Within the raw food discipline, there are many different paths to better eating. While you might initially equate a raw food regimen with a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, there are plenty of ways to keep eating different types of meats while staying true to a raw diet.
However, these practices tend to be the minority while getting more than their fair share of the attention. In the mad rush to show outsiders that a raw food diet is not as alien and strange as they might think it is, many raw foodies will go overboard with the meat recipes, adding cold smoked salmon to just about every dish in the hopes of appealing to those who might be frightened of a raw, meatless diet.
But truth be told, there are many more delicious food choices within a raw food diet, and a majority of them involve no meat at all. These plant based food recipes rely only on what can be grown and eaten raw, and as simple as that might sound, it can offer amazingly complex flavors and textures. And no, eating plant based recipes does not mean that all you are eating are salads.
A great example of an exciting raw plant based meal is a take on vegetarian sushi. To begin the meal, you might like to start with a light beverage that can be enjoyed with the meal. Rather than opting for traditional sake, you might consider lightly carbonated mint-infusion water. While the bottled stuff at the store can be quite pricey, you can make your own at home using fresh mint, ice water and an inexpensive home seltzer kit.
Traditional Japanese sushi is made with vinegar and rice, but the raw plant varieties are more of a sashimi style of presentation. Here, there is no rice, but just thinly sliced pieces of fish – or in this case, vegetables. You can create a very delicate and intricate plate of plant sashimi by thinly slicing fruits and veggies such as avocado and eggplant. Instead of using traditional soy sauce, you can use the raw variety found in many alternative grocery and health food stores, and of course, you can add some thinly sliced ginger to the plate for flavor. If you love the sinus-clearing kick of wasabi, you can make your own by grinding up fresh wasabi root. Try to avoid the premade pastes, many of which are not wasabi at all, but a mixture of horseradish, mustard, flavors and coloring agents.
For dessert with this fancy meal, you can create your own green tea iced dessert. While mass marketed green teas have already been dried and heated, you can find raw green tea leaves online or in some specialty grocery stores. Another option is to use matcha, which is a finely ground green tea powder made from sun-dried tea leaves. Either way, you can mix your green tea with frozen bananas in a food processor to create a fine but creamy dessert that will match the elegance of your main dish.
