I have a recipe I like for marinated mushroom stuffed raw cabbage rolls. I don't get to make it often because my kids won't touch mushrooms with a ten foot pole.

But one day, I had some people over and included my recipe in the supper I made. But, I know how afraid people are that I might force them or worse yet, trick them to eat raw food, and who knows how frightening this is for them, so I just put it on the table with all the other cooked stuff,and said it was some kind of mushroom "salad" rolls.

It was a big hit!!

It's really hilareous, because if I would have even hinted that it was raw food, I am sure nobody would have even tried it!

So if you are ever dealing with picky eaters, you might want to consult your imagination!

Sapphire

That is pretty funny. Same thing happened with my raw chocolate pie. I told my sister I'd make her one to try and she laughed and said "oh no, you'll probably put nuts and twigs in it...no thank you". LOL. I made it a couple of months later (with a nut crust -ha), brought it to the house and didn't mention it was raw. She had company and had some herself -- it was gone in 10 seconds flat.

HEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do this on an almost daily basis with my boyfriend.

"I WON'T EAT RAW FOOD!"

"Baby, I made a delicious pie with cherries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, on a sweet cinnamon-date crust..."

*pie shortly meets its end*

I think, in some cases, people don't want to admit that anything conflicting with their own house-of-cards belief system can be so good.

When I was very young I took an intense dislike to prepared mayonnaise..Wouldn't let my mother make any sandwiches for my lunches using mayo..But, here is an interesting conundrum, I still ate tuna fish salad, egg salad, chicken salad, potato salad, etc. made with mayonnaise..But to taste the mayo straight out of the jar??..NO WAY!!..Try explaining the reasonings of a child!!..My entire family thought it was silly, especially my father, who tended not to tolerate that type of nonsense..

So fast forward to a Christmas party when I was 17..I come down to the dining room from the upstairs with my mind set on eating some chips with that clam dip made with canned minced clams, Libby's dehydrated French Onion soup mix, & sour cream..I've been asking about this dip for several hours, making a pest of myself..So I look at the dining room table & see a small bowl filled with what I thought was the clam dip..I say to myself, "Hmmmm..Mom & Aunt El must not have stirred it up very well, because I can't see the clams & the dehydrated bits of onion from the soup mix"..

Regardless, I proceed to grab some chip & begin to sample the "dip"..I eat about ten chips worth..With each chip consumed I become more & more puzzled as I cannot seem to find either the clams or the onion bits..The entire time that I am eating the chips & the "dip", my mother, aunt, & younger sister are watching me surreptitiously from the kitchen..Finally, they can stand it no longer & burst out into raucous laughter, practically crying themselves because they are laughing so hard.The rest of the family members come in from the living room wanting to know what's so funny..

In between tears & laughter all three cry out "Bruce is eating mayonnaise!!..He thought it was clam dip!!"..I look stupidly at the bowl, then back at the three of them..I do this several times..Then I shrug my shoulders & say, "I guess I like mayonnaise now, huh?"..

And from that day forward I ate mayonnaise without complaint..

Of course, for years I accused my mother, aunt, & sister of conspiring to trick me into eating mayonnaise..The truth is that I tricked myself into eating it..Only a blind man would look at a bowl of creamy white mayonnaise & mistake it for the clam dip..I wanted to eat clam dip so badly, that I talked myself into believing that the mayonnaise was clam dip..

Of course, this story is now one of the "Regulars" told at family gatherings!!..

Bruce..

Years ago I read an article about a retired chef who decided to launch a healthy meals program in a local high school. He was revolted by the poor quality food they were serving up, and knew he could do much better, and he did.

But even though the meals were delicious and nutritious, the kids weren't crazy about them until he gave each menu item a very cool name that sounded appealing to the kids. So instead of a chicken wrap, it might have been a cosmic outer space something or other. Sales immediately went up!

It may not have been raw, but I suspect a chicken wrap would have been an enormous step up from whatever they had before. (hopefully stuffed with lots of salad) And it just goes to show, that each step towards excellent choices can be presented in an interesting way. And if you can take one step, you can take another step and so on.

Love the story baltochef - I know just what you mean, I see my kids doing this all the time (eating stuff they think they hate). A long time ago, before raw, I loved babaganoush (sp?) - but just so I wouldn't have to share, I told them it was eggplant. They wouldn't even try it, so I never had to share, haha!! Now they know better than to listen to me, LOL!

Sapphire

I love this post, Sapphire! It's so true about the power of words. I have to be careful whenever I describe a new raw dish to my husband--say the word creamy or pudding and he won't touch it. :-P

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXO

LMAO!! This is an AWESOME (RAWESOME?) thread!!

haha great thread!

This is great!!

I'd like to challenge some of the amazingly intelligent and creative people on this thread to help come up with some unique and irresistable names for everyday ordinary raw foods - wish I was more creative.

I would really use them - mostly on my friends and family. I think it would be great to tell somebody I am eating something that just sounds so appealing that they can't stop themselves from asking to try some!

I'd also love to hear your stories as you do the same! This could be a lot of fun!

Sapphire

My daughter was just expressing concern about a SAD friend who's going to be staying at our home soon. She is worried the friend will think our food is too strange--I told her the friend doesn't have to know it's raw. We'll give it all some fun names and the look and taste of it will make her love it. :-)

I'm looking forward to any clever names people come up with! That's a great idea, Sapphire!

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXO

Some pharmaceutical companies hire people with the exclusive job description of coming up with names for their pills. They know that just the name of the med can have a major impact on the prospective buyer's impression of it. Add a patented color backdrop and logo to associate it with and they have an exclusive product.

Other manufacturers are also aware of this and take special care when giving their products names as well, keeping in mind their target audience. It is said that Miller beer changed it's 'Diet' version to 'Lite' and sales soared after initially being almost a flop.

Pistachio - You are right, this can be used for not very positive purposes, but what you are saying reminds me of a comment in a book I read recently - once your eyes are opened, you can't close them again. I learned some time ago that pretty much all prescription drugs exist only to suppress the symptoms of whatever problem they are prescribed for. Suppress all you want, it doesn't do a thing to address the cause in the first place.

Once a person realizes that, it doesn't matter how pretty the package looks or how wonderful the name is, you just can't help but question the value of the drug.

Food and beverage marketing is no better - one instance I can think of immediately are bags of candies that have bright attractive pictures of fruit all over the package. It really does make it look more appealing, but if your eyes are open, you might ask yourself why you would be drawn to the pictures of the fruit when you could just have the real thing.

But this is way too serious, I really only started this thread as a fun and interesting diversion.

Sapphire

At Cafe Gratitude in the Bay Area they name the dishes according to the formula: I am (insert desirable adjective here, examples: happy, blissful, elated, joy etc). Their (raw) Pizza for example is called: I am passionate. Kale veggie juice: I am healthy. Grapefruit/mint/cucumber juice: I am succulent. My favorite (can't ingest the dish anymore, too fat, but the name is great a mint/chocolate/cocnut smoothie: I am cool.

Cafe Gratitude was my first contact with raw food. I still eat there at special occasions. The whole name thing is kinda fun. WHen they serve the food, they say: "You are elated' etc.

Its a bit formulaic, but good fun, and maybe goes a little deeper than that, too,

Sapphire, you could name your dishes what they are and add a bliss word...
Wraps of Joy, Dip of Heaven,

if you manage to have them both start with the same first letter, even better, thats Stabreim in German, dont know the English word) ex:
Passion pizza, Bliss Burger, Sunshine Salad


just some ideas....