Customer Reviews

Eating Without Heating: Favorite Recipes from Teens Who Love Raw Food

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book "Eating Without Heating", written by two
teens, displays wisdom beyond their years.
The book is magnificently illustrated with drawings by Valya.
"Eating Without Heating is a guide book to all things raw.
It is a treatise on the raw food philosophy. It is a cookbook.
It is a living testament to a family that bucked the school
establishment which tried to induce children to drink milk
and eat fast-food burgers for lunch. Their recipes are quite
a bit more sophisticated than just sliced cucumbers with dill
sauce. One example is an entire chapter on fermenting foods.
Sergei and Valya simply soak one cup of nuts in water overnight
and blend the resulting product in a blender until it is
smooth like heavy cream. They strain the mixture through
a sprout bag, pour into a jar, cover with cheesecloth,
and set in a warm place where the magic transfer of gases
and air through the mixture produces a tart yogurt-like
food. Try this with cashews and chopped mango.

They produce unique cheeses with the same method as
above. I'll soon be trying their sauerkraut and kim chee
recipes. I salivate at the thought of producing my own.

I've tasted raw breads, but have only wondered at the
mastery of culinary skills necessary to create such miracles.
From sprouted raw flax bread with kamut and walnuts to
chili corn chips, the Boutenko children make it all
seem simple, in easy-to-follow recipes. If you love
sourdough bread, you've got to try their recipe which
employs raw almond pulp with flax and caraway seeds.

These kids have timing! They save the best for last,
cookies, ice creams, and cakes. With secrets learned
from their mother (sprinkle coconut or nuts so that
the cake does not stick to the pan), and photographs
that tempt and delight (walnut cream cake, un-chocolate
cake, un-cheesecake, and many others), these recipes
are what one would expect to be served at the gates
of Valhalla. Try the Macadamia Date Pie or the
amazing Coconut-Date Truffles.

I've been eating a raw vegetarian diet for
the past 5 years and I've added many raw
recipe books to my library. "Eating Without
Heating" is in my top 5. It has everything
you need in a recipe book.

The book begins by drawing the reader in
with the author's personal stories of raw
foods. They both healed themselves of
disease simply by adopting a raw foods diet.
Valya had a bad case of asthma and Sergei
had a bad case of diabetes. After adopting
a raw vegetarian diet, there is no trace of
disease and they are perfectly healthy. At
age 17, Sergei is now in his third year of
college! These kids are a great inspiration!

The recipe section of the book starts with
beautiful full color glossy photographs of
the authors, their parents, and the various
recipes. The food photos are amazing, they
have a wedding cake, chocolate truffles, raw
vegan deviled "eggs", buckwheaties cereal
with almond milk, pizza, borscht, cranberry
sauce, and more.

After the photographs is an excellent description
about how to prepare generic gourmet recipes.
You'll learn how to balance the various tastes in
a recipe using different foods, herbs, and
seasonings. These instructions alone are worth the
price of the book because they allow you to be
creative and start making your very own recipes. I
refer to this section of the book quite often.

This book is perfect for experienced raw gourmet
chefs, as well as those new to preparing food.
These recipes are simple to prepare and anyone can
do it, even if your idea of preparing food is
throwing a veggie burger in the microwave!

"Eating Without Heating" covers all the bases. You
will discover how to prepare juices, smoothies,
soups, salad dressings, sauces, dips, pate, nori
"sushi" rolls, crackers, breads, appetizers, entrees,
cakes, pies, cookies, ice cream, french fries and
catsup, spagetti, pesto sauce, salsa, pudding, trail
mix, and much more.

My favorite recipes are in the "Fermented Foods"
chapter. You'll discover how to make raw vegan yogurt,
cheese, pickles, relish, sauerkraut, and more. These
foods have become a staple in my diet and I couldn't
imagine living without them!

I highly recommend "Eating Without Heating". Many of
the recipe books I have own are too complicated, they
use hard to find ingredients, and they take hours to
prepare. In "Eating Without Heating", you'll find easy
recipes with common ingredients found in every grocery
store. The recipes are simple, and the food tastes like
it was made by a professional gourmet chef. You'll love
this book, I guarantee it!

Great book, small, but jam packed with easy to make and delicious recipes. There are at least a hundred, covering a complete range of topics: from salads and soups, to drinks, bread, crackers, ice cream, pies and more, divided in handy chapters. Some recipes require a dehydrator or juicer (which I don't own), but you can make most of them with a kitchen machine or by hand. I use a simple hand blender & chopper.
This book is not a fancy (un)cookbook by the way (read: thick, with glossy pictures and complex recipes) so if that's what you want (because we all love to drool over beautiful cookbooks, right?), this may not be what you're looking for. Except for some pictures (and -very inspirational- notes by the Boutenko kids) in the beginning, the rest of the book solely contains short recipes without photos. It's a very simple book, nothing fancy at all. But I think therein lies it's power: its practicality. I have two more books which are quite fancy, but for food prep inspiration I always grab this one. If I think: 'pie', I just look up the chapter, gloss over it and immediately get ideas to make my own version.
I'll be spending a year abroad soon and this is the raw food book I'd take along with me together with my hand blender & chopper.
If I had to describe this book in four words: small, simple, delicious and complete! I love it!

This isn't just a recipe book. Sergei and Valya tell us how eating raw foods changed their lives dramatically. It's an interesting read for teens because the authors provide motivation to adopt raw foods in ways that teens can relate to. Also, parents are given advise about how to make it easier for their kids to eat raw foods.

Lots of yummy pictures of raw foods, including un-chocolate cake and live pizza!

There are 18 chapters of tasty, easy to prepare recipes. Each chapter starts out with helpful information about preparing the type of food in that section. For example, before the 14 delightful soups in the soup chapter, we're advised "If you want to make a vegetable soup, start by blending oil or avacado with some juicy veggie or fruit, then add spices and texture". This is only part of the info which will make readers confident to attempt these recipes, or create their own raw foods.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who would like to know more about eating raw foods, or for those who have been eating raw foods and want more variety.

I thought that the forward by the authors was delightful and heartfelt. I hope that they are able to reach teens around the world with their message of how raw foods can change your body, mind and life. Most recipes are easy to prepare, and the ones that I have tried so far are tasty. One thing that I would have liked to have seen was a description of what one needs to prepare the kitchen for raw food preparation. For example; I had NO idea what a Vita-mixer was, or what to look for in a dehydrator or juicer. These items are must-haves in a "raw" kitchen. Other than that, it's a good book to have.

When I first reviewed "Eating Without Heating" for VegFamily.com, I focused primarily on Sergei and Valya Boutenko's recipes--particularly their exquisite and haunting pecan pate. I stand by my original review, which highly recommends this book to anyone interested in including more raw fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds in their diet.

Not only do the Boutenko's provide countless tasty recipes, many of which fared well at my Christmas feast, but they also list a number of "generic" recipes with suggested categories of ingredients. They encourage readers to become independent raw gourmet chefs who experiment with tastes until hitting upon the proper combination of five essential flavors. Their lists of representative foods from these five flavor categories have saved many a raw food recipe minus one ingredient. With the Boutenko's "formula" it's easy to find a replacement flavor from whatever you have on hand.

Perusing the book again in order to write this review, it strikes me that the Boutenko's put as much effort into the presentation of "Eating Without Heating" as they evidently do in their food preparation. The book contains full color photos of raw cakes gloriously decorated with flowers, nuts and fruit. Valya illustrates many of the pages by hand, leaving us would-be chefs charmed in a way reminiscent of Molly Katzen's classic Moosewood Cookbook. The text, photos and illustrations emanate the creativity and love that seems to permeate all layers of these precocious teens' lives.

Even if you do not want to become a raw foodist, you will come away from this book with a greater appreciation of how beautiful and nourishing food can be. Most of the recipes are so easy to prepare that they take the mystery and angst out of "raw gourmet." What's left is fun, tasty and nutritious all at once.

I bought this book as a birthday gift for my Dad who had high blood pressure until he started eating more salads. I thought that a new recipe book would encourage him to stay on his diet by giving him new ways to fix heathly foods so that he wouldn't get bored with salads. And I bought it because I thought that a book written by teens would seem less intimidating to him than a book written by an adult. I was really impressed with the book, I liked the way that it explained the basic way to make recipes at the start of the recipe sections and also the chapter on the basics of how to season food. My Dad liked the book, and the next time they came to see me, my parents brought me some Young Coconut Dream Cake, YUM!

I already own a number of uncookbooks, so I borrowed this one from a friend. Will I buy it? Well...

- the testimonials are light-hearted and inspirational, geared toward teens. I enjoy the passion. My only concern is the level of promise implied... to read these stories is to think that raw food will work major miracles in my life not only on the physical level but also on the mental and emotional levels. (Raw foods certainly do provide a great deal of benefit, but the promises here seemed almost utopian.)

- the pictures are inviting... I want to make more of these recipes, because they look so good

- the notes on balancing the 5 tastes are instructive, though I have the same instructions in The Complete Book of Raw Food. That book also has more information on sprouting, juicing, gadgets, and additional resources

- the recipes are light, simple, and tasty. These kids are great uncookers, who seem to realize that many of us don't have time for gourmet cooking (though our tastebuds still have high standards)

- gosh, it has chapters on candies, cookies, puddings, and ice creams? ? Whoa, Bessie...

Anyway, it's time to return the book to my friend, and though the philosophy is a little overboard and the tools/techniques are a little underboard (?), I just have to get this book. Any uncookbook that makes cabbage salad taste as good as the one I just finished up while writing this is worth owning. Besides, the book is less than the price of three cabbages...three pricey organic cabbages, that is.

I am trying to get my young teen to eat more raw food. Salad is out of the question for her! I gave her this book and she now seems somewhat interested in both the motivation to eat raw and a few of the recipes in the book. I've made a couple of the recipes and they are delicious. This is an accessible book for kids and adults. The approach seems genuine and practical. It won't be your only raw foods book, nor was it intended to be. It is a nice addition to a raw foods library and a great way to motivate older kids to eat more healthful food.

This book gets the living foods award of Two Forks Up!
Written with the honesty and aliveness of today's youth, Eating Without Heating, is filled with simple recipes that will inspire and guide the transitioning rawfooder and please the palate of the gourmet living foods chef. Sergei and Valya offer their story and wisdom to inspire people of all ages to join this lifestyle of health, simplicity and vitality.