Most Helpful Customer Reviews
293 of 306 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tools, Skills, Time Required, May 2, 2008
This review is from: Everyday Raw (Paperback)
Good recipes but some unconventional ingredients and tools are needed.
1. Coconut Meat + Ability to Cut Coconuts (required for many smoothies)
2. Blue green algae, agave, acai, ginger, goji berries, cacao nibs, tocotrienols, hemp protein, mesquite pod meal, maple powder, ancho chile powder, shoyu, lecithin (for nut milk drinks)
3. Soaked nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, macadamia, etc)
4. Tools: Dehydrator, Juicer (especially for vegetables such as cucumbers, carrots, and ginger), Strong Blender (author uses Vita Mix)
There are very few recipes which do not require these ingredients and tools.
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78 of 79 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not for those on a budget, May 16, 2008
This review is from: Everyday Raw (Paperback)
I was very excited to get this book after owning RAW FOOD REAL WORLD.
While I was struck by some original recipes, I found myself a bit dissapointed. Overall I thought as if the book lacked a certain polish I expected. The food photos are ok (and a few confusing, sesame cashew dumplings- why is there another plate of untitled food in this photo?), the interior page colors were harsh, one recipe is not complete in the book (ice cream cone), several recipes were rehashed from RFRW, and I even found a exact quote about mangos from RWRF in this book again.
This is definitley not for those on a limited budget.
There are many out of the ordinary ingredients and large amounts used(some not completely raw either).
Prepare to use a lot of coconut meat, cashews and dehydration (one cracker recipe calls for 2-3 days of dehydration).
Good points - the price of the book, originality and taste of recipes -some simply wonderful(although he does hint they are not all his creations), lack of filler info (which is a major plus). Its straight up recipes. The font makes the recipes and ingredients easy to read. Most are also easy enough to make for everday(minus those needing dehydration).
I own several raw recipe books, and while this is in my top ten its not my absolute favorite. I do appreciate having a fresh new recipe book though and its good to see Matthew back on the scene, so maybe it will grow on me.
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81 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Starter Book for Raw Food, but not 100% Raw, May 13, 2008
This review is from: Everyday Raw (Paperback)
I received this book a few days ago and looked forward to making many of the recipes. I love gourmet raw food but don't have much time to prepare it, so this book seemed like a great idea.
So far, I have made the Triple C smoothie, the tortilla chips, the white grape and tomatillo gazpacho, and a variation of the fennel and orange salad. The items have all tasted good. If I had had every single ingredient on hand, they likely would have tasted excellent, but the reason I give only 4 stars is because some ingredients are not the most commonly available in a raw food kitchen. I am a raw foodist, so the ingredients I'm missing tend to be things like nutritional yeast, white pepper, chili powder, and maple syrup--all non-raw items. The recipes tasted fine without these ingredients, and I improvised with ones I had on hand, but some hard core raw foodists might take issue with the frequent use of non-raw items.
I appreciate that this book makes raw food accessible to less hard core raw foodists, though. Most vegan kitchens would contain at least maple syrup, nutritional yeast and chili powder. The only other reason for the 4-star instead of 5-star rating is that some of the recipes still take a long time to prepare. I spent about an hour and a 1/2 in the kitchen yesterday, not counting 24 hours of dehydrating time for the tortilla chips. It's faster and tastier than many raw food books but definitely not near-instantaneous food prep unless you just happen to have all the ingredients pre-chopped and on-hand.
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