All things RAW

[chefjack]

Well I never thought Id start a topic about Raw foods but here we go...

I'm a chef that through his whole life's work of cooking has done nothing raw except oysters, tartare, carpaccio and salads.... I know that the raw foods thing has been out for awhile and I think it's still going pretty strong (in the more metropolitan areas,) however I call myself a cook with a chefs "hat" telling people what to do instead of someone else giving me the orders, and a cook is well... a cook, he cooks things... he doesn't sprout, dehyrdrate and puree raw veggies and stuff in a Vita-prep. That said, I am learning how to un-cook things. I have read a few books but I am still a bit puzzled. I have experimented with sprouting, dehydrating and Vita-prep blender...ing: mung bean sprouts, made my own soy bean and seed cracker - came out o.k., and pureed fruits, vegetables and such.

This is all new to this cook and I am looking for some inspritation... I am learning this for my employer who likes these things. I have read nutritional books and herbal holistic stuff and can make a good smoothie or two. But I am looking for a beginners guide to this and any tips or new techniques would be helpful.

By the way, I am still going to cook - but for some I will un-cook.

( I actually own the T-shirt that says stop tofu abuse eat foie gras - I guess that item is still in question too)

[Gifted Gourmet]

I am looking for a beginners guide to this and any tips or new techniques would be helpful.

To start with, there are some articles which may have good ideas for the inspiration that you seek:

a very large number of interesting articles from living foods.com

RawFoodNetwork.com

Loving Foods.com

[Jason Perlow]

The raw food movement is dead, as far as I am concerned, especially as it applies to fine dining. But if you really want to read up on that stuff, Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein wrote a book called RAW that was published two years ago that is supposed to be the latest treatise on the matter.

RAW (Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Washington Post article here

I would say to these raw food apologists, "Please eat or don't eat whatever you want. Feel free to declare yourself a fruitarian (raw fruits and seeds only); a vegetarian (no meats, poultry or fish); a strict vegan (no animal products, including eggs, dairy products and honey); a lacto-vegan (milk is okay); an ovo-vegan (eggs okay); a lacto-ovo-vegan (you guess); or a raw foodist, most of whom are also strict vegans. Feel free to chew each mouthful 30, 50 or 200 times, depending on which health guru you follow. You are even free to heed the prescription of vegetarian pioneer John Harvey Kellogg (1852{ndash}1943, the inventor of cornflakes) by ingesting your yogurt via enema. It's your choice and your body. But please don't try to justify your dietary eccentricities by cooking up (if you'll pardon the expression) pseudoscientific substantiations of your dogma

.

eGullet thread on book by Charlie Trotter

[jaypm51]

Washington Post article here

I would say to these raw food apologists, "Please eat or don't eat whatever you want. Feel free to declare yourself a fruitarian (raw fruits and seeds only); a vegetarian (no meats, poultry or fish); a strict vegan (no animal products, including eggs, dairy products and honey); a lacto-vegan (milk is okay); an ovo-vegan (eggs okay); a lacto-ovo-vegan (you guess); or a raw foodist, most of whom are also strict vegans. Feel free to chew each mouthful 30, 50 or 200 times, depending on which health guru you follow. You are even free to heed the prescription of vegetarian pioneer John Harvey Kellogg (1852{ndash}1943, the inventor of cornflakes) by ingesting your yogurt via enema. It's your choice and your body. But please don't try to justify your dietary eccentricities by cooking up (if you'll pardon the expression) pseudoscientific substantiations of your dogma

.

eGullet thread on book by Charlie Trotter

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Try "Eat Smart, Eat Raw" by Kate Wood. Lots of good ideas and creativity. Not my thing but occasionally "cook" for friends who are still stuck in past lives (pre fire). Good resource to have on hand. My dogs, however, love their raw diet.

[chromedome]

You may also want to visit the Beyond Vegetarianism website.

The proprietor is a long-term vegetarian and sometime vegan who started the site because he felt that the various dogmas (and pseudoscientific substantiations thereof) did vegetarianism a disservice. While he supports the choice of a vegetarian lifestyle, much of the site is given over to debunking the various forms of silliness that are promoted by earnest and well-meaning vegetarians, as well as some of the more self-serving health gurus.

More to the point, in this specific instance, the site has a great deal of information about the anti-nutrient properties of various raw foods, and which ones should not be combined and/or should be eaten in isolation at a separate sitting. Raw spinach, for example, binds several nutrients and enables them to pass through your body without benefit. This is not an issue for most of us, since as opportunistic omnivores we have lots of nutrients passing through our systems on a given day. For a raw foodist, especially a vegan, it can be a real concern.

[chefjack]

You may also want to visit the Beyond Vegetarianism website.

The proprietor is a long-term vegetarian and sometime vegan who started the site because he felt that the various dogmas (and pseudoscientific substantiations thereof) did vegetarianism a disservice.  While he supports the choice of a vegetarian lifestyle, much of the site is given over to debunking the various forms of silliness that are promoted by earnest and well-meaning vegetarians, as well as some of the more self-serving health gurus. 

More to the point, in this specific instance, the site has a great deal of information about the anti-nutrient properties of various raw foods, and which ones should not be combined and/or should be eaten in isolation at a separate sitting.  Raw spinach, for example, binds several nutrients and enables them to pass through your body without benefit. This is not an issue for most of us, since as opportunistic omnivores we have lots of nutrients passing through our systems on a given day.  For a raw foodist, especially a vegan, it can be a real concern.

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Thanks all for the replies, I bought the Trotter (add to my 4 other books of his (first is my fav)

Thanks again

Jack