The raw truth - Jeremy A. Safron

Copyright 2003, 2011 by Jeremy A. Safron
Interior photographs copyright 2011 by Eniko Perhacs
Front cover photograph copyright 2011 by Leo Gong

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Celestial Arts, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com

Celestial Arts and the Celestial Arts colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in the United States in different form by Celestial Arts, Berkeley, California, in 2003. This new, revised edition incorporates material from The Raw Foods Resource Guide, originally published in 1999 by the Raw Truth Press, Paia, Hawaii, and subsequently revised by Celestial Arts, Berkeley, California, in 2005. Copyright 1999, 2005 by Jeremy Safron.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Safron, Jeremy, 1971
The raw truth : recipes and resources for the living foods lifestyle / Jeremy A. Safron. 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Integrates new resources and tips on the raw foods lifestyle into a repackaged edition of this raw foods recipe book Provided by publisher.
Includes index.
1. Cooking (Natural foods) 2. Raw foods. I. Title.
TX741.S24 2011
641.563dc22

2010035484

eISBN: 978-1-58761-369-2

Front cover food styling by Kim Kissling

v3.1

Every journey begins with a single step, yet where it leads depends upon the choices we make along the way. In the past two decades, Ive continually evolved my relationship with food in order to eat sustainably, simply, and in harmony with nature while enjoying a diversity of flavors and maintaining a sublime level of health. Sustainable living is more than just electric cars and solar panels. Every item we buy has some impact on the global ecology based on how many resources it takes to get from farm to market. Seventy percent of the worlds transportation is used to move or obtain food. People used to farm at home and produce a large amount of their own food. In the 1950s, more than 50 percent of people grew some portion of their food in their backyards. By 1980, less than 5 percent grew their own food and by 2010, its less than 1 percent. Having a personal interaction with our food helps custom-design the food for our particular needs. A healthy environment grows healthy food, which in turn creates a healthy person.

I remember the first healthy choice I made when I decided to boycott Coca-Cola and rainforest beef during high school. I discovered that my actions had effects on what would be perpetuated in consciousness and sold in the future marketplace. My personal choices in dietary restriction eventually led me to becoming a vegetarian. I put aside meat in order to live a more compassionate and peaceful existence. Soon after, I became a vegan and disposed of all animal products in my life. I fervently read ingredients on every packaged product I consumed or used on my body and I ate only at vegan food establishments. I felt healthy and strong, knowing I was doing my part to make a difference.

I first encountered wheatgrass and some of the basic ideas of raw living foods in 1991. It all made so much sense to me, so I began to incorporate that way of living into my daily life. I started each day with wheatgrass and juices and smoothies. I broadened my palate by seeking out exotic fruits. I would often play in my kitchen, creating recipes based on ones I used to eat and finding a way to make them all raw. I studied some raw foods recipe books and took trips to tropical climates to eat the special fruits that grew there. I began to eat to live rather than live to eat. After more than two years, I was almost 100 percent raw and the only cooked food I ate was the vegan chocolate cake from Angelicas Kitchen in New York City. Knowing that I wanted to be completely raw, I decided to create my own catering company called Loving Foods; I wanted to educate people about raw food and provide delicious meals to show that raw food wasnt just nuts and salad. We launched in Woodstock, New York, in 1993, to great success, and I chose never to eat cooked food again.

I moved to Maui to be the head chef at a retreat center. One night, as I was serving dinner, a few of the local neighbors came bythey would often sneak through the woods to sample the evening meal. The manager of the retreat center said, There are fifteen people in this workshop and more than twenty people eating dinner here tonight, to which I replied, I run the kitchen, not the gate, and Im well within budget. He then said, These people are here for you; you need a restaurant. I agreed and said, I do; I quit.

In 1996, I opened the doors of the Raw Experience restaurant in Paia with my partner Rene Loux. We dazzled people with our creative and innovative recipes and the restaurant was a big hit. Yet we always held to our motto of All Raw, All Vegan, All Organic, All the Time. I wrote the original Raw Truth as a book about raw food and the concepts and consciousness that its based on. But the catering business (which had grown into a restaurant) had many fabulous recipes to share, so I evolved the Raw Truth into a recipe book. The original edition was printed at a friends copy shop and sold out in the first week of printing (there were almost no raw food books available at the time). Soon I took over a friends shop in San Francisco and the second Raw Experience was opened.

I consulted for other restaurants and began leading my own workshops. I continued to study herbology, natural medicine, farming, permaculture, and exotic fruits and constantly worked to improve my understanding of healthy eating. Sadly, in 1999 we closed the doors of the Raw Experience. I continued teaching and spent a fair bit of time using my body as my laboratory and learning what worked best for me. I would often fast, or live solely on food that I picked myself. Currently I grow much of what I eat, and I include raw dairy in my diet. I recently had the opportunity to work with the University of Hawaii culinary students in a sold-out event. The students and public were awed and delighted by the fantastic five-course meal these culinary students prepared. It is a true pleasure to see raw food cuisine becoming more and more widespread and accepted. Ive always found that the most important ingredient in any meal is the love and attention we bring to it. Above all, raw food is about connecting with nature and being ecological, sustainable, and healthy.

With the correct tools and the proper resources, we can accomplish anything we wish. Experience (what we do) plus knowledge (what we learn) gives us wisdom (what we can share).

Experience is the greatest teacher there is. Our lives are our lessons, and contained within them is the information that will allow us to grow. It is up to each of us to decide what our life will hold. Each lesson we learn leads to the next, and as we encourage greater diversity of experience, our ability to comprehend our life lessons increases. The many choices that we make help define how we relate to the world. We change our world as much as our world changes us. The less impact we inflict upon this world, the better we will be able to enjoy it in our future. Reading or hearing about the experiences of others is not the same as experiencing something ourselves. We may understand someone elses experience, but learning from it is a different matter. The more positive our experiences, the more positive we become about our lives. Savor each experience, for they all help to make us what we are.