Can anyone answer my question?
Why is every raw food recipe on this site blended!?
Isn't there any raw food that doesn't require blending, juicing, grinding, etc.?
Does anyone have a good link to a site with real raw food?
(I'm not being negative about raw food. I just want some real raw food. I absolutely agree with the use of raw enzymes and nutrition but all this blending just leads up to runny expulsions and a higher electricity bill and abuse to our planet.)

What is your definition of "real raw food"?

As far as I'm concerned this site has recipes for plenty of "real raw food", but I'm interest in why you think they are not raw?

Thanks,
Ian.

For me, blending makes it easier to consume enough food. If I blended nothing that I ate, I would spend several hours of every day dedicated to eating, just because raw foods are so fibrous and require chewing. I would rather do other things but still want to eat 'real' raw food. So I blend fruits and vegetables, drink them much faster than I could chew them, and I'm ready to go.

I guess when I originally posted I was just a little frustrated. I am new to raw food as a diet ambition. I have been vegan for nearly a year-and-a-half now though, and I usually love raw fruits and veggies. My more exact question then would be more along the lines of, Why is so much raw food blended, processed, and dehydrated, etc.? Aren't there other ways of carrying out a primarily raw food diet? I wan't to try this out whole-heartedly, but I don't want to spend most of my day operating a blender/ food processor, dehydrator. Maybe, I would rather spend the day chewing instead? Anyway, I'm not trying t be combative or defensive, thank you so much for your replies thus far. Does anyone have any answers or advice otherwise?
Thanks alot for your help and time.

Try martinated vegetabless and fruit. There is a really good "veggie marinade" on the website -"from sad to raw." Other than eating fruits and veggies whole there are not too many variations, that is one reason we change the texture of food. It makes the diet diversified. After being raw for a while you become happier with simpler foods. You can stuff tomatoes and peppers, make lettuce and cabbage wraps. good luck.

Thanks for the advice/ help. By the way, does anybody have any good suggestions for books or other resources on beginning and maintaining a raw diet? I was looking at Butenko's, 12 Steps to Raw Food. Has anybody read that one? Thanks again.

Have you looked at thegardendiet.com? They have e-books available and if my memory serves me right, their recipes are fairly simple, and no dehydrating involved.

Also don't overlook your own creativity in preparing simple meals. You know your own tastes and preferences better than any author, so starting from items you already enjoy eating, you could consider making simple modifications such as the arrangement and presentation and minimum ingredients.

Wishing you vibrant health

I have the garden diet books and I am very pleased with the recipes. They are simple but some do require a blender or food processor.

I agree with Pistachio. I spent quite a bit of money on raw books and I haven't been able to find one recipe that I like except my own or by someone I knew. Most of the recipes called for blending, dehydrating, spiral-cutting, processing, etc. I didn't have any of that stuff in the beginning. I did finally buy a juicer and that helped with the chewing as I tend towards TMJ and it just gets painful to chew after a bit. But I don't juice very often these days, either.

Anyhow, the easiest method is to use what you already know and then improvise the recipe to raw. I like foreign and American food. I like to make the sauces more authentic and added to the dishes to spice them. Being vegan helps as you already eat the veggies/fruits. (When I started, I started SAD and then immediately went to 100% raw vegan. I was detoxing too fast and then had to slow down and put in some cooked to allow my body to adjust more gradually.) You can also ask people here if they have a recipe for something and most are willing to give suggestions.

I didn't read Butenko's book but I did read her children's book. I tried a couple of the recipes that didn't require equipment and it tasted awful. My taste is different than theirs. Also, their philosophy is to do 100% raw immediately. They didn't address the detox issue at all. I found out on my own due to my hair falling out by the clumpfuls and the hair strands breaking off when I moved my head, etc. That was only one symptom. There were many others.

Anyhow, keep track of your nutritional intake via fitday.com or other websites which estimate nutrients and supplement where you lack and watch out for signs of detox and overstressing your body/spirit/mind and address if needed.

Hope that helps.
Therese

farmer bry

here are a few of my recipes that even a farmer would 'preciate

okay... hmmm

Apple Delight

cut some apples
squirt some lemon juice on it
yer done

Orange Delight

Cut up some oranges
just eat em straight
yer done

Dandelion Greens Delight

cut some Dandelions
sprinkle a few pecans on them
squeeze orange onto them
yer done

Banana Delight

get a banana
peel it
eat it with some raisins
yer done

and for the TRULY adventurous

Romaine Bonanza

get some romaine lettuce
wash it
eat it
yer done

Parsley Rawckin Roll

get some parsley
munch on it
do it outdoors
it taste better
yer done

okay

no kidding
not trying to pull your foot either

happen to agree with you
shouldn't take forever to get a meal and out the door

have fun farmer bry
keep tending to the tilling

and everything will be
okey dokey

Hee-haw! That's my kinda eatin'! I was starting to think that all the raw foodists out there are just yuppie juice-heads. After aren't we just trying to simplify things here and get back to a natural way of eating?

Hee-haw! That's my kinda eatin' veronique! I was starting to think that all the raw foodists out there are just yuppie juice-heads. After aren't we just trying to simplify things here and get back to a natural way of eating?

HEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

tharrr u go, farmer bry!

even better
just go stealin in to someone's organic farm
(not when the moon is full though, mind you)

and just start nibbling on things like a little rabbit
but be sure to have some seeds in your pocket that u can sprinkle along the way

in order to make up for being a pilferin knee slappin, earth tillin rawie

oh y eah
i didn't mean to nibble on a rabbit
i meant to nibble on lettuce and stuff

like a little rabbit
i did that at times

it twas fun!

"yuppie juice-heads"?!

LOL!

As opposed to "hippy weed-eaters"? Or "country melon-heads"? ;-)

What other ones do you have?

Ian.

What about fruit-suckin' animals!? or vegged-out loons?!
But really though,
What about them dehydratin' seed-munchers or electric-blendin' pate-eatin' mutha's!?

Thanks again folks,
A wee speck of humor aid the digestion when all you eat is fibrous vege-matter.
I'm having a good time in my first week of raw-experimentation, rolling up vegetables inside of other vegetables, slathered with ground up seeds (collard rolls with tahini). Real simple, real tasty, real nutritious. (Real life?!)
Gracias muchos,
Bryan

hey farmer bry ( with the spiffy suspenders and pitchfork) and tilling hoe

<<What about fruit-suckin' animals!? or vegged-out loons?! >>

fruit sucking animals? i think that is quite accurate
but ya know? most people ( like me ) would say

THANK YA!! cuz that's a compliment

'vegged out loons"? that's even a more beautiful poetic compliment

i think the "dehydrating seed munchers" is also cute

but i "pass" to the pate terminology ( pffffTTT!) that's a new one

collard tahini hmmmm...

real food
real stuff
real people

it all starts with the farmerzzz

farmers know where its at

yeeee hawwwwwwww!

just buy frozen mixed berries add sum raw cocoa powder and grind it up with yor spoon and uve got fantabulousness

wow that makes my sox fuzzy just thinking about it

FANTABULOUS!

I'm not completely raw yet but today I had a whole orange at lunch, spinach, baby carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli at dinner, and just ate a kiwi. I like fast and simple. :-)

************

FarmerBry, sounds like you'd really appreciate the simplicity of The 80/10/10 Diet by Dr. Douglas Graham. I know it's low-fat, grab-it-and-eat approach really appeals to me.

-Erin
Raw Done Light
dogma-free RAW
Gazpacho For The Soul