03 February 2015

The RAW Food Cookbook Search Begins

Borrowed from http://baobab-supply.blogspot.com/

I appreciate some of the theories and science behind the RAW food movement (RFM).  Living foods are nutrient dense, the closer to nature your food the healthier your body, and eat seasonally for best health.  Granted, these tenants are shared by various other parties, not being restricted to RFM.

And so, since I have a small, well curated cookbook collection, and it has an empty space for RAW specific title(s), I began searching for just such a book.  This involves borrowing everything my library has on the subject, and requesting all other interesting titles via Inter Library Loan (whereupon I even have access to the Library of Congress).


Unfortunately, my search is not going well.  My typical requirement of a cookbook is one in which I start marking about half the recipes as interesting or "must tries."  I have not reached anywhere close to such with any of the raw food cookbooks I have borrowed from the library.


Additionally, with raw food cookbooks, I am hampered:

- not by dehydrator requirements or low temperature cooking instructions, but by sheer cooking time.  Dehydrate for 24+ hours?  You have got to be kidding me!

- recipe complexity, I am seeking a book that is in the middle, a baby bear book, not too involved but not too simple ... and most of the books have these two spectra covered, but not much in the middle

In fact, most RAW food cookbooks have a "how to go raw" "beginner's raw" or "dehydrator how to" section that takes up 1/4 or less of the book.  I've been cooking, baking, and experimenting in the kitchen for (eh) approaching 20 years, and I do not need any beginner information.  I need the intermediate cookbook. 

And well, I admit I began this search as winter was setting in down here.  And that may not be the best time of year to be looking at photo upon photo (and recipe upon recipe) of summery salads.  The search continues ...

On a personal note, as a cookbook reader and user, I appreciate those authors that have recipes on their blog.  It is a great way to test out their approach, and get an idea of what else they might have to offer.  So to those authors who do not have a blog, or do not put recipes on their blog, I have little exposure to them, their philosophy, or their output.  For my experience with those authors, I have to thoroughly thank my local library system.


At this time, I have these titles strewn about my kitchen:


Ani Phy's "Ani's Raw Food Essentials"


Gena Hamshaw's "Choosing Raw"



Stacy Stower's "Eat Raw Not Cooked"



Kate Wood's "EatSmart EatRaw"



Carol Alt's "Easy, Sexy Raw"




Matthew Kenney's "Everyday Raw"



Matthew Kenney's "Everyday Raw Express"



 
Judita Wignall's "Going Raw"


Jennifer Cornbleet's "Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People"



Susan Power's "Rawmazing"



Matt Amsden's "The Rawvolution Continues"

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