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.

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)