Dining In The Raw
Celebrating the health benefits of raw foods, a noted chef and nutrition expert combines macrobiotic, vegan, allergy-free, and raw-food dietary programs in a guide that explains how raw foods can help control overeating, normalize weight, retard aging, and promote healing. Reprint.”
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars My favorite in my “raw” collection
I’ve got a fetish for uncook books, I have a half-dozen at least, and this is the one I use the most often. I like this book specifically BECAUSE it’s not neurotic about what’s TRULY RAW and what’s not. Some of the recipes are cooked. So if you are one of those people who thinks that A SINGLE BITE OF COOKED FOOD IS POISON and NO COOKED FOOD SHALL EVER PASS MY LIPS AGAIN, please, by all means, indulge your orthorexia with a more PURELY raw book. If, however, you are a rational human who realizes that a big increase in raw foods in your diet would be really healthy but a bite of cooked food won’t kill you, then this is marvelous. Romano gives information not only on raw foods, but vegan living, food combining, macrobiotic principles, etc. The recipes are all very simple– unlike, say, Juliano’s book, where you’d have a hard time finding most of the ingredients in ANY natural foods store (still, that one is sure fun to read and look at, so long as you don’t have any delusions of making any of the recipes).
I love this book.
5 Stars Best Cook Book for Healthy Eating
I know that this cook book is absolutely the best I have ever used for raw and vegatarian cuisine. I have taken quite a few of Ms. Romano’s cooking classes in Key West, FL and this cook book has all of those recipes and much more. The delicious and easy to follow step by step recipes make this book a MUST HAVE for anyone looking to lead a healthier lifestyle. I recommend this as a gift for anyone to give to someone they know who enjoys great tasting food - even if they are not a vegetarian. It has everything from salads and appetizers to the most luscious desserts. When you buy this book buy 2 - one for yourself and one for someone else. They will thank you for it again and again - I am positive.
2 Stars NOT for people transitioning to raw food..here’s why
Most of the raw recipes have about 5 ingredients, 1 of which is almost always Braggs Liquid Aminos. I’ve tried to like Braggs for seven years now and I just can’t. It’s nasty. The seasoned 100 percent raw fooder may find these palatable but to a newbie, most of the recipes will be bland AT BEST, gag worthy at worst. Like others say, there are a significant amount of cooked recipes in the book(the ones with tempeh are actually pretty good, if you’re into that) so I’d say overall this is more of a macro-biotic cookbook than a raw one. I haven’t used it in five years but now that I’ve been a raw foodist for two months, some of the recipes I wouldn’t even have considered before may appeal to me. For a transitioning raw foodie, I really reccommend Jennifer Cornbleet’s Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 people.
5 Stars ingeniously “combines the techniques of macrobiotic, vegan, allergy-free, and raw food disciplines”
I just recently ran across this 1992 publication in a local Borders and I nearly fell over when I read the subtitle: “Groundbreaking Natural Cuisine that Combines (you guessed it) the Techniques of Macrobiotic, Vegan…” FINALLY — a “cookbook” and nutritional study that catered to the constant flux of the human’s daily needs. I’ve been vegan for a few years now, and it’s only been recently that I’ve been willing to go through the challenge of giving up the last poisons available to someone on a vegan diet: sugar and refined, processed foods. Though I love Vegan Cupcakes and all of that, it’s time to get real. I’ve been non-stop studying BOTH raw foods and macrobiotics — and I feel like there’s a happy medium somewhere between the two philosophies, both of which I find incredibly convincing and beneficial in their own ways. I’ve been intent upon finding my own diet which includes both of these essentially vegan schools of thought, and I’ve found an ally in Rita Romano. I’m ecstatic this book fell into my hands and anyone that has the independence of mind to fashion their own diet, keeping in mind what’s best for their own body, must have this book.
2 Stars Not totally PC, okay quick recipes but bland…
I’m fairly new to the raw thing, but have been vegetarian for 15 years. Maybe I’m just used to the spiced up foods of my culture (Indian Subcontinent). I’ve eaten at a couple raw restaurants in LA, all delicious. Then I get this and another book, and the recipes are BLAND and nothing like the restaurants! I’m making the recipes anyway though, trying to stay healthy. I haven’t tried the stuff in the cooked section, since I got this book to try the RAW diet, and if I wanted cooked stuff, I can prepare my own probably much TASTIER recipes.
These recipes are easy and quick (after soaking times, of course). However, they are hard to find, weird ingredients that she asks for ALL over the book (like kuzu, filberts, and various types of seaweed). I DON’T recommend this book if you live in smaller cities where these ingredients will be hard to come by and you won’t be able to prepare MUCH of this book. I live in Los Angeles, and STILL can’t find some of these ingredients.
Also, I’m sure she doesn’t mean any harm, but my Asian partner was offended at her referring to how “the Orientals” eat, which is also strewn about the book. After bumping into that, he put it down and now wants nothing to do with this book. The author looks older and maybe a little out of it, but I think somebody should have filled her in that calling Asians “Orientals” is considered kind of derogatory today - especially depending on who it comes from. Besides, which “Orientals” is she talking about? Asia is huge, and all Asians DEFINITELY don’t eat the same stuff.
This book kind of reminds me of the bland vegan books I have by Joanne Stepaniak: “Vegan Vittles” and “Table for Two”. Those recipes are also really bland but fine to make at home, but embarrassing to make for a party or company.
Filed under: Raw Foods Diet Book Reviews
