and tempeh recipes, but also contains Western recipes that use tempeh.

This book built on a very small but established non-Asian constituency in the United States that was making and using tempeh, including The Farm in Tennessee.

The Book of Tofu sold over 40,000 copies during its first year in print, and almost as many in the second year.

"The Book of Tofu" (1979), by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi, became his new bible.”

their printed and bound books have sold more than 830,000 copies.

1980

In 1980, Lorna Sass wrote in The New York Times, "The two people most responsible for catapulting tofu from the wok into the frying pan are William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi.” In 1995, Suzanne Hamlin wrote in The New York Times, “At the turn of the century there were two tofu suppliers in the United States. Today there are more than 200 tofu manufacturers...and tofu can be found in nearly every supermarket."

By 1980 over 100,000 copies of The Book of Tofu were in print.

At that time, their manuals for manufacturers of soy milk and tofu, miso, and tempeh were selling about 125 copies per month.

The new availability of soy foods, including tofu, miso, tempeh, and okara, in turn stimulated commercial production of foods based on them.

1981

For example, David Mintz invented the non-dairy, kosher pareve ice cream stubstitute Tofutti in 1981: “It was after he opened his Manhattan restaurant, he said in one of many versions of the story, that "a Jewish hippie" tipped him to the potential of tofu.

2018

Food writer Jonathan Kauffman states in Hippie Food: How Back-To-The-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat (2018), that Tofurky developed due to the influence of Frances Moore Lappé, Shurtleff and Aoyagi, and The Farm.

He also credits the rise of Tofu shops, Tofu cookbooks, and vegetarian cookbooks that use Tofu in the West to Aoyagi and Shurtleff.