Raw Rag™

Great reading! Quotes about food and eating from Jane Goodall, Francis Coppola, Jack LaLanne, many more

The Foreword of What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets is entertaining and informative. Click to read what 25 people (most of whom you will recognize) have to say about diet, nutrition, and eating habits [pdf]. The range of topics is wide, and includes yoga, temptation, taste, pornographic food, hunger, health, and cooking.

With many eye-catching photos, the book is beautiful. I'm not surprised it is ranked #1 in the category of "Photojournalism" at Amazon. Most of the photos can be viewed at the book's Web site.

Note: Review of the book (includes some good photos) from Brain Pickings. Excerpt:

Part Food, Inc., part FridgeWatcher, the project is a potent antidote to Neil Burgess’s recent rant about the death of photojournalism — What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets is a bundle of storytelling and humanity that unravels itself before your eyes, leaving you hungry to better understand the correlation between food, environment and quality of life.

Who among you has not cooked dinner on your car's engine? If not, here's how

When I tell people they can easily cook meals on their car engine as they drive along, I am frequently not believed. So I simply recommend the cookbook Manifold Destiny: The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine. The book is entertaining and it contains all the instructions you need to cook using your engine's heat while driving. (This fun yet wholly practical cookbook also comes in a Kindle edition.) If you try this method of cooking, please let me know how your car cuisine tasted.

NOTE: For those among you who are high-raw, this technique can make those small segments of your menus that are non-raw both convenient and delicious. Enjoy!

Note (added September 16, 2011): On a related topic: "Cook Breakfast in a Hotel Room with an Iron and Coffeemaker" (lifehacker).

That's the (meal) ticket for a busy person: Choose three easy recipes and be creative in varying them

Perhaps you will be inspired as I was by this simple yet creativity-raising idea of chef Mark Bittman. From his year-end article in The New York Times "Chop, Fry, Boil: Eating for One, or 6 Billion":

[A]lthough there certainly are urban and rural pockets where people have little access to fresh food, about 90 percent of American households own cars, and anyone who can drive to McDonald’s can drive to a supermarket.

[A] cooking repertoire of three basic recipes can get anyone into the kitchen and beyond the realm of takeout food, microwaved popcorn and bologna sandwiches in a few days.

One could set off a heated argument with a question like, “What are the three best basic recipes?” but I stand behind these: a stir-fry, a chopped salad, and the basic combination of rice and lentils, all of which are easy enough to learn in one lesson. ...  Each can be varied in countless ways. Each is produced from basic building blocks that contain no additives, preservatives, trans fats, artificial flavorings or ingredients of any kind, or outrageous calorie counts; they are, in other words, made from actual food. The salad requires no cooking; the stir-fry is lightning fast; the rice-and-lentils, though cooked more slowly, requires minimal attention. ...

These recipes offer other benefits ... .

Click to read the rest and access three of his recipes. Do you have a basic repertoire of simple recipes? If so, what are they? When I am eating raw, mine consists of smoothies, salads, and snacks of nuts and fruit (both dried and fresh). For my high-raw, high-qual days, I am going to try Bittman's suggestions for a month and see how we like the cuisine. I'll let you know.

I wish all of you a very good 2011!

Possibly the most unhealthy recipe I've ever seen

When I was reading this recipe to a close friend, he kept saying, "No, that's not for real!!!" But it seems it is, or at least the recipe appears in a cookbook that is selling fairly well on Amazon (in fact, #7 in U. S. Regional/South cookbooks). Regardless your decision about what kind of diet you think best supports health, I am willing to bet this recipe may not fit what you have decided.

The recipe was included in an article in Tulsa World. Excerpt:

GARTH'S BREAKFAST BOWL
Serves 4
2 tablespoons butter
8 large eggs
1 (16-ounce) bag frozen hash browns or tater tots, thawed
1 pound pork sausage
1 pound bacon
1 (9-ounce) package cheese and roasted garlic tortellini

Click to read the rest of the ingredients, plus steps for preparing this dish.

On the other health hand, read what Carolyn Myss has to say about diet (see first quote.)

Image credit: People.

 

Next up: Learning how to ferment foods

If what is said in the article I will link to in a minute is true, fermenting vegetables is becoming more popular. Because I plan to give fermenting a try, waiting for me at the library right now is Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods. (My branch of the Denver Public Library is not open much these days due to budget concerns so I won't get the book until Tuesday.)

From "Back to basics: Workshop participants learn how to ferment vegetables" (Madison.com):

“Fermenting vegetables is definitely becoming more popular and it’s something that people can do at home,” said [Adrienne] Fox, 44, taking a rare break from her busy sauerkraut-making business, where she sold at least 4,000 pints of her trademark Powerkraut last year. She also produces kimchi.

...

“They can preserve their own vegetables through fermentation in their n home and have fresh local produce through the winter, which is really wonderful, plus have the probiotic benefits year-round,” Fox said.

Probiotic bacteria grow through the fermentation process and many people, including Fox, claim that probiotics have health benefits but so far they have been unsubstantiated by the medical community.

“There is considerable interest in the potential positive health impacts of fermented foods, although in most instances the scientific basis for these health claims are lacking,” said Jim Steele, a UW-Madison professor of food science and an expert on food fermentations.
Steele said the increase in interest in fermented vegetables is related to an increase in consumer interest about where their food comes from and how it is made.

Click to read the rest (including a recipe). Do you ferment?

"A recipe is not a formula"

This provocative quote from Zester Daily is so aligned with how I think that I wanted to share it with you:

A recipe is not a formula. A recipe is an inspirational aide to guide a cook to reach higher, to prepare food that will dazzle others and make them happy and to do that the cookbook author needs to help them in the decision to make the dish in the first place. It's not just about ingredients. A recipe should have a soul, as it's about the material expression of a culinary culture.

- Clifford A. Wright

H/T: Dianne Jacob.

"Once a fringe movement, it's now clear that there is RAW FOOD FOR EVERYONE": Even zombies?

From Publishers Weekly, we learn that food books are coming soon about everything from cupcakes to raw. Excerpts:

Baking
There's some debate about cupcakes' continued domination. Ryland, Peters & Small says the trend is "far from over" and is rolling out Holiday Cupcakes and A Zombie Ate My Cupcake this month. But hot on cupcakes' heels are Cake Pops (Chronicle, Sept.), Mini-Cakes: Tiny Treats to Surprise & Delight (Sterling, Aug.), and Macarons: Authentic French Cookie Recipes That You Can Make at Home (Ulysses, Oct.). Subcategories of baking range from chick lit (The Happy Baker: A Girl's Guide to Emotional Baking, Harlequin, Oct., and Sweet Chic: Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion, Ballantine, Oct.) to tomes from A-list bakeries ...  .

Vegan

Numerous publishers have reported strong sales of vegan titles. This fall, vegan powerhouse Da Capo Lifelong has Fresh and Fast Vegan: Quick, Delicious, and Creative Recipes to Nourish Aspiring and Devoted Vegans, Second Edition (Sept.), Appetite for Reduction: 100 Fast & Filling Low-Fat Vegan Meals (Dec.), and Veganize This!: From Surf & Turf to Ice Cream Pie—200 Animal-Free Recipes for People Who Love to Eat (Jan. 2011). On Wiley's list are Vegetarian Times Everything Vegan and Party Vegan (Sept.). ...  And closely tied to vegan books are the raw food tomes. Once a fringe movement, it's now clear that there is Raw Food for Everyone (Avery, Oct.).

Now we just need a book about raw cupcakes for chic zombies, yes?

Videos of the winners of the Hot Raw Chef contest (and my recent whereabouts near the Pacific Ocean)

Click to watch all the Hot Raw Chef winners making their raw food recipes. Especially the delicious-looking Chocolate Jalapeno Poppers!

I have not been blogging as much due to a trip to University of California at Santa Barbara for the Learning and the Brain Institute. Being out of town in a conference setting can be quite a raw-food challenge; more about that soon. In the meanwhile, here are some video clips from Santa Barbara. See the clips that begin at the bottom of the first page of this YouTube playlist.

This raw Famous Onion Bread is pretty darn good

In fact, I had to use some will power to stop eating this bread on the night it was ready. If you like sweet (from the onions), salty (from the Nama Shoyu), and chewy (from the whole combination), then this recipe may just become one of your raw-food-cuisine favorites.

The recipe comes from RAWvolution; here it is:

• 3 large yellow onions 
• 3/4 cup flax seed, ground in a high-speed blender
• 3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds, ground in a food processor
• 1/2 cup Nama Shoyu
• 1/3 cup olive oil

1. Peel and halve the onions.
2. In a food processor, cut the onions with the slicing disk.
3. Transfer onions to a large mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients, and mix until the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
4. Spread 2 cups of the mixture evenly on dehydrator trays lined with a Teflex sheets.
5. Dehydrate at 100 degrees for 24 hours.
6. Flip the crackers/bread onto a tray with mesh only and remove Teflex.
7. Dehydrate another 12 hours. 
8. Once dehydrated, cut into 9 equal pieces.

I made several modifications.

First, I assumed my dehydrator would not hold the full batch so halved it. It is

Raw in Santa Fe: Those chile peppers may increase your fat oxidation (and perhaps help you lose weight)

I lived for a few years in Santa Fe, and took to the New Mexican cuisine immediately. The chile peppers, the blue corn chips, the pico de gallo, the posole, the atole . . . I have missed those dishes and many more since moving north. Colorado restaurants don't quite duplicate New Mexico tastes. And imagine my shock when I learned that Denver servers do not know what you mean when you respond "Christmas" after they ask you whether you want red or green chile with your meal.

In Santa Fe, the people who serve you at restaurants know that Christmas means you want both: red and green!

Because I like the New Mexican cuisine so much, one of my goals is to learn how to convert my favorite dishes to raw. I have looked for a class to teach me how to do that conversion, but so far have found nothing. However, I did learn of a restaurant that serves raw dishes in Santa Fe when my friend recommended it very highly. The place is called BODY Cafe (333 Cordova Road - map PDF). Click to peruse the menu PDF.

Chiles are everywhere in New Mexico, not only in the food, but also hanging from