May 14, 2007
Fabulous Finds: "Soleful" PurposeThe "Raw" Truth Fabulous Finds: "Soleful" PurposeFabulous Finds: "Soleful" Purpose
When I first heard about raw food a few years ago, I was more than a little skeptical. Wasn't it a positive step forward that someone finally got a handle on the whole "starting a fire and cooking" thing?
I envisioned raw restaurants serving salad…lots of salads. And people going crazy for it, happily munching on carrot sticks and calling raw food the hottest new trend (although hottest isn't exactly the right word, since raw food is never heated to above 118 degrees Fahrenheit).
While living in New York, I decided to make Pure Food and Wine (www.purefoodandwine.com) my entrée into raw cuisine (after making my dinner date promise we could still go for pad thai if munching all those carrot sticks left us needing real sustenance). Pure Food and Wine is modern and sexy. Dim lighting makes your skin glow. The background music encourages you to 
lean a little closer to your dining companion and the vibe is more urban glamazons drinking sake than hippies eating dandelions. Our very helpful waitress explained how raw food is easier to digest, has a higher nutrient value and promotes better health and skin. It sounded good, but how did it taste?
Absolutely delicious. Creative and deceptively filling. Who knew they could make ravioli out of beets or sushi rice out of jicama? In the end, I got my pad thai after all. Made from young coconuts and a bunch of brightly colored veggies, this version of pad thai made me feel energized and healthy, not overly full and saturated with oil. Delectable and good for me? This raw food thing might not be so bad after all…
The best news is you can get your raw food fix on both coasts. Just a few blocks from the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA, Juliano's Raw (www.planetraw.com) features fun and creative dishes from one of the fresh-faced forerunners in the raw movement. If you are “coast-challenged,” living somewhere in between New York and Los Angeles, or have an urge to try it at home, both Pure Food and Wine and Juliano’s offer their own cookbooks on their websites, “Raw Food, Real World” from Pure Food and “Raw: The Uncook Book” by Juliano.
And, new places are sprouting up all over the place. Even if you live somewhere where people prefer pork rinds to papayas, check out your grocery or health food store for Larabars (www.larabar.com) or products from the NatuRaw (www.naturaw.com) lines.
