August/September 2005

Cultivating Relational Intelligence
Nina Simons

Crimes Against Democracy: An Interview with Thom Hartmann
Jim Guiness

Rebirth in the Forest
Will Sears

Right Living, and Surviving, After The Age Of Oil
John Darling

Permaculture and Place
Steve Gabriel

Think of Local Food First
Wendy Siporen

Sustainable Living at Solviva
Anna Edey

Year-Round Gardening in Home and GreenHouse
Jeffrey M. Smith

The Greening of Cuba
Caroline Whyte

A Path of Peace, Kindness and Compassion
Jody Woodruff

From Hurt to Heart
Eryn Kalish

Epictetus' Handbook Revisited
Gay Hendricks & Phillip Johncock

The Sky of Now
Katie Davis

The Complete Book of Raw Food
Reviewed by Rachel Bendat

Whole Foods Companion
Reviewed by Rachel Bendat

Cosmic Calendar
Salina Rain

BACK TO TOP

The Complete Book of Raw Food

Reviewed by Rachel Bandat

Raw food is living plant or animal food that has not been heated above 115° F. Editors Lori Baird and Julie Rodwell present more than 350 recipes from 50 of the world’s leading raw food chefs in The Complete Book of Raw Food, a cookbook which is really an un-cookbook.

You don’t have to be a vegan or a vegetarian to enjoy this book. Part I describes the tools and skills necessary for the raw food lifestyle, Part II offers the recipes, and Part III provides valuable information and resources. Whether you plan to embrace the raw food lifestyle, or whether you simply want to add some refreshing recipes to your menu, this book holds some inspiration for everyone.

After a description of the necessary ingredients and tools, an informative chapter on juicers and juicing contains much helpful information. For example, you should not juice carrot greens because they contain toxic substances. Other tips include which fruit skins must be removed prior to juicing and which skins may be left on, as well as which seeds may be put through the juicer.

Sprouts are another important part of a raw food diet, as they are concentrated natural sources of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and proteins. A chapter on sprouting and greening introduces the many seed varieties available. Beyond the popular alfalfa and mung bean sprouts, you can sprout arugula, broccoli, fennel, and even lentils. The cereal grasses listed for greening include wheat, barley, rye, and spelt. A sprouting chart, complete with the quantity, soaking time, sprouting time, and yield, for seeds ranging from oats to cabbage to pumpkin seeds and quinoa, can be found in this chapter. With this information, you can begin growing your own sprouts and greens at home.

Dehydrating is another fun way to prepare raw foods. You can hang the food in your kitchen, place it in the hot sun, or use an electric dehydrator. For the living enzymes to remain living, food must be dried at 118º F or lower and preferably not above 105°F.

The chapter with suggestions from the book’s contributing chefs is full of useful advice. Raw food chef Victoria Boutenko, author of 12 Steps to Raw Foods, encourages the reader to always balance the five major tastes—sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and bitter. “There are thousands of different tastes in natural food, but when we balance the five major ones, the food is so delicious that everyone says, ‘Wow!’ When you learn to balance the five tastes, you will make delicious food.” While you are learning to balance the five tastes, you can refer to a list of foods for each of the five taste groups.

Jinjee and Storm Talifero provide a list of tips for inventing new recipes. One tip is to “Go inward and meditate upon what your body wants to eat. Feel the flavors, the texture, the scents, and the energy, and you will create in your mind new kinds of feasts!” In this chapter there are also tips for reviving wilted lettuce, drying limes, blending garlic, keeping mushrooms fresh, picking okra, opening young Thai coconuts, and more. A chef named Rhio suggests buying coarse Celtic sea salt and grinding it yourself. Pre-ground Celtic sea salt is dried at 200ºF which is too high for the salt to be considered raw. Part I ends with a list of food cravings beside a list of suggested raw replacements.

Part II offers a wide variety of exciting recipes, such as Indian Mango Curry Dressing, Mustard-Ginger Pumpkin Seed Crunchies, Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Nut Loaf, and Cashew Gelato. Part III, the Appendix and Resources, contains much useful and interesting information, such as the spices used to create Chinese five-spice—anise, cinnamon, cloves, fennel, and pepper. A suggested reading list includes books on enzymes, cleansing and fasting, juicing, sprouting, and even a few books for kids.

Thorough to the end, the editors close the book with an extensive list of services, supplies, and resources available for the raw food lifestyle. Informative and inspiring, The Complete Book of Raw Food will be a delightful addition to any kitchen.

Ashland, Oregon Master Raw Food Chef John Larsen contributed several recipes, including the following for Rainbow Veggie Slaw:

Rainbow Veggie Slaw
Serves 6 to 8            
Special Equipment: Food processor, coffee grinder

1/2 medium head purple cabbage
1 yellow onion
1 large head broccoli
1 head cauliflower
2 red bell peppers
2 yellow bell peppers
3 carrots
1 cup macadamia nuts
1 to 1 1/2 lemons, juiced
1/2 cup olive oil
sea salt to taste
2 teaspoons white pepper

Roughly chop the cabbage, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, and carrots and process together in a food processor until mixture is granulated.

Transfer the shredded vegetables to a large bowl. Grind the macadamia nuts in a coffee grinder or a small blender.

Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt, and white pepper together and combine with the ground macadamia nuts. Slowly pour over veggies while mixing. Add extra salt to taste.

The Boutenko Family, also of Ashland, Oregon, are known as the “Raw Family” and eat 100-percent raw food. Victoria, Igor, Sergei, and Valya Boutenko, world-renowned raw food teachers, believe strongly in the health benefits of a raw food lifestyle. Their recipes are tasty, quick and inexpensive. Victoria Boutenko offers a wonderful raw version of Russian Borscht in The Complete Book of Raw Food, and the following recipe for Live Garden-burgers:

Live Gardenburgers
Serves 10
Special Equipment: Food processor

1 pound of your favorite nuts, unsoaked and ground
1 pound carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon sweetener (such as honey, very ripe banana, or raisins)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons poultry seasoning (or other seasoning)
2 to 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
sea salt to taste
paprika

Grind the nuts in a food processor. Combine the carrots, onion, sweetener, oil, seasoning, yeast (if using) and sea salt and grind in a food processor.

Mix everything together well. If mixture isn’t firm enough, add one or two of the following thickeners: dill weed, dried garlic, dried onion, dried parsley flakes, nutritional yeast, psyllium husk powder, ground flax seed.

Form into balls, cutlets, or fillets, and sprinkle with paprika before serving.

Variation: To make “fishburgers” add seaweed (such as dulse, kelp, or nori) to the mixture.

The Complete Book of Raw Food
Lori Baird, Editor
Julie Rodwell,
Contributing Editor
2004, Healthy Living Books
Hatherleigh Press
432 pages, $25.00