My raw food experience: what I learned and cooked

Recently my friends came up with a Raw Food cook book, which sparked my interest into what raw food was. I ended up spending a day at their medical and wellness resort, The Farm at San Benito. There I learned some of the theory behind raw food and went into their kitchen and made one of their dishes with their chefs. I’ll share a little bit about what I learnt and the recipe for the raw pad Thai that I made.

Raw food is unprocessed food that is not cooked above 42°C. Usually it consists of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains. The theory behind raw food is that when we heat our foods above 42°C we destroy some of its nutrients, enzymes, and change some of the substances into acid-forming toxins and free-radicals that destroy our health. To give you an idea, it is estimated that we can lose up to 70 percent of the vitamins and minerals in our foods when we cook them above 42°C. Harvard Medical School found that when meats are cooked at high temperatures, amino acids react with creatine forming heterocyclic amines, which cause cancer. BBQ’s are double the trouble because meat is exposed to the chemical from the smoke. All the black crispy spots on meat that’s been barbeques are carcinogens. So raw foods are considered super foods as they maintain the foods full nutritional value. If you are like me and couldn’t live without eating meat try cooking with smaller pieces of meat as they will cook quicker and at lower temperatures. Also flip the pieces over frequently so neither side has time to absorb nor lose that much heat.

Ingredients for Pad Thai

3 cups of coconut “noodles” cut by hand (refer to picture below)

1 zucchini cut into fettuccine-sized strips

½ cup white cabbage (shredded)

¼ cup chives, (cut on the slant)

¼ cup spring onion, (finely chopped)

½ cup shiitake mushroom (julienned)

2 tbsp tamari

1 tsp garlic (finely chopped)

1 tsp sesame oil

Sauce

¼ cup muscovado sugar

¼ cup+ 1 tsp tamarind juice

Black pepper & salt

½ cup nama shoyu

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp dulse flakes

¼ tsp guar gum

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp roasted garlic powder

Garnish

1 cup cashew tofu

1 cup bean sprouts

Cherry tomatoes cut in half

Few sprigs of cilantro

Method

Sauce: Put all dry ingredients in a blender, blast for a second or so, then mix liquid ingredients and blend until creamy.

Marinate the shiitake juliennes in the tamari, garlic, and sesame oil, then dehydrate for an hour and set aside.

Mix coconut noodles, zucchini, white cabbage, chives, and spring onions in with the sauce (from above). Add mushrooms (from above)

To assemble, put the vegetable in a bowl, and garnish with tofu, bean sprouts and cilantro. Warm (not above 42°C ) before serving.

Cutting the coconut meat into noodles

Mixing all the ingredients with the sauce

Garnishing