everyday-rawThis is a unique cookbook, and although I’m not quite sure if it’s my style, but there are a lot of good ideas for a vegetarian/vegan in here. While I may not use this cookbook, it certainly opens my eyes to new foods. There are a number of sprouted grains, types of sauces, and ways to prepare ingredients I never knew existed! I am curious about the use of a dehydrater (which appears to replace an oven in some cases).

Last night I tried the Salsa Fresca and the Miso Soup… because they were the only two recipes where I didn’t have to go to the store to get anything. Definitely need to plan ahead next time. I’d like to try the Rosemary-Garlic Mashed “Potatoes” but with real potatoes. See what I mean by ideas and inspiration?

everydayraw_miso everydayraw_salsa

I had a thought that I may not be fully experiencing the raw food because of my lack of ingredients and/or knowledge, so I decided to go visit a Raw restaurant during lunch today. Gorilla Food is a raw, organic, vegan restaurant located on Richards Street in downtown Vancouver. I tried to choose something that would widen my horizons; I ordered Thai Fresh Wraps, “Three collard leaf wraps filled with a sprouted sunflower seed and veggie pate, sesame seasoned coleslaw and served with a ginger raisin chutney”. The collard was a little too bitter for my taste, but I mixed the filling of the wraps with the strong ginger chutney and it was tasty enough. The only downside was that two hours later I was hungry again, but they had an excellent looking smoothie menu that I think I would like to go back for!

Thus concludes my first foray into the raw movement, and while I don’t think it is for me 100% of the time, there are certainly ingredients I may like to explore.

Full disclosure: I received this book from Raincoast Books here in Canada. Raincoast is the Canadian distributor for a boatload of publishers.