As Cindy mentioned in an earlier post, she and I attended a really informative raw foods demonstration in Andover on Saturday, led by certified raw foods chef, George Parker.
George has been raw since the 1970s and has trained with some of the leaders in the raw movement through the years, including Chef Chad Sarno, a pioneer in raw cuisine.
The four-hour demo was done right in George's house, about 15 of us clustered in his kitchen watching as he prepared all sorts of raw delights -- buckwheat and hemp milks, a green smoothie, raw pizza, broccoli and "cheese" (made with a base of blended nuts) and the delicious avocado and kale salad that Cindy posted. (Easy to make and really tasty. I made a large bowl of it Sunday night, and it'll be a staple meal for the next week, and very likely beyond these 30 days).
Some of the foods that George made were more of the gourmet variety -- dishes with a culinary flair that take some time or dehydration, as in the case of the raw pizza (made with a soaked buckwheat crust) or the raspberry crepe (made with blended bananas dehydrated into a sort of fruit leather).
Delicious as they were,the more gourmet-type dishes aren't particularly practical for me to make, especially since I don't own a dehydrator, and don't have any plans to. But the larger point for me was seeing how creative you can get in a raw kitchen. You learn to look at textures and tastes of foods a little differently, and see how playing around with some soaking and blending or unexpected food combinations can yield some surprisingly good meals.
I walked away from the demo not only with a happily full belly, but with a lot of great information, new ideas and some sound advice about how to approach a raw lifestyle.
And probably the biggest thing I've been chewing on is something that George said, essentially about simplicity. Even though he makes a mean raw pizza and has all the know-how and equipment to make complicated raw cuisine, he said the bulk of his own diet is salads and greens and smoothies. When people first jump into raw, they often initially experiment with some of the gourmet stuff and hit up the nuts and nut butters and fancier fare. That's what I did, anyway. And that's one reason I think I've had some shockingly high grocery bills. But as you move into it, he said, "You'll actually end up eating higher on the scale, eating more salads and greens, which will cut your costs down."
(Now, I know when some people hear "salad" they think deprivation. But he's not talking wimpy lettuce and a cherry tomato. He's talking a complete meal with dark,leafy greens like kale or spinach, hemp seeds, sea vegetables and avocoados. Eat one of those sorts of salads and tell me you don't feel satiated).
That's all to say, I've decided to approach this week with some simplicity. And so far, so good. Using Sunday as a prep day to do my grocery shopping and make some dressing and salads in advance has done wonders for my sanity. Winging it day-by-day was a little crazy-making.
Anyhow, I'll leave you to salivate over these photos of the great dishes we sampled.

Sinfully delicious. I'd never have guessed this crepe, stuffed with a creamy nut-based filling, was made with dehydrated bananas.

I've been missing the crunch of a cereal, and this hit the spot. Granola, made with buckwheat, pumpkin seeds, goji berries and mulberries.

The raw pizza, before heading into the dehydrator for a little bit. It was totally delicious, and really close to the real thing.

Raw broccoli and cheese? Indeed. I had two helpings.
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