Maison Rustique
06-26-2007, 06:46 PM
(http://www.otwa.com/community/showthread.php?t=19246)
maison rustique Oct-06-04 05:55 PM
Are there any raw foodists here?
I know of only one person that claims to be a "raw food" follower. She's a biz associate of DH and I didn't want to quiz her on it! I know that there are raw food restaurants cropping up in metro areas. I always sort of figured it was mainly salads.
Now I see that we have a google ad for a raw food site. I clicked on it and see all sorts of stuff that I don't really consider raw. Dried fruits. OK, technically they were never "cooked" but they were exposed to some sort of heat/dehydration process weren't they? I haven't spent that much time on the site (and didn't save the link--just look for it at the top of the page--I'm sure it will turn up again), but would like to learn more about this. Why and what?
Thanks for any help!!
Ms. Chocolate Oct-08-04 12:01 AM
I'm not a raw foodist but have heard about it a lot. This USA Today article gives a good overview:
Quote:
USA TODAY -- April 29, 2002
"Healthful, Raw-food Trend is Picking Up Steam"
By Jerry Shriver, USA TODAY
Before you get fired up about buying a fancy new stove for your kitchen, consider this growing cooking trend: uncooked foods. A once-radical form of vegetarianism called the "raw foods" or "living foods movement" is creeping into the mainstream via forums such as gourmet restaurants, upscale food festivals, airline menus and big-name cookbooks.
Since the mid-1990s, the health-food world has embraced a style of preparation in which all ingredients are raw, organic and vegan (no fish, meat, eggs or dairy products), and nothing is heated above 118 degrees.
The rationales are that a diet of fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts is inherently healthier, and that heat destroys key nutrients and enzymes. So instead of ovens and stoves, the essential kitchen tools are juicers, blenders, high-tech slicers and dehydrators.
Until recently, the movement ("raw foods" and "living foods" are usually used interchangeably) gained most of its exposure through Web sites, natural-food stores, trade shows, a handful of modest cafes and endorsements from a few celebrities, including Woody Harrelson and Alicia Silverstone.
Now, the larger culinary world is catching on:
* Veteran chef Roxanne Klein is winning critical acclaim for her new Roxanne's in Larkspur, Calif., the first raw-food restaurant to successfully adopt a fine-dining approach. It features artistic presentations, an elegant interior incorporating environmentally friendly materials, an impressive list of organic wines and an average check of $50 per person.
* Renowned Chicago chef Charlie Trotter, who occasionally incorporates raw-food dishes into his tasting menus, is working with Klein and superstar photographer Tim Turner on a raw-food book for Ten Speed Press, due out early next year.
* Trotter and Klein will give a presentation on raw foods in June at the Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen, Colo., the nation's largest annual food festival.
* Lufthansa has begun offering raw-food meals, upon request, on international flights.
* A just-released book from raw-food guru David Wolfe, Eating for Beauty (Maul Brothers Publishing, $24.95), promotes the raw-food diet as part of a wellness/beauty regimen.
The most significant bellwether is the all-raw gourmet menu at Klein's 64-seat restaurant, the result of more than five years of research by the classically trained chef. A recent review in the San Francisco Chronicle awarded the restaurant 3 1/2 stars (out of four). Reservations are now a must on weekends.
"It has been an amazing challenge to create an incredible dining experience of sensual flavors with this kind of cuisine," says Klein, who adds that she was introduced to raw foods by Harrelson. "You have to study how the dishes are presented, how to get the aromas and balanced flavors and textures to make it satisfying."
Klein's "lasagna" typifies her approach: Paper-thin slices of zucchini, substituting for the pasta, are layered with mushrooms, garlic, herbs, marinated spinach, fresh corn kernels and cashew-based herbed cheese. The sauce is a marinara made from fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, herbs and more than 30 spices. It's served room temperature on a warmed plate that has been dotted with herb oils to enhance the aroma.
"We get about five people a day at the door wanting to know more about this after they've dined here," Klein says.
While Roxanne's appears to be the only raw-food restaurant to have adopted a consciously gourmet approach, nearly two dozen more modest eateries have opened across the country in the past few years.
The new Ecopolitan in Minneapolis, for example, already is looking to expand to other Midwest markets, and 3-year-old Quintessence in New York has just opened a branch on the trendy Upper West Side.
Wolfe estimates that at least 1 million people in the USA embrace some aspect of the raw-food diet, based upon traffic at various Web sites and the100,000-plus copies of his book, The Sunfood Diet Success System, that have been sold since 1999.
"And it's just opening up, just beginning," he says.
Wolfe concedes that America is "the fattest nation in the world," but he is convinced that many more people are beginning "to flip around and are getting totally health-conscious and fit. It's in the American nature to go to extremes."
And eating raw foods is an extreme but attractive path to fitness, he says. "After a meal, you come out more fulfilled, feeling lighter and clearer. It turns people on to another level of experience. It's for people who are on the cutting edge."
After making a US-wide splash, the restaurant closed a couple of months ago:
followup article from SF Chronicle
Ms. C.
maison rustique Oct-08-04 08:08 AM
Fascinating! Thanks Ms. C!!
sagemoon-cottage Oct-09-04 06:34 AM
Off and on!!!
I used to be a raw fooder many moons ago...I still go raw on occassion when I can afford the produce. I am not a fan of the "new breed" of raw foodists...they want to make everything gourmet and tend to use very fuzzy science in their proclamations. Victoria Boutenko is an exception...some of her recipes are a little fussy but not overly so...also when she uses fuzzy science she tends to acknowledge it.
I am from the Ann Wigmore and Sproutman school of raw foods...other names in this group are Maricia Acciardo, Hippocrates Institute (founded by Ann Wigmore) and Viktora Kulvinskis. (some of my spelling may be off!) Some raw foodists eat foods cooked at very low temperatures while others are adament that everything must be raw. I am kind of moderate because if you were to listen to the most strict of the raw foodists nothing grown in Arkansas (where I am from) would qualify as raw because the temperature in the fields gets to high to suit their idea of what foods qualify as "low cooked" (dried really.)
Folks get into heated arguements about enzymes and at what temperature enzymes become destroyed...some worry about destroying enzymes from blending their smoothies too long. If you want to learn more about raw fooding it I suggest "Love Your Body" by Viktoras Kulvinskis, books by Ann Wigmore or Sproutman. These can be found used for reasonable prices...if you want more information on who to avoid please write me privately...I'd had to get slapped for telling the truth about some folks who are making a fortune off of duping others.
Raw fooding is my favorite way to eat...if I could afford it...I wouldn't touch cooked food very often at all.
Cheers,
Ardee-ann
SageMoon Cottage Cat Grannie
PS -- I have over 30 years of raw food experience.
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maison rustique Oct-06-04 05:55 PM
Are there any raw foodists here?
I know of only one person that claims to be a "raw food" follower. She's a biz associate of DH and I didn't want to quiz her on it! I know that there are raw food restaurants cropping up in metro areas. I always sort of figured it was mainly salads.
Now I see that we have a google ad for a raw food site. I clicked on it and see all sorts of stuff that I don't really consider raw. Dried fruits. OK, technically they were never "cooked" but they were exposed to some sort of heat/dehydration process weren't they? I haven't spent that much time on the site (and didn't save the link--just look for it at the top of the page--I'm sure it will turn up again), but would like to learn more about this. Why and what?
Thanks for any help!!
Ms. Chocolate Oct-08-04 12:01 AM
I'm not a raw foodist but have heard about it a lot. This USA Today article gives a good overview:
Quote:
USA TODAY -- April 29, 2002
"Healthful, Raw-food Trend is Picking Up Steam"
By Jerry Shriver, USA TODAY
Before you get fired up about buying a fancy new stove for your kitchen, consider this growing cooking trend: uncooked foods. A once-radical form of vegetarianism called the "raw foods" or "living foods movement" is creeping into the mainstream via forums such as gourmet restaurants, upscale food festivals, airline menus and big-name cookbooks.
Since the mid-1990s, the health-food world has embraced a style of preparation in which all ingredients are raw, organic and vegan (no fish, meat, eggs or dairy products), and nothing is heated above 118 degrees.
The rationales are that a diet of fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts is inherently healthier, and that heat destroys key nutrients and enzymes. So instead of ovens and stoves, the essential kitchen tools are juicers, blenders, high-tech slicers and dehydrators.
Until recently, the movement ("raw foods" and "living foods" are usually used interchangeably) gained most of its exposure through Web sites, natural-food stores, trade shows, a handful of modest cafes and endorsements from a few celebrities, including Woody Harrelson and Alicia Silverstone.
Now, the larger culinary world is catching on:
* Veteran chef Roxanne Klein is winning critical acclaim for her new Roxanne's in Larkspur, Calif., the first raw-food restaurant to successfully adopt a fine-dining approach. It features artistic presentations, an elegant interior incorporating environmentally friendly materials, an impressive list of organic wines and an average check of $50 per person.
* Renowned Chicago chef Charlie Trotter, who occasionally incorporates raw-food dishes into his tasting menus, is working with Klein and superstar photographer Tim Turner on a raw-food book for Ten Speed Press, due out early next year.
* Trotter and Klein will give a presentation on raw foods in June at the Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen, Colo., the nation's largest annual food festival.
* Lufthansa has begun offering raw-food meals, upon request, on international flights.
* A just-released book from raw-food guru David Wolfe, Eating for Beauty (Maul Brothers Publishing, $24.95), promotes the raw-food diet as part of a wellness/beauty regimen.
The most significant bellwether is the all-raw gourmet menu at Klein's 64-seat restaurant, the result of more than five years of research by the classically trained chef. A recent review in the San Francisco Chronicle awarded the restaurant 3 1/2 stars (out of four). Reservations are now a must on weekends.
"It has been an amazing challenge to create an incredible dining experience of sensual flavors with this kind of cuisine," says Klein, who adds that she was introduced to raw foods by Harrelson. "You have to study how the dishes are presented, how to get the aromas and balanced flavors and textures to make it satisfying."
Klein's "lasagna" typifies her approach: Paper-thin slices of zucchini, substituting for the pasta, are layered with mushrooms, garlic, herbs, marinated spinach, fresh corn kernels and cashew-based herbed cheese. The sauce is a marinara made from fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, herbs and more than 30 spices. It's served room temperature on a warmed plate that has been dotted with herb oils to enhance the aroma.
"We get about five people a day at the door wanting to know more about this after they've dined here," Klein says.
While Roxanne's appears to be the only raw-food restaurant to have adopted a consciously gourmet approach, nearly two dozen more modest eateries have opened across the country in the past few years.
The new Ecopolitan in Minneapolis, for example, already is looking to expand to other Midwest markets, and 3-year-old Quintessence in New York has just opened a branch on the trendy Upper West Side.
Wolfe estimates that at least 1 million people in the USA embrace some aspect of the raw-food diet, based upon traffic at various Web sites and the100,000-plus copies of his book, The Sunfood Diet Success System, that have been sold since 1999.
"And it's just opening up, just beginning," he says.
Wolfe concedes that America is "the fattest nation in the world," but he is convinced that many more people are beginning "to flip around and are getting totally health-conscious and fit. It's in the American nature to go to extremes."
And eating raw foods is an extreme but attractive path to fitness, he says. "After a meal, you come out more fulfilled, feeling lighter and clearer. It turns people on to another level of experience. It's for people who are on the cutting edge."
After making a US-wide splash, the restaurant closed a couple of months ago:
followup article from SF Chronicle
Ms. C.
maison rustique Oct-08-04 08:08 AM
Fascinating! Thanks Ms. C!!
sagemoon-cottage Oct-09-04 06:34 AM
Off and on!!!
I used to be a raw fooder many moons ago...I still go raw on occassion when I can afford the produce. I am not a fan of the "new breed" of raw foodists...they want to make everything gourmet and tend to use very fuzzy science in their proclamations. Victoria Boutenko is an exception...some of her recipes are a little fussy but not overly so...also when she uses fuzzy science she tends to acknowledge it.
I am from the Ann Wigmore and Sproutman school of raw foods...other names in this group are Maricia Acciardo, Hippocrates Institute (founded by Ann Wigmore) and Viktora Kulvinskis. (some of my spelling may be off!) Some raw foodists eat foods cooked at very low temperatures while others are adament that everything must be raw. I am kind of moderate because if you were to listen to the most strict of the raw foodists nothing grown in Arkansas (where I am from) would qualify as raw because the temperature in the fields gets to high to suit their idea of what foods qualify as "low cooked" (dried really.)
Folks get into heated arguements about enzymes and at what temperature enzymes become destroyed...some worry about destroying enzymes from blending their smoothies too long. If you want to learn more about raw fooding it I suggest "Love Your Body" by Viktoras Kulvinskis, books by Ann Wigmore or Sproutman. These can be found used for reasonable prices...if you want more information on who to avoid please write me privately...I'd had to get slapped for telling the truth about some folks who are making a fortune off of duping others.
Raw fooding is my favorite way to eat...if I could afford it...I wouldn't touch cooked food very often at all.
Cheers,
Ardee-ann
SageMoon Cottage Cat Grannie
PS -- I have over 30 years of raw food experience.
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 05:45 PM.
To adjust your timezone, visit your MyOTWA Control Panel.
Forums powered by vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2007, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.