We had a pie day at work. (I don't know why except to say that this is Minnesota.) I brought a raw pie. Blueberry, Strawberry and Banana Pie. The fruit was half frozen and processed into a sorbet like consistency. The crust was made from almonds, dates, cinnamon, nutmeg and a little fresh squeezed orange juice blended in a food processor.

My coworkers didn't like it. (I don't know why except to say that is is Minnesota.)

I loved it. It was beautiful! I took pictures and will include a picture of it here when I get home tonight. Raw food is so beautiful looking.

aww! Sorry to hear they didn't like it. But cheers for trying.

I made my first raw (apple) pie on Sunday/monday morning and thought of taking work, but it wasn't ready for prime time yet. (Too much cinnamon, not enough apples)

I'm going to make another to take to my family for easter. Mostly apple with maybe some dried cranberries and stuff thrown in. My family isn't the healthiest bunch of eaters but they're fairly open minded I think.

But of course, it's always ok if they dont like it. MORE FOR US!

Hey I just thought... We should have a raw food photo gallery somewhere.

-DaveK

I remember one job years ago.
I worked in a cabinet making company,and when lunch came I whipped out my bags of celery and carrot sticks,and the other guys got their sodas and chips.(I always tried to eat "healthy",but the carrot and celery sticks were about the only thing I had raw back then.)
I was definitely odd man out at that company.
But my point is that I do understand how it can be at lunchtime with coworkers.

Brian

Yeah...the raw dishes are hit and miss. I usually go with a cut fruit plate....or cut veggies and dip plate....that I made fresh. It's pretty....and usually spreads the love effectively.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

My office has a Thanksgiving dish-to-pass every year. This year I brought multiple things so I would know I'd have a selection of raw, and everything went over fine. I brought a large green salad with sprouts and three different homemade dressings, rosemary marinated mushrooms from Ani Phyo's recipe (I used cremini instead of portobella so they'd work better on a buffet), and a chocolate-banana pie from The Raw Food Gourmet.

The salad got eaten only by the healthier people in the office, but I got compliments on both the mushrooms and the pie. A couple of wheat sensitive individuals were glad to have something on the desert table they could eat!

In general, when preparing food for non-raw foodies I find that the things that get the best reaction are the ones that are least different in appearance from the things they are used to, and the more "decadent" recipes (high fat, high sugar, high spices, or a combination).

"In general, when preparing food for non-raw foodies I find that the things that get the best reaction are the ones that are least different in appearance from the things they are used to . . ."

I completely agree with that statement :O)

It just surprises me. How can someone not like fruit and almonds? I guess if you're used to eating pie crust made from LARD, anything fresh would taste just foreign to you!

I don't think I'll be participating in any more potlucks at work. They don't like my food and I don't eat their's, so, I'll quietly bring my own and let them enjoy theirs.

Edited to add: I'm learning that eating raw really takes a very conscious mindset. My supervisor sent an e-mail saying that I'm eating raw and made this fruit pie for everyone. She did it out of a kindness, but people just look at me like they just found out I'm eating cigarette butts or something. Then again, it could be a Minnesota thing. People here are VERY addicted to their food and DO NOT WAIVER in what they like. They are VERY FIRM in that. People have refused to try my pie even though they know it's fruit and almonds. LOL

Please check back later this evening for the picture of the pie. It's my first one and I'd love to know what you all think of the appearance. (I want to know if it looks odd or something.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2008 05:03PM by Simple Living.

Keith, people are used to their fruit pies being heavily sweetened. Obviously it shouldn't be necessary, but the difference is probably striking if you're really used to it. I don't know your office mates and I don't want to tell you to make food for them if they're giving you a hard time about your food, but I hope you're not being too discouraged from one experience.

mm that sounds so good! care to post the recipies, you savvy pie makers?

Here's Ani Phyo's apple pie demo from TV: [www.youtube.com]

Thanks frances. I'm not discouraged, it just surprised me. Fruit and almonds. Who doesn't like them? But, as I said, it really takes a conscious, deliberate mindset to eat raw.

One lady really likes it and said, "It's like eating a smoothie with a fork!"

Yeah, don't be discouraged simple living,

People are addicted to their unhealthy food and even more addicted to their beliefs. I had an experience a few months back where i had made an avocado/cacao mousse for a potluck. Most people really loved it and couldn't believe it was just 4 raw ingredients, but there were two people who tried it without knowing that it was made with avocado... they loved it until someone remarked "yeah, can you believe that Greg made that with avocado?" ...one of them spit out what they had in their mouth and even though they had already said how delicious it was, they now thought it was totally disgusting because it was made with avo. When I asked them how it could be disgusting now, but was delicious to them before, they responded that they were "tricked" into thinking it tasted good before they found out that it was "gross". Of course they didn't hesitate to load up on hot dogs with fake nacho cheese from a can. But that's "normal".

I just feel sorry for them, but then I wonder if that is just a form of judgement... are fish in aquariums aware of the fact that they are not free?

Aloha Nui Loa,

Greg

A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices. - William James

There is no pill that can be swallowed,
There is no guru, that can be followed, - Michael Franti (Pray For Grace)

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. - Albert Camus

Too bad about the pie. But, I'm not sure why it would be a Minnesota thing. I've lived here my whole life, so I guess I don't know the stereotypes from outside (lutefisk and hot dish? I don't know anyone who eats these things!)--but I would guess most people are addicted to their addictions and don't want to try anything from outside that.

Also, I am personally soaked from biking in the slush, so I wouldn't eat a sorbet-ish pie either! Even though I have tons of banana ice cream in the dead of winter. (The wetness is colder than the cold IMO). I would wait for it to melt and then eat it, though, sounds yummy.

When it comes to raw pies I personally prefer the ones that don't have to be served frozen. I'm not good at getting them to the table at just the right stage between too hard and too runny. Maybe I'd have better luck processing the filling in an ice cream maker? Also, I'm probably still influenced too by my pre-raw prejudice that tells me pie should be either room temperature (e.g. pumpkin, sweet potato, meringue) or warm (e.g. any kind of fruit pie).

...that they were "tricked" into thinking it tasted good before they found out that it was "gross". That's funny, MauiGreg and completely believable.

Greg,

In defense of your honour, I humbly request the avacado mousse recipe. I want to try it!

MauiGreg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > I just feel sorry for them, but then I wonder if
> that is just a form of judgement... are fish in
> aquariums aware of the fact that they are not
> free?

i feel sorry for people who have these reactions too. interesting i hadn't thought of this as judgement. i don't know...i think it's looking at them from a heart space...hard not to feel sorry for someone who doesn't know what they're missing out on and who could be reacting from a completely programmed space and frame of mind.

Simple Living, pay no mind to your co-workers. Your pie sounds yummylicious. Almonds make the best crusts!


Here's a raw chocolate pie from Cafe Gratitude's recipe book I made a couple of weeks ago. It was a hit with the non-raw peeps in my life. I didn't tell them it was raw until they were licking their plates and spoons and forks and asking for more. I agree it helps to start with a dish they can visually relate to. Then hit them with the raw truth. Avocados and all. ha.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2008 08:12PM by rawangel.

Quote

People are addicted to their unhealthy food and even more addicted to their beliefs.

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I just feel sorry for them, but then I wonder if that is just a form of judgement... are fish in aquariums aware of the fact that they are not free?

You should be a Yogi living on a mountain and make people traverse great oceans and climb impossible mountains for that kind of wisdom. This is one of the truest things I've heard in a very long time. I know people who would rather suffer and go without than change their thinking - as if it's an admission to their total failure as a human being or something. SAD diet, sad thinking.

I seriously can't wrap my mind around that line of thinking you mentioned about the person who spit out the avocado mousse. It makes no sense to me. It's a very well known fact here that I loathe onions. But, if someone made a dish with a bushel of onions in it and I enjoyed it, I would continue eating it in hopes that it would help me to lose the mindset of hating onions altogether.

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Posted by: rost0037 (IP Logged)
Date: March 18, 2008 12:44PM


Too bad about the pie. But, I'm not sure why it would be a Minnesota thing. I've lived here my whole life, so I guess I don't know the stereotypes from outside (lutefisk and hot dish? I don't know anyone who eats these things!)--but I would guess most people are addicted to their addictions and don't want to try anything from outside that.

Also, I am personally soaked from biking in the slush, so I wouldn't eat a sorbet-ish pie either! Even though I have tons of banana ice cream in the dead of winter. (The wetness is colder than the cold IMO). I would wait for it to melt and then eat it, though, sounds yummy.

Oh my goodness, rost! Come to my workplace and you'll see hotdish everywhere! One pot dishes are all the rage, ya sure you betcha! LOL Lutefisk makes an appearance occasionally, too, but not very often. People here like their food very bland. VERY bland. And brown. Brown food goes over well!

This department is also huge on ice cream. Management treats people to ice cream often and people bring it to work all the time. I think it must be the milky creaminess they want.

rawangel,

Wow, great job on the pie! Well done, you! Are those Goji Berries on the plate as garnish? I wish I would have taken a picture of my pie after a slice had been removed. The color was just beautiful. Everyone did remark on how beautiful it was.

>
> Oh my goodness, rost! Come to my workplace and
> you'll see hotdish everywhere! One pot dishes are
> all the rage, ya sure you betcha! LOL Lutefisk
> makes an appearance occasionally, too, but not
> very often. People here like their food very
> bland. VERY bland. And brown. Brown food goes
> over well!
>

Ewww. I had hotdish once, when I was 20 and vegan--so it was a veganized version. And I did not understand why anyone would want to veganize such a gross thing.

LOL. Must be the crowds we hang in. Me, vegans (my friends), immigrants (at work), and children of immigrants (me and my friends)--no wonder I don't see much hotdish!

I bet your dish was beautiful, though. Looking forward to more pictures. The pie above looks great.

I thought that "hot dish" was just a regional term for casserole. A casserole can contain nearly anything, because the term refers mostly to the method of cooking, though some of the most famous are tuna noodle casserole and green bean casserole. Is "hot dish" actually a more specific recipe?

rost, I've been a hermit for about seven years and I'm just starting to break out of it. It's weird because I used to be very social. There's a group of us in the apartment complex that I live in who know each other and gather in the building for chats, but I really have nothing in common with them. Other than that, the people at work are as MinnesOtan as it gets!

frances,

Hotdish can mean casserole, but, in certain crowds, hotdish is something topped with either French's Fried Onions, Potato Chips or Tater Tots. Lot's of Campbel's Soup that starts with "Cream of..." in them!

When you sit very quietly, and listen closely, you can actually hear people's arteries hardening in my workplace.

I understand it must be frustrating to you that they didn't love the pie.. It sounds delicious to me. I think if the taste is soooo altered by eating sugar and sweeteners over and over, some may not appreciate natural sweetness.

To me mangoes, cherry and pineapple are the best candy in the world. After going raw, my tongue changed so much, that when I tasted a piece of cooked vegan cake (made with flour, vegetable oil, coco powderetc baked with chocolate icing - it looked very good) it was awful.

I could actually taste the oil and flavors in it. I took a VERY small piece and when the host was not looking threw it out...

Your pie makes me hungry. Please I want some. Be proud.

Why oh why did I see those pictures of that raw cake that "rawangel" posted. Now I am hungry and I totally crave that pie.



Take care
Anu Iyer

Ewwww....just the mention of tuna noodle casserole gives me the heebie jeebies. My mom used to make it all the time, that and meatloaf. I remember sitting at the table for hours trying to choke down cold noodles and ketchup covered meatloaf and then feeding it my dog. I liked meat then too, some good chicken would have made me happy, but I seriously think I would throw up if I ever had to eat tuna casserole again. I'm having some sort of horrible flashback complete with the smell now. Thanks!
One thing I can say is that my mom never taught me how to cook so I'm not missing a lot of cooked food now that I'm raw. That's actually one of the best parts of this whole thing...I just pick up an apple and eat, no prep work, no cleanup, nothing!

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Posted by: brenna (IP Logged)
Date: March 18, 2008 02:19PM

That's actually one of the best parts of this whole thing...I just pick up an apple and eat, no prep work, no cleanup, nothing!

It dosn't get any better then combining no prep work, no cleanup, radiant fresh raw food taste, and excellent health supporting nutrition. YEAH for fresh raw foods.

Here's the picture of my Berry Banana Pie that I promised. Pardon my pride, but it's my very first raw food creation! The photos haven't been altered in any way, except to resize them. Look at that color!



Even the crust was beautiful! (I know, I'm goofy.)

Well, it's Simple Living vs the philistines.

Some of them do get it. But they still don't have the inclination to eat right.

SL -- Thats a very pretty pie and looks RAWlicious. Yum

SL your pie looks byoo-ti-full. if they don't like it... MORE FOR YOU!!!
bwah-hahahahahaha!!!

keep bringing the same pie, you know you'll get to eat it ALL! its perfect.

i personally NEVER prep raw foods for someone unless they specifically ask me to. if i'm going to a potluck, i bring my own food and some grocery store salsa and chips, or hummus and carrot sticks for others. i never offer a bite of my food to someone who doesn't ask first. and i will only offer a bite if i feel the request is from genuine interest, not a challenge or an opportunity to bait me. i am not putting it on myself to make raw foods palatable to others, because that would change how i like to eat. my soups, salads, smoothies... not so tasty to someone on the pizza train. that's totally okay with me.

i don't feel that i have to prove anything, but the "proof" that my diet is good/superior is not that i can make my food taste just like/better than the food of those that i socially interact with, its that i look and feel freakin' healthy and awesome, and i've dropped 50 lbs before their very eyes. the desire for health must be the motivation. the preference for raw foods comes later. just mho.