Hungry For Change
When chef Juliano opened his first Raw restaurant in 1994, he was a raw-food die-hard. Now he’s one of the leaders of the movement, with several restaurants and books to his name. He also leads cooking classes, detox programs and raw-food education programs. One of the signature drinks at Raw is the “Summer High,” a concoction of bee pollen, green apples, pecans, raspberries, honey and white wine. Because wine doesn’t need to be cooked, it’s safe to include in the raw food diet, although beer (with its cooked hops) is a no-no. [source: Juliano’s Raw].
For something more substantial, you may want to delve into the sushi menu, which offers mushroom or pumpkin pate maki rolls (among other interesting varieties of vegetarian sushi) and other inventive dishes. At Karyn’s in Chicago, another longtime member of the raw food community, the menu includes typical salads and soups, along with unique raw pizzas and pastas any food lover could enjoy [source: Karyn’s].
Raw Food Diet Menu
The basics of the raw food menu include the fruit, nut, vegetable and seed staples of the vegetarian diet, with the addition of enzymes and supplements to replace meat. As long as it's not cooked, it fits. But what that means is that fried tofu, heated tempeh, broiled broccoli, baked potatoes and slices of seared squash are out. Here's what's in:
- natural fruits (but no seedless hybrids)
- green-leafed veggies (no hybrids)
- melons and sweet sugar fruits
- avocadoes and other fatty foods
- citrus fruits like orange and lemon to detoxify
- nuts in moderation
- rice (if soaked in water and "cooked" with natural heat from the sun) [source: Wolfe]
As you can see, raw food can be as normal or as imaginative as you can make it as long as it's unprocessed and natural. Let's take a look at the advantages of living (and eating) like this.
