Thursday, July 30, 2009

I was recently introduced to a friend of a friend who eats only raw foods. To put his eating habits into perspective, that means no meat or dairy, no baguettes, no cooked grains or pastas, no eggs, no tofu products, and absolutely none of grandma's home-made baked goods. So what does he eat?

Well, it turns out you can make pseudo meats, cheeses, breads, cakes, cookies, and ice creams using mixtures of nuts, vegetables, and spices, and you can use a vegetable peeler to slice certain vegetables, like zucchini, into fettuccini-like "noodles." People who eat raw also use food dehydraters to "cook" certain foods, which works, although these foods never actually get hot; the reasoning behind these non-traditional eating choices has to do with the belief that raw foods are easier to digest than cooked foods and that cooking food destroys some of the vitamins and nutrients in raw items.

It all sounded insane to me, and perhaps not very delicious, but then I got to thinking: when the weather is hot, I hate to heat up the house by cooking; maybe these people who eat raw are on to something. So I started looking at raw food recipes online and I have to say that some of these recipes sound potentially tasty. Chocolate mouse made with avocado instead of milk? Zucchini noodles topped with sun dried tomato and olive marinara? I'm willing to entertain these options.

Yes, I think I might delve in the world of raw food. I don't know what will happen to me, but I've naturally put a couple of raw food recipe books on hold at the Library to help guide me through my ignorance.

Now do you think me crazy?

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