Raw Food for Real People: Living Vegan Food Made Simple by the Chef and Founder of Leaf Organics
Product Description
Many have touted the health and energy benefits of raw foods, but few have presented recipes and instructions for making raw food appealing — and satisfying — to everyone. Chef Rod Rotondi demonstrates that going raw isn’t hard — in fact, it’s fun, easy, and more delicious than you’ve ever imagined. You will learn all the fundamentals of preparing your own raw foods at home, including setting up your raw kitchen, transitioning to raw foods, sprouting, dehydration, and raising your kids on raw foods. Best of all, he offers a wealth of recipes for smoothies, breakfast, appetizers, soups, salads, dressings, entrées, and decadent desserts. Rod demonstrates that the best — and utterly delectable — w… More >>
Raw Food for Real People: Living Vegan Food Made Simple by the Chef and Founder of Leaf Organics
Bob Recommends: Christmas is a time to enjoy so make sure that you have Funny Christmas Songs in your selection.
This is a great book for not only those new to the raw diet, but for seasoned raw fooders like myself. I am the author of my own raw food book and have seen everything out there. This is a keeper. What makes it special is that it is written by the owner of a raw food restaurant chain, New Leaf. Though I have not been to the restaurant I have sampled many of their goodies that are sold at Whole Foods in the refrigerated gourmet raw foods section. Now I am finally in possession of some of these restaurant quality recipes, such as the falafels, carrot cake with orange icing, Leaf Organics house dressing, wraps, etc.
The book is so much more than a recipe book. It includes a great deal of information such as why organic is important (the author thinks it is more so than even raw; I disagree), the author’s story, why raw is better than cooked, how to transition to raw, dealing with food addictions, setting up a raw food kitchen, the benefits of probiotics, and more. Some segments are written by other authors. There is even a handy sprouting guide (an entire chapter which includes a chart) and a chapter on kids eating raw. Rod’s writing style includes humor and wit to prove his points: “If you can cut an apple in half, you are a raw-food chef….(To keep it simple and natural)”Avoid adding too many cups of ego to your recipes.”
The recipe chapters include dehydrated goodies (crackers, croquettes, pizza, bread), breakfast (smoothies, porridges, granola), appetizers, salad meals (includes dressings and wraps), soups, entrees, and desserts. Some of the recipes I am chomping at the bit to try include the “love loaf” for a Thanksgiving feast, the” Middle Eastern lentil soup”, veggie sun burger croquettes, and the “groovy granola.”
I appreciate that there are quite a few international raw dishes. When people go raw, they often miss their ethnic dining: Mexican, Indian, Chinese food, etc. But among these recipes you will find Spanish gazpacho; Middle Eastern soup, wraps, falafels & hummus; Mexican corn chowder; Mediterranean burgers; Sicilian Savory Snaps; several variations of raw pizza; pad thai, and more. The author talks about how he traveled a lot before opening the restaurant, and it shows in his cuisine!
So whether you just want a raw version of good ol’ American “fish” sticks or apple pie, or you crave raw international fare, either way, this is something you will be glad to have on your shelf!
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ve done raw food for a while now and with all the 5 star reviews I thought ‘hey, sounds good.’ I know raw food ‘cookbooks’ are a crap shoot where you may like 1/4-1/2 of the recipes or none at all. While the author ‘talks the talk’ in the first part of the book, and believe me, he sounds impressive, I wanted to see if his recipes could ‘walk the walk’.
First off, I give the layout, his story, and pictures, there are about 7 pages in the center of the book that are beautiful, 1 star. (mine never looked like that when I was done).
Then I selected a few I wanted to try that sounded really good. The veggie sun burger (inedible), cashew kreme cheese (this one was good, I use it like a cream cheese dip for raw veggies), raw slaw (not good), really raw ranch dressing (this smells like ranch but it’s inedible), and the cushy carrot cake (this was not good – cake and frosting, both were inedible). When I say inedible I really tried to like them since this was to be my meal, but after a few bites I couldn’t do it and had a regular salad instead.
After the cake failure, and I followed the recipes exactly, I gave up. Maybe in time I may dare to try another one, but not likely.
Rating: 1 / 5
I must preface my review by saying that I am for the most part a lowfat raw vegan and the first thing I judge a raw food book by is the fat content of its recipes. Even though RAW FOOD FOR REAL PEOPLE is not lowfat, I found this new book to be delightful and very, very nice!
The amount of fats called for in many of these wonderfully creative and international recipes seems to me to be quite reasonable while others are a little rich. (By rich I am referring to the combination of nuts, seeds, avocado, coconut and oil). I personally might not eat this way every day since most of the time I eat simply, following Dr. Doug Graham’s 80-10-10 program, but I would certainly love these recipes occasionally or for special celebrations. These recipes really are a celebration! With their international flavor I find them inspiring and extremely appealing. The great photos are especially nice and very enticing. I would be proud to serve any of these impressive creations and most eager to treat myself whenever I am craving a burrito or a falafel or pad Thai or “fish” sticks or old fashioned apple pie or pizza!
Yes, I’ve been preparing living vegan food since 2000 and have been a lowfat vegan since the 70s, so the vegetarian and raw kitchen is not a challenge for me but I think this book is wonderful for beginners and the accomplished as well. Rob Rotondi’s recipes are written clearly and precisely so that the inexperienced will not be daunted by any of them. Rob provides a lot of helpful and interesting information which should put the beginner at ease. I love how he personalized this information, never claiming to be a nutrition expert but a lover of fine, beautifully prepared living food. The book is well organized and reference is easy. The Index and the Table of Contents are very good and comprehensive (other things I judge a recipe book by).
What more can I say but Rob Rotondi’s RAW FOOD FOR REAL PEOPLE has found a respected place on my kitchen book shelf! Bravo, Rob!
Rating: 5 / 5
I really like the notion of eating foods that are less processed and closer to its original form. I know from personal experience that when I eat local and fresh foods, I do feel more energetic. Plus, preparation time is reduced giving me more time for other things.
With that said, I’m a bit on the fence with Raw Food for Real People. The recipes were extremely simple to prepare and I found it very easy to substitute local seasonal foods. Moreover, most of the food tasted pretty good, even those that didn’t look so appetizing.
Unfortunately, most of the recipes were quite time consuming, requiring sprouting, soaking, or dehydration time. I think that this would be fine if a person was committed to making raw foods a lifestyle choice. However, for the average person, it might be a bit too much to ask.
Rating: 4 / 5
Raw Food for Real People is an excellent primer for those considering a raw vegan lifestyle and recipe book. I’ve been making his mango bread now and it’s delicious. I also made his pomegranate dressing and it’s all I use on my salads, homemade and fresh. I like the books’s plain English, green text. Easy to understand and easy on the eye.
Drew
Rating: 5 / 5