By Judy Pokras

Cooked Raw, Matthew Kenney’s latest book, is a tantalizing must-read for raw foods enthusiasts as well as chefs, restaurateurs (and entrepreneurs in general), lovers of memoirs and biographies, and of course fans of Kenney’s. Unlike his other books, this one is a memoir, and it's a delicious read. Its subtitle is: “How one celebrity chef risked everything to change the way we eat.” It’s mostly about how Kenney has kept taking risks to move his career along in the path from cooked carnivorous to raw vegan, and it also mentions many of his love affairs. (We would also love to read a memoir focused exclusively on those!)

I read this book in two nights, and could not put it down. It would also make a great read for high school students everywhere, about the challenges and perils of entrepreneurship, as Kenney is honest about some of the seedy characters who he partnered with when he was desperate to get funds for his next projects — partnerships he would later regret. And it is impressive that he is forthright about how much money many of the projects required to get off the ground and to flourish, which is especially educational for those of us who are far from the world of venture capital.

The book not only records the restaurants Kenney worked in early in his career, and later designed and opened, but talks about newer projects that many of us may not have heard about. For example, in addition to his “brick and mortar” teaching Academies that help to seed the world with new generations of raw vegan chefs, he writes about his relatively new online classes (although the name of that portal is not mentioned); his company Pure Chefs Worldwide, which recommends and hires out Academy-trained raw vegan chefs; and the exciting development of three product lines for Whole Foods Market: a cashew-based ice cream; tree nut cheese; and vegan chocolate.

I love that Kenney lists some of the kitchen equipment in PlantLab, his Maine innovation center that is “everything a raw chef could dream of.” But there ought to be more details, as the following sentence leaves us wondering:  a Pacojet thermal immersion circulator [Is this the same as the Pacojet Ice Cream machine? If not, the book needs to explain it to us], an ultrasonic homogenizer [What exactly this does that do that, say, a power blender does not do?], smoking guns [Are the foods that these guns “smoke” really raw?], and an anti-griddle [But what is THAT?].

There are other ways the book disappoints. Ethical vegans will have trouble reading the first chapter, “Hunter,” especially, which — spoiler alert! — is about Kenney learning how to kill a deer as a boy. And Kenney prefaces each early chapter (in the years before he became a diehard vegan) with carnivorous and/or cooked recipe suggestions that raw vegans will not appreciate. I wonder if these non-raw, non-vegan recipe ideas were put in to please the publisher, because by the end of the book, Kenney is commited to spreading the gospel about the health benefits of raw vegan cuisine. 

Kenney — who is a gifted writer, and could have a brilliant career as a writer and nothing else, if he were not a chef and entrepreneur — writes:  “I want to build a foundation that will last, evolve, and become a company powerful enough to reach every major market and bring mind-blowing healthy food to [the] world.” He also writes (and I, dear reader, have the same ambition, albeit nowhere near Kenney’s success and influence): “I must admit, my desire is ambitious: I’d like to see raw food define culinary art — to be the rule rather than the exception….Food will be more exciting, chefs will be more creative, and the people of this planet will be healthier."

Here are two more suggestions the publishers might consider for their next edition of this book: An index would be very helpful; and how about a timeline of Matthew Kenney’s career? That would also be very useful.

Bravo to Pearl River Hilton Executive Chef Ellen M. Zarcone, who exceeded my expectations with the many-course raw vegan meal she made for me at the rehearsal dinner for my niece Tracey’s wedding. The rehearsal dinner was held at the Pearl River Hilton, in Pearl River, NY, just over the New Jersey border. 

I had contacted Chef Zarcone several weeks before the wedding about the possibility of her making me a raw vegan meal, and she asked if I would like to send her some recipes. She made some of the recipes I sent her, and she also improvised. 

I was beyond impressed, especially since this was Chef Zarcone's first experience making raw vegan cuisine! The ingredients were organic and excellent, the plating was picture-perfect, and the flavors and textures were divine. I felt like royalty!

Here’s what Chef Zarcone and her staff served me at the wedding rehearsal dinner:

Beverage: Lemonade

Hors d'oeuvres platter: Beet Ravioli (pictured above)

Do you love the fragrance of vanilla beans as much as I do? It's one of my favorites. And livpurely's vanilla coconut oil for face and body is one of my all-time favorite products. 

I buy Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans to use in my raw vegan recipes, but they never have the awesome fragrance of this face and body oil. I've been using this oil for several months to remove my makeup, and as an overnight moisturizer. (I recently ran into a man I hadn't seen in about a year, and he said I look younger than I did last time he saw me. That was a nice compliment!)

Besides the heavenly fragrance, this vanilla oil is wonderful because livpurely, which is based in Sag Harbor, N.Y.,  uses the purest ingredients in its products. That makes livpurely a company that we admire and respect.
 
Livpurely writes on its website, that the 100% virgin coconut oil that is a base for its products is "handmade, unheated, fermented, and cold-processsed," and from the highest quality coconuts in the world.

Vanilla is rich in antioxidants, and is good for us, Livepurely writes. The company has high standards for its vanilla, as they write:

We can only hope that livpurely adds a line of makeup to its skin care line, and then gets into the food business as well! If you're looking for gift ideas, this vanilla coconut oil will wow anyone you're giving it to!

Here's a riddle:

What's:

• Gleaming and shiny, with a mirror finish, and made from food-quality stainless steel;
  
• Comprised of three different containers, one of which can fit into the others;
  
• Good for the environment, as it contains no plastic, no BPA, no lead; and no throw-aways; and
  
• Easy to keep clean: dishwasher safe, and it retains no odors or residues, and will not stain.
  

Give up?

It's ECOLunchbox's "Three-in-One." It contains three components, all made of food-grade stainless steel. The "downstairs" one is 1" deep, and the "upstairs" one, which sits atop it, is 1 1/2 inches deep. There is also a nesting cup that can hold 1/2 cup of whatever you put in it, such as organic raisins or nuts or a side dish. 

Here are some ideas for ways to use this nifty set:

Pack food in it for children to bring to school or on camping or road trips. Note that the covers are not leak-proof, because no plastic or synthetic gaskets have been used, and it's not insulated. The Three-in-One should not be used in a microwave (but we here at RawFoodsNewsMagazine.com do not advocate use of a microwave, anyway!)

Put small gifts into the sections, and incorporate this set into a themed gift basket. We'd love to see a raw vegan food theme, containing small packages of raw bars (like Stephen James Organics' Brownie and Power Berry "mini bars"), crackers (maybe ones you make yourself from flax seeds, chopped onion, sunflower seeds and caraway seeds), and chocolate candies (we especially love the ones made by Ulimana). And as a gift for those who love to make recipes from scratch, you could put hard-to-find ingredients into the compartments, like Kala Namak ("black") salt from Frontier Natural Products Co-Op; Volcanic Pili Nuts from Stephen James Organics; and pomegranate powder from Navitas Naturals.

We could also imagine the Three-in-One as gift boxes, in a surprise way of presenting jewelry on special occasions, such as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, your wedding anniversary, or even for a marriage proposal! Just think, besides the jewelry you might put into them, the boxes are gifts in themselves!

There are many packaged raw vegan snacks out there, among them those called "bars." Stephen James Organics puts out a range of such bars, in addition to the buttery, delicious pill nuts that they sell. 

Stephen James Organics's many flavors of "living energy" bars have in common with each other a crunchy texture and fruit-cake-like flavor in which the nuts and dried fruits are visible, not homogenized into something smooth and characterless. They are dehydrated and made with really-raw ingredients (pre-sprouted, in the case of the seeds) and bursting with nutrients. The bars are certified organic, and come in cute packages, whether 30-40 gram boxes with cartoonish women or men on them, or in two-bite-size mini-bar packages. The boxes say the bars take three days to make, and they are listed on www.sjorganics.com as selling for $4.98 each. (A package of 12 full-size bars sells for $58.88, and a pack of 12 of the mini-bars sells for $18.98.) They are very handy for carrying around wherever you're going, locally, or long-distance; for packing in children's lunch boxes (or in your own); and they make nice stocking stuffers as gifts.

The varieties include:

Organic Brownie Bar - This is made with hazelnuts, pecans, golden flax seeds, unhealed sesame seeds, raw cacao, medjool dates, lime juice, carazuc (coconut flower sugar) and himalayan salt, and doesn't taste like what we think of as a brownie, but is still nice to eat.

Organic Beauty Bar - In this one, you can taste the dried raspberries, which are joined by brazil nuts, carazuc, golden flax seeds, unhealed sesame seeds, dried cherires, medjool dates, calimyrna figs, thompson raisins, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, lucuma, fresh lime juice, vanilla bean and himalayan salt. (Although the front of the package says it contains almonds, almonds are not listed in the ingredients on the back.)

Organic Smart Bar - Thompson raisins and medjool dates combine with walnuts, flax seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in this one, in addition to carazuc, himalayan salt and lime juice.

Organic Apple Pie Bar - This one contains dried apples as its second ingredient (after the carazuc) but despite having the apples, cinnamon and nutmeg, does not taste to us like an apple pie, although it's pleasant to eat. Although the carazuc is the first ingredient, this bar has only 6 grams of dietary sugars, according to its label, and an impressive 6.5 grams of fiber.

Organic Power Berry - In addition to the usual compliment of nuts, seeds, and carazuc, this bar is chock full of berries, including cranberries, blueberries, incan berries, strawberries, ace berries, and amla berries, plus cherries, lemon juice and lemon zest. Having a berry flavor, it sports 11 grams of dietary sugars, according to its nutrition label, and 5.7 grams of fiber.

Organic Veggie Sushi Bar - This bar is the only savory one, with only 1 gram of dietary sugars (carazuc) rounded out by various seeds, plus some ingredients that might be found in sushi, such as ginger, nori flakes, wasabi powder and green tea. But while this bar doesn't taste to us like sushi, it makes a nice cracker, which you could top with an avocado and miso spread, or a nut cheese, and some raw pickle slices.

The Raw Food Primer by Chef Suzanne Alex Ferrara

Reviewed by Judy Pokras

Measuring 6 inches wide by 8 1/4 inches tall, and having 112 pages, The Raw Food Primer by Chef Suzanne Alex Ferrara is a very pretty little book. It has well-chosen colors, a slightly glossy paper stock, and an appealing design. The letters of the word RAW on the cover are clever pictographs of people. Chef Ferrara’s to-the-point writing style is easy to digest.

Ferrara starts the book with small sections on types of raw diets, stocking a raw pantry, resources and tools. The bulk of the book is her recipes, divided into sections representing meal courses. She also provides a sample dinner party menu and an index.

The recipe sections offer only a few selections each, kind of like the menu of a good restaurant. As the reader, you hope that means these were chosen because they are the very best. There is a vegetable stew that Ferrara says warms her on cold days, and a sweet and sour ginger dressing she brings with her to restaurants. There are eggplant tacos that she calls “the ultimate snack food,” and an assortment of Italian dishes that sound fabulous, like “manicotti bites with marinara and sun-dried olives” and “fettucini alfredo.”

She has some interesting tips, things I haven'’t come across before. For example, she suggests storing ginger in the freezer, saying it's easy to grate that way; and she uses a spice mill or coffee grinder to turn shredded coconut into coconut flour. (I always like anything raw called flour because it gives me hope for replicating traditional cooked recipes.)

Raw food purists might balk at Ferrara's recommending Maranatha "raw" almond butter, as many people in the raw community tend to believe that that product isn't raw. (Not that the manufacturer is necessarily lying, but that the machine they use to grind the nuts reaches a temperature over 118 degrees. That product tastes like roasted almonds, not raw ones. The only commercially available RAW nut butter I have seen is from Rejuvenative Foods. There might be others, but they all have to be kept in the store's refrigerator case. If not refrigerated, nut butter goes rancid really quickly.)

Purists would also protest Ferrara’s use of maple syrup in so many of her recipes, despite her admitting that maple sugar and maple syrup are not raw. Author and chef Victoria Boutenko says that maple syrup is boiled for 28 hours, which is really, really, really cooked! Ferrara doesn't want to offend strict vegans who won't use honey, but if you blend dates with water, you have a sweet syrup that is as good as maple syrup and it is raw. Coconut nectar is another option, although my favorite is KAL Pure Stevia.

Small books have their advantages (such as easy portability while taking a long walk, for luddites who don't care for e-readers), but they must of necessity be concise. Because of its concision, Ferrara’s tools section might be inadequate for readers who prefer to have more technical information.

She assumes that we will know which brands to buy of certain items, like coffee grinders and spice mills. But readers who want to know which brands are easiest to clean, make the least noise, and can handle larger amounts would appreciate some recommendations.

Similarly, readers who seek guidance on what power blender to buy may be misled when Ferrara recommends the Vita-Mix, because she makes no mention of its extreme noise level (especially when you add nuts, like for a nut milk), or of its steep price.

Chef Ferrara has some refreshingly original ideas. She uses wilted leaves of Butter Lettuce as wrappers for raw ravioli. I tried her recipe for lemon rind candy made of just lemon rinds and honey and cinnamon. It had a nice taste, but the lemon rinds remained very hard to chew. The honey flaxmeal raisin cookies look like they would be fun to eat. There are other desserts I'd like to try, but most contain maple syrup. I would replace that with stevia, but I’d have to figure out what amount to use in order to wind up with something like Ferrara’'s recipes. Fans of young coconut will find that she doesn't use or mention it anywhere in the book.

Finally, the recipes are accompanied by Ferrara's rich and colorful paintings. Art lovers will appreciate how pretty and evocative they are; flipping through the book is like walking through a gallery. Readers who like to see what recipes will look like made up may feel that the paintings -- which take artistic license, as paintings often do— -- aren't as helpful as photos or more traditional illustrations would be.

About a month before my nephew's April 2013 wedding at the Tappan Hill Mansion in Tarrytown, NY, I wrote to the catering company, Abigail Kirsch Catering Relationships, asking if it would be possible for them to make me a raw vegan meal. They said they would, and asked to see some of my favorite recipes. I sent them a PDF version of my book, The Little e-Book of Raw Vegan Holiday Recipes, hinting that my favorite entree was Coconut Noodle Pad Thai.

I was pleasantly surprised at the wedding to find that they had gone all-out to delight me. During the cocktail hour, while everyone else was drinking alcoholic beverages and eating all kinds of cooked entrees containing meat, dairy or fish, the waiters found me and brought me a variety of hors d'oeuvres, plus what turned out to be a never-ending supply of colorful and refreshing mango-watermelon "mocktails," starting at the cocktail hour and continuing all throughout the dinner.

I especially loved the Beet Ravioli hors d'oeuvres. Following the cocktail hour, my dinner itself began with a bowl of Tomato Basil Soup with an arrangement of Carrot Crackers in the center like a Cubist rendering of an appropriately tipsy NYC skyline, and garnished with sunflower sprouts.

The next course was an arugula salad with very cheese-like strips that turned out to be paper-thin slices of apple in a lemon vinaigrette. Very inventive and flavorful. My favorite course was the Coconut Noodle Pad Thai entree topped with jicama rolls. Dessert was a Blueberry Cardamom Ice Cream Cake that looked almost too beautiful to eat.

I felt like a VIP, not only because of the wonderful custom-tailored raw vegan meal, but because the waiters served me a minute or so ahead of everyone else. (Compare that to my other nephew's bar mitzvah in 2005 at the Copa Cabana, in New York City, whose chefs said they could not accommodate me, and suggested I bring my own food.)

I heartily recommend Abigail Kirsch Catering Relationships for your wedding or other affair. Although they are not a dedicated raw vegan outfit, they are very accommodating and eager to please. I had given them a long list of stipulations (such as which ingredients needed to be organic) that could easily have daunted some other catering company that wasn't in the business of being strictly raw vegan, and Kirsch exceeded my expectations.

Special thanks to Abigail Kirsch's Ed Steinberg, Director of Events; Executive Chef Alison Awerbuch, who designed my meal; and Chef de Cuisine Peter Mamadjanian, who prepared and presented it, and took gorgeous photos.

Here's the menu:

BEVERAGES

WATERMELON MANGO MOCKTAIL

HORS D'OEUVRE

MEDITERRANEAN SALAD RAW VEGAN

ZUCCHINI ROLLS

BEET RAVIOLI
 
APPETIZER

TOMATO BASIL SOUP WITH CARROT CRACKERS

SALAD PRE

ARUGULA SALAD

ENTREE

COCONUT PAD THAI WITH JICAMA ROLL

DESSERT SERVED

BLUEBERRY CARDAMOM ICE CREAM CAKE

Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, by raw food chef Ani Phyo, is a very useful book, not only for its awesome food and easy-to-make, inventive recipes, but for Ani’s many tips for food preparation and sustainable living. I devour raw recipe books to see what new ideas chefs have come up with, and I'm very impressed with several of Ani’s that I’ve had the chance to try. She's found that raw food means different things to people depending on the region, that people in Southern California are into raw food for its weight loss and anti-aging benefits; residents of Northern California turn to raw food for health reasons; and in the Pacific Northwest, people are outdoorsy and active and look to raw food for its physical performance benefits.

Ani, whose mother turned her onto raw foods, admirably lives by her beliefs. Her company uses renewable power from wind, geothermal and low-impact hydro, which costs only eight percent more than conventional energy sources. She points out that there are pedal-powered kitchen applicances (like mixers and blenders) —something I had never heard of, but really appreciate. I wholeheartedly agree with her when she suggests eating local produce in season: "Growing and raising seasonal food encourages traditional agricultural methods, biodiversity, and a better environment. Plus, it promotes better tasting food."

Here’s Ani's recipe for pancakes with mock butter, a recipe that’'s as nutritious as it is delicious and easy to make.

Coconut Breakfast Cakes
By Ani Phyo

(Serves four)

2 cups whole flax seeds, ground into meal just before making recipe
2 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil (liquid form)
½ cup agave nectar (Ani might agree with many people who have stopped using agave because it's very high in fructose. You can leave sweetener our of the pancakes and simply serve them with a syrup, see recipe below.)
½ teaspoon Celtic salt
¼ cup filtered water

Put all ingredients into bowl and mix well. Form into four balls and flatten into pancake shapes about ¼ to ½ inch thick.

To serve, top with mock butter (see recipe below), plus sliced fruit (such as kiwi, pear, or banana), and a topping. Serve immediately, or refrigerate the batter for up to four or five days. To vary, mix blueberries or pre-soaked walnuts into the batter.

Miso-Coconut Butter

This has a soft whipped butter texture. Use solid, rather than liquid, coconut oil.

¼ cup coconut butter (Refrigerate or freeze for a few minutes if it’s in liquid form, to solidify it)
1 tablespoon unpasteurized white miso (Chickpea miso--which is soy-free--also works well)

Mix the coconut butter and miso with a spoon or fork until well blended. This butter will keep for months in the freezer.

Breakfast-Cake Syrup

For the syrup, you can use raw honey alone, or you can blend that or stevia or soft dates with fresh or frozen fruit, such as berries, and a bit of water to make a syrup.

The LifeFood Recipe Book: Living on Life Force

by Annie Padden Jubb and David Jubb

At the time this review was written, David Jubb, Ph.D., who gives talks and health readings around the world, had a take-out store, Jubb’'s Longevity, in New York City. 
A friend of mine who was scheduled to have his gall bladder removed no longer needed the operation after following a regimen that David suggested. Annie Padden Jubb lives in Los Angeles, where she gives health readings and is a consultant.

In addition to more than 180 recipes that David and Annie developed, this informative 276-page book details the benefits of a living foods lifestyle and makes suggestions for cleansing and fasting. The authors address the downsides of hybrids and the benefits of heirloom and wild produce, recommend kitchen tools, and discuss ingredients such as cold-pressed oils and sea vegetables. There are occasional beauty tips: When you consume fermented foods you will have the most amazing unblemished skin.”

SUCH FABULOUS SOUPS

When it comes to recipes, the soup chapter alone is worth the price of the book. “Sweet Thai Tomato Soup,” for example, is excellent; I wish restaurants would add it to their menus.

Although some of the book'’s recipes are transitional and involve heating, —like the delicious “Coconut Orgasm Soup” (so named because, according to one of the “secret teachings” sprinkled throughout the book, “onions are rich in histamine, an important element involved in attaining orgasm”),— you can easily make them without heating them. A few recipes contain non-raw (Manna bread) or non-vegan (Feta cheese) ingredients as well. Raw food purists will want to read the recipes carefully, as some contain ingredients that can be hard to find raw, like hijiki in the Hijiki & Red Pepper Salad.

SWEETLY INVENTIVE

While most of the recipes are not overly elaborate, they can still be inventive, like "“Sweet Tomato Slices”" that combines tomato and figs; or like the pomegranate vinaigrette dressing. Occasionally a recipe that seems like it would be great is sort of blah, like the Orange Pecan Marinade.

LifeFood is the only recipe book I know of that contains a recipe for a nutmilk using black sesame seeds (“Phat Midnight Milk”). I haven’'t tried it or the “Carob Mint Canolis” yet, but I look forward to making them!  In fact, I bet they’'d be good together.

(Reviewed in 2004)