Part 6 (1/2)

”Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”

-Harriet van Horne.

If you have seriously decided to adopt a raw-food diet as your primary way of eating, acquiring raw-food preparation skills is of foremost importance. It doesn't matter if you have a raw-food restaurant on your block or if your spouse is an accomplished raw gourmet chef. After many years of observation, I came to the conclusion that every raw-fooder who depends on others for his or her daily meals is less likely to remain on a raw-food diet while drifting through different life challenges.

I have taught thousands of people to prepare delicious raw gourmet concoctions, and I know that the absolute majority of people are capable of learning the basic skills of raw cuisine fairly quickly and easily.

First, I would like to explain why such expertise is so important. People on a typical cooked-food diet consume more or less the same things every day. For example, be it a steak, or goulash, or burger, or barbeque, it is still beef, even though it appears differently. Even when subst.i.tuted with chicken, pork, or fish, all meats have a similar taste, texture, and nutritional content (except for the amount of fat, which may vary depending on the quality). I bet most consumers wouldn't be able to distinguish between the taste of a beef, pork, or chicken hot dog, or even between a chicken or tofu burger if the same seasonings were used.

Foods that are typically eaten with meat, such as fried potatoes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, rice, pasta, or bread, consist of mostly carbohydrates and fat, and these are also very similar in their taste and nutritional value. Of course, adding raw vegetables to a meal would create a major nutritional improvement, but unfortunately that is still a rare occurrence: ”When Americans dined out in 2005, the leading menu choices remained hamburgers, french fries, and pizza. The presumably healthier option of a side salad was the No. 4 choice for women, and No.5 for men, according to the eating pattern study.”1 In contrast, there is a wide variety of fresh produce available in this country. Each supermarket in the U.S. carries a variety of 130 fruits and 196 vegetables throughout the year.2 Raw, uncooked vegetables, greens, fruits, nuts, and seeds all possess their own unique flavor.

To cook an unusual gourmet dish with such monotonous ingredients as meat and potatoes, one has to be an experienced and gifted chef. The epicurean tastes of a cooked diet are typically achieved through enhancing recipes with complex combinations of herbs and condiments, without which the dish would taste bland. For the convenience of consumers, who generally lack such skills, there are many premixed cooked foods sold in supermarkets. To keep the food cost down, the main condiments used in those packages are narrowed down to salt and pepper. To increase the shelf life, preservatives are added. The typical diet of citizens living in industrialized countries consists primarily of a combination of pre-cooked or partially cooked packaged foods. Meanwhile, ”Fewer than 1/3 of all meals prepared at home are made from 'scratch'.”3 In contrast, preparing a raw-food meal requires merely basic skills, and the taste of raw food is determined not by condiments but rather by the diversity of natural flavors of vegetables, greens, fruits, nuts, herbs, etc. For example, take a recipe, ”I Can't Believe It's Just Cabbage,” from this book.* There are only three ingredients in this recipe: cabbage, oil, and salt. Yet I have been successfully serving this dish at many gatherings, for guests with various food preferences, and even to my gourmet meat-eating relatives. Everyone loves it. I am constantly observing people being amused by the unexpectedly scrumptious taste of raw cuisine.

Tired of the rather boring taste of cooked dishes and longing for tasty, nostalgic, homey, or authentic dishes, people go out with increasing frequency: ”In 2005 there were 925,000 restaurants in U.S., serving more than 70 billion meals and snacks. Having 12.5 million employees, the industry is the largest employer besides government.”4 According to ABC News, ”Americans are eating out at restaurants increasingly more often. Statistics show that the average household spends 40% of its food dollar eating away from home.”5 However, food in most restaurants is far from being ”nostalgic, homey, and authentic.” Due to soaring prices of high-quality ingredients, the high cost of services of professional chefs, and tough compet.i.tion in the restaurant business, increasingly more restaurants adopt a fast-food style of preparing meals. The statistics for just three popular fast-food franchises follow: Total number of Subway restaurants in the U.S. in July 2006 was 20,000.6 Total number of McDonald's outlets in the U.S. in 2005 was 12,658.7 Total number of Wendy's restaurants in the U.S. in 2005 was 5,840.8 Given that I stayed for many years first on cooked and then on the raw-food diet, I have had a chance to compare the two ways of eating. I noticed that these two eating patterns required my body to perform in two different ways. I think that when I ate mostly cooked food, I almost never satisfied my bodily requirements for nutrition. Therefore, my decisions about how much food to consume in one meal were not determined by the amount of nutrients from this meal but rather by the feeling of fullness in my stomach and possibly by fulfilling my cravings that stemmed from a dependency on certain foods. Since I adopted a raw-food lifestyle, my appet.i.te often stops while I am only in the middle of my plate and I feel completely fed and satisfied despite the absence of a full feeling in my belly.

There is also a big difference between motives that drive raw-or cooked-food diners to make their food choices. I discovered this diversity while conducting an experiment in one of my cla.s.ses, when I interviewed about forty of my students, both cooked-and raw-food eaters. I asked everyone a simple question: ”What is your favorite meal?” Most of the people on a cooked-food diet knew exactly what their most wanted dishes were, along with many details, such as which sauce had to accompany this dish or at which restaurant the meal was served. Unexpectedly, all of the respondents who ate raw food named dozens of favorite recipes, fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts, and so on. In addition, many of them mentioned that their favorite foods were constantly changing; others enjoyed particular foods only when they were in season.

I concluded that people eating mostly cooked food are driven in their desire to eat largely by the taste of food, by their possible dependency on particular foods, and on rare occasions by their bodily nutritional demands. By comparison, raw-food eaters are generally motivated by particular nutrients in certain produce. That is why their preference keeps adjusting to the changing of their bodily nutritional demands.

I hope that after reading all these facts and observations you will understand why it is vitally important for every raw-fooder to be capable of preparing her or his own meals.

I have observed that most people who implement a raw-food lifestyle pa.s.s through three main stages: 1. The transitional stage. During this time, which may last from a couple of months to a couple of years, people consume a lot of so-called ”raw gourmet foods” that usually contain lots of nuts, oils, and condiments, and are not made according to the rules of proper food combining.* Raw gourmet dishes traditionally have names and appearances that resemble popular cooked recipes, such as ”Un-burrito,” ”Nice Cream,” or ”Rawsage.” You will encounter a lot of these dishes in raw-food restaurants and at raw-food festivals. The food during this stage is somewhat comforting due to its heaviness and gourmet taste, and therefore such foods help to overcome the dependency on cooked foods. Many people crave a lot of flax crackers and other dehydrated foods during this stage. You don't have to learn how to prepare many different gourmet recipes unless you want to, but I highly recommend learning three or four basic recipes.

The Salad Stage. At a certain point in your raw-food life, you will begin to naturally crave simpler dishes as opposed to those heavy gourmet concoctions. From this time on, little by little, salads will become your staple for a long time, possibly for years. An endless variety of salads with some fruits and nuts or seeds will totally satisfy your needs for calories, nutrition, and pleasure.

The Whole-Foods Stage. People usually arrive at this stage after many years of living on a raw-food diet. During this phase you will naturally prefer whole foods to salads. You will develop a strong preference for the highest-quality seasonal ripe fruits and vegetables. You will most likely stop or greatly reduce your consumption of oils, sweeteners, and dehydrated foods. You will always crave exactly what your body needs for your health, and you will consume those precious foods with heavenly enjoyment. I don't know yet if there are more stages after this one.

Don't rush or pull yourself through these stages; rather, follow your bodily intuitive guidance. That will ensure your happy thriving on a raw-food diet.

Following are nine main advantages of being self-reliant in terms of preparing raw meals: You will always be well fed no matter where you are.

You can individualize your diet based on your personal cravings to ensure the adequate nouris.h.i.+ng of your body.

You will always eat delicious food of your own choice.

You will be able to quickly adjust your diet according to your personal transitions from one stage to another.

Your skills in preparing a couple of perfected, scrumptious raw gourmet dishes will enable you to pleasantly surprise your guests and will attract more like-minded friends into your social life.

You will always be appreciated at raw and vegan potlucks.

Your dining will always be most economical.

You won't have to depend on others to be fed.

You can teach raw culinary arts to many others.

Start with obtaining the necessary raw kitchen appliances. The following is my family's favorite raw-food kitchen equipment.

*Vita-Mix Blender.

After many years of preparing raw dishes and trying various blenders, we have concluded that the Vita-Mix is the best. It is super-powerful and reliable. This heavy-duty blender can almost liquefy wooden blocks.

*Champion Juicer.

We use the versatile Champion to make juices, purees, pates, and ice creams. The Champion is a very practical juicer because it is easy to use and clean.

Cuisinart.

This food processor is absolutely the best because it lasts forever and has high-quality blades that don't get dull. The Cuisinart grinds hard vegetables, nuts, and seeds that give other food processors trouble.

Excalibur Dehydrator.

We like this dehydrator because it dries crackers, cookies, and veggies evenly and thoroughly. It conveniently opens in the front and has a thermostat that you can set to low temperatures. We recommend the nine-tray version even for one person because no one would want to make a new batch of crackers every day.

Milk Bag/Sprout Bag.

We use these bags to strain nut and seed milks and also for sprouting seeds and beans. You may make your own nut milk bag out of nylon fabric or buy one through our website: .

Begin using your new tools. It's impossible to turn into a raw chef by merely watching accomplished chefs, just as it is impossible to turn into a good swimmer by observing Olympic swimmers. Pick one or two recipes, buy the ingredients, and start practicing. If your creation doesn't taste good yet, you may put it in your compost. All the earthworms from your neighborhood will gather in your garden, attracted by your cuisine.

I remember how I couldn't convince my husband to help me make garden burgers. Igor was afraid to spoil the ingredients. He reasoned, ”It was easy with real meat-you just cut a piece and fry it with oil. But now I am supposed to create 'meat' from carrots, and without a cow?” He saw me preparing live garden burgers dozens of times but he was certain that it was too complicated for him. One day we had an emergency situation when too many people showed up for a catered raw-food dinner. I was busy preparing soup. Somebody had to prepare garden burgers, and Igor didn't have a choice. So he did it! Even before I finished making soup he was done. Since that day I have never made another live garden burger myself because Igor took over this task. Now in my family we call this dish ”Igorburger.”