Raw Chef Dan

Live On-Line Raw Food Prep Class

So last Sunday I hosted my first On-Line Raw Food Prep Class and it was awesome. The class itself was one of the quietest classes I have had in a long time. I think I may have even mentioned that in the class but the recipes and the food was outrageous. I think I really out done myself this time. All I can say is WOW WOW WOW! At the end of my class we all gathered to eat and the students couldn’t believe the meal they were having. I made this Biryani Curry that was simple to live for. It nearly brought tears to my eyes. I have been eating it on Bananas, Cherimoya, Pineapple, and Cauliflower. Just the smell of the curry paste reminds me of one of the best Indian restaurants I have ever eaten on Lan Kwia Fong St Hong Kong. You have to try it. I also made a Rice Pudding, Pappadam, Banana dumplings (Pakora) and more. Simply some of the best food I have ever created. The good news is you can still take this class as a video playback at Quest.TV.com follow the link below. You will need a good blender and a dehydrator for some of but this class is something you should not miss! Go take the class, I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

To Join the class CLICK HERE

http://www.rawchefdan.com/Promo%20Adds%20Plugs/indi-cl-invt2.html

Raw Food gets slammed by popular website

Hummm not sure what to think of all this or who paid for this article but the whole thing is quite disturbing. See the whole article HERE

The raw foodists claim that eating raw food has long been the "natural" way for us to eat our food. But we have archaeological evidence of humans cooking food some 700,000 years ago.

And finally, about half of the women who follow the raw food diet get so malnourished that they stop having periods. So if a raw food diet makes women infertile, and if raw food was how we used to eat food, then how did the human race multiply so successfully? Surely baby-making should outrank a raw food diet in terms of doing what comes naturally. It seems that with both food and baby-making, some like it hot...

Making The Real Thing

Raw Chef Dan.com Tip Of The Week
http://www.rawchefdan.com/recipestore/tip_of_the_week/tipoftheweek.html

Let’s start this week with a little story as it can put things into perspective. Back in late 1997 I was introduced to fasting and internal cleansing. The fasting I did really had an enormous effect on me and I felt I didn’t want to go back to eating as it would destroy the awesome way I was feeling from the fast. This led me into eating raw. More raw food after my fasts revealed less recoil back to my old sluggish self. Raw foods at this time were really undeveloped, almost nowhere to be found and almost no one heard of it. I and my partner at the time were pretty much on our own. In fact every one we knew who was getting into raw was pretty much on their own. The only time we had a chance to have someone else’s raw creations was at a potluck which were few and far between. Once in a while a special dinner would be offered by the local vegetarian restaurant which I think was a total of about 3 times in 2 years. There were also a few classes here and there, several of which our local guru David Jubb held or some transient raw foodie from California or Maui would swing through town to teach a class and then disappear. It was all very exciting at the time but to tell you the truth nearly all the food was very disappointing to say the least. Much of it was downright terrible. The thing is, at that time the food was being created and taught (even the 2 or 3 books available then) were not by chefs or anyone with a developed pallet but by health enthusiast that tooted the raw food horn.

Great for them, they had a captive audience but I wanted more; much more. I knew the concept of raw was OK, it was the recipes that needed some help. Sorry to say gents, thanks for the intro but I’ll take it from here! OK so the recipes need the hand of a real chef and that was that. But the other thing that really disappointed me many times, many many times was that things were named common names of dishes I know and love but the Raw dishes I filled my plate with were nothing of the sort. Now for trying to turn myself or a friend on to raw food this is a HUGE PROBLEM. When I grab what is call hummus and I really wanted hummus and it turned out to be nothing like hummus I was really turned off to “Raw Food” This was so common place in raw food I began to wonder what people were thinking. I remember ordering a raw Ravioli at one of these restaurant sponsored events and getting a huge plat of salad topped with a pate sandwiched between two layers of another pate. WHAT THE BAJEEBUS IS THAT?
When I heard there was a new place in San Francisco that was a raw food restaurant, I had to go check it out! By now I was of course making much of my own creations that really tasted great and satisfied my cravings so my expectations were high. “These guys have a restaurant, they must really know what they are doing”. Well I went and let’s just say I learned more what not to do then what I could do.
So what is my point to all this? What am I saying here?

If you want to satisfy your taste buds as well as impress / influence others with raw food make pizza that looks and taste like pizza; make a burrito that looks and taste like a Burrito, make a Hummus that is Hummus. Make dishes that you and others are familiar with and not some strange wacky creation called Sunny Day Seed loaf. I saw a video on YouTube the other day of a raw Hummus and the only thing in the whole recipe that was common with real hummus was Garlic. It may have been a tasty pate but it wasn’t Hummus.  I once bought a Lebanese Cook Book of traditional Lebanese recipes, some of which dated back to biblical times and guess what the recipe for Hummus was? That’s right, almost identical to the hummus I make for Quintessence Restaurant. Sprouted Chick Peas, (Garbanzo) Raw Sesame Tahini, Garlic, Lemon Juice (Not Lime) Olive Oil, Sea Salt and Toasted Sesame Oil. Now of course Toasted Sesame Oil won’t work for raw foods so I use Austria’s Finest Pumpkin Seed Oil but for the most part Quintessence make REAL Hummus and even the most critical patrons love the Hummus and are never disappointed. I constantly pick dishes I want to eat and look up there real recipes and then make them raw. After all it is what I want, what I am craving and just because it is raw doesn’t mean it can’t taste and feel the same as the traditional one. Next week I will give you specific example of how to find the real thing and convert it to raw!

Staying Motivated To Better Your Diet And Health

Im responding to a blog I read today. A woman was venting her woes on trying to stick to a 100% raw Diet. Now never mind one not needing to jump right in like that, a slow transition is just fine, but she stated many time throughout that she needed to pray more and rely on God’s help more. This may be true for her, as they say in The Secret "what you think about most is what you will eventually create" Praying certainly fits into that nicely. Religion and quantum physics are quite similar when you really look deeply at both.

Anyway, there is one thing that is sooooo overlooked when people try to "Go Raw" and that is education. Changing our habits, routines and program simply through rigger and discipline is never an easy thing and rarely successful. A person needs to want to make different decisions and choices. This is done by have new information that influences our decisions and choices. If you don’t eat potatoes because you are trying to eat all raw, that is hard to do. There is no internal motivator for you to do it and eventually you will slip into routine and eat a baked potato. If you read / learned that starch and starchy foods are transformed to sugar by and enzyme called amylase and this form of sugar feeds yeast, molds and funguses in the body, now you have a real motivator. You then know this harmful condition grows to enormous proportion disrupting the entire digestive system throwing off critical PH balances and feed Candida. All this information will certainly help you to choose not to eat potatoes and if you do you will feel/sense the effects right away. So read, watch video, cruise on-line resources. God uses sin and the fear of eternal damnation as a motivator yet in food and health we to suffer the hell of illness if we sin with our food. Willpower can only go so far but education is the best motivator. What hell will your sins create? That is the key!
Great recipes, podcast and videos like the ones on my website are also quite helpful.

The world is truly amasing

Amazing Photos - The funniest movie is here. Find it

Raw Food In India

This is a clip from a blog of wayword travelers. This whole post is fantastic. You must read the whole thing1

"The close proximity to the utopian settlement of Auroville seems to have a significant impact on Pondicherry. There are many Auroville shops selling natural or hand-made products, as well as many Ayurvedic clinics - and even an ayurvedic hospital - massage centres and health food shops. There’s even a fantastic raw food restaurant which we ate at a number of times."

Origonal post at: http://www.lenbellemore.com/blog/2008/04/travel/south-india/

How much sugar in 1 can of soda?

How Much Sugar In A Can Of Cola? - video powered by Metacafe

what is an "Organic" restaurant anywhay?

This morning I saw a post on www.chowhound.com. Some one was asking about a good “Organic” restaurant, that their mother was visiting and wanted to "try" and Organic restaurant. As I started posting a reply, I began to think about what an Organic restaurant meant. What is an Organic restaurant and what would be the motivation for people to go to such a place? So this was my reply:

Oh without a doubt Quintessence www.raw-q.com would be my first choice. I find it funny though how we blindly go for "Organic"; I guess to be healthier but Organic doesn't allways have to do with being healthy. You can have "Organic" Poison Ivy it doesn't mean it's healthy. Processed packaged imitation meals that are Organic are just as crappy as anything else. Most Vegetarian and certainly simply "Organic" restaurants often use terrible ingredients in their food and pay no attention to what is biologically healthy. The other thing is, to say you want to try an "Organic restaurant" as if it would be any different than a non organic is an oversight. If you are having your steak dinner and the potatoes and salad are organic the recipes and the food in the restaurant is still the basically the same, it just was grown organically. It really would not taste  all that different. Vegetarian restaurants on the other hand use very little vegetables and fill you up on starch (which is not even food) like rice and beans, potato, carrot, pasta, bread, Seitan / wheat gluten, moc this, moc that, all of which are very unhealthy and have no real nutrients. Even unfermented soy, like tofu or soy milk is not the best thing to eat and are full of Phytoestrogens and chemicals. (Phytoestrogens and Cancer) If you want to "try" something that is different, healthy and ultimately very tasty (Fresh is always better) try Organic raw foods. Don't fall for the propaganda and eat something real, your taste buds and your body will thank you.

 

 

My World Wide Raw Food Prep Class On-line

Good news, good news! I am really excited to announce I have teamed up with my buddy’s at Quest TV and we are going to hold a raw food class live on-line April 27^th. My Indian Feast class will be accessible live on the internet and will also be archived for later viewing if you miss the live event. So if you are not a New Yorker or even in the US you can finally take one of my classes. This will not be a class for beginners but never the less a great class it will be. Click here for login information, times and cost. My first live worldwide event, truly  not to be missed. See you there.

PS in preparation for this event you may want to go to quest.tv and download their player so you will be ready to go!

Our oceans are turning into plastic...are we?

By Susan Casey, Photographs by Gregg Segal
                Feb 20, 2007 - 12:03:05 PM
               
A vast swath of the Pacific, twice the size of Texas, is full of a plastic stew that is entering the food chain. Scientists say these toxins are causing obesity, infertility...and worse.

                Fate can take strange forms, and so perhaps it does not seem unusual that Captain Charles Moore found his life’s purpose in a nightmare. Unfortunately, he was awake at the time, and 800 miles north of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.

It happened on August 3, 1997, a lovely day, at least in the beginning: Sunny. Little wind. Water the color of sapphires. Moore and the crew of Alguita, his 50-foot aluminum-hulled catamaran, sliced through the sea.

Returning to Southern California from Hawaii after a sailing race, Moore had altered Alguita’s course, veering slightly north. He had the time and the curiosity to try a new route, one that would lead the vessel through the eastern corner of a 10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Pacific subtropical gyre. This was an odd stretch of ocean, a place most boats purposely avoided. For one thing, it was becalmed. “The doldrums,” sailors called it, and they steered clear. So did the ocean’s top predators: the tuna, sharks, and other large fish that required livelier waters, flush with prey. The gyre was more like a desert—a slow, deep, clockwise-swirling vortex of air and water caused by a mountain of high-pressure air that lingered above it.

The area’s reputation didn’t deter Moore. He had grown up in Long Beach, 40 miles south of L.A., with the Pacific literally in his front yard, and he possessed an impressive aquatic résumé: deckhand, able seaman, sailor, scuba diver, surfer, and finally captain. Moore had spent countless hours in the ocean, fascinated by its vast trove of secrets and terrors. He’d seen a lot of things out there, things that were glorious and grand; things that were ferocious and humbling. But he had never seen anything nearly as chilling as what lay ahead of him in the gyre.

It began with a line of plastic bags ghosting the surface, followed by an ugly tangle of junk: nets and ropes and bottles, motor-oil jugs and cracked bath toys, a mangled tarp. Tires. A traffic cone. Moore could not believe his eyes. Out here in this desolate place, the water was a stew of plastic crap. It was as though someone had taken the pristine seascape of his youth and swapped it for a landfill.

Read the rest of this Here