Raw food’s a fascinating concept. The idea’s that nothing is heated beyond 43 degrees Celsius to retain the natural nutrients in food. So to prepare raw dishes, folks mess around with funky techniques like dehydrating and fermentation. It might not be immediately appealing, but the “cooking” processes are just sound like so much gosh darn fun (in a mad scientist sort of way) that we can’t help but be intrigued.
So with an open mind, with headed down to the World Flavours Party Night at The Living Cafe on Tuesday (April 30), a cocktail shindig catered by special guest and raw food legend Elaina Love (the lady started raw food cooking school Pure Joy Planet).
We got to try bites like enchilada tamale spirals and dehydrated kale chips, which were sure interesting. The recipes seemed more complicated than the fruit salad entrees at new raw food spot Frunatic (sweet fruit is not a meal, even if it’s a gourmet mix of rose apple and mango sauce) and we appreciate the effort.
Frankly though, we’re not completely sold on raw food as more than an occasional experiment. The only thing we’ve ever felt after raw meals is gastrointestinal distress—the kind caused by consuming fatty mounds of dehydrated nut meal masquerading as pie dough, bread or even tamales. And these nibbles didn’t change that.
Still, the cuisine is definitely worth checking out for its novelty value. Perhaps we just need to stick with it for an extended period of time. Maybe all that water, fat and fibre is something your stomach gets used to. The raw food enthusiasts we met that evening were, after all, some hyper, high energy people—from all that living food no doubt—and who wouldn’t want to be healthier?
