Customer Reviews

Everyday Raw

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

And this is what other people actually do?

You should know: you will need a Vitamix for most of the recipes and a dehydrator for a good chunk. For those recipes that you will need a vitamix for you could probably substitute a regular blender- mine usually works pretty well- but not for everything (goji berries, for example, don't blitz that well at regular speeds). For those recipes that require a dehydrator, you're going to need to plan ahead as many of the recipes would have you dehydrate for a day or more- seriously. These are not things that you're going to be inspired to make and eat quickly. For me, that's a big part of my everyday life.

I will say that the smoothie, salad, sauce and soup sections had recipes that 1) didn't require a lot of dehydration and 2) were relatively quick to prepare. But that's not what I'm going to eat those exclusively on a regular basis. Also, I agree with another reviewer: some of these recipes will be ridiculously expensive to prepare, particularly the Maca-Cacao Truffles. Two cups of Maca? Really???

There are some interesting flavor combinations, but it's very much a jumping off point. I wouldn't even use this as a starter uncookbook- just for the occasional inspiration (and there are better sources for those).

Matthew Kenney is a raw food culinary genious. This book is fantastic! I have made a few recipes already and am completely impressed. The raw chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookies are fabulous raw, I'm waiting for them in my dehydrator now....

I hope Matthew will continue to produce such great recipes and that he will share them with us in another cook book.

My only complaint is that on page 134, the ice cream cones have the directions for the recipe above them. The ingredients are correct, just not the directions. I called the publisher and she emailed me the correct instructions within 24 hours. I just printed it off and taped it in my book over the incorrect instructions. I'm excited to try them too.

This is my first official review. I was moved to write it after owning my copy of Everyday Raw for only a week. I have moved through each chapter, trying my hand at many of the innovative and simple to prepare recipes. I have many (really...many) Raw food books but this one just blows me away. Each dish is unique, flavorful and delicious. I could never have believed - raw tofu scramble, chili & blueberry pancakes? Genius. This book will not disappoint.

Thank you Mathew Kenny for bring something new and wonderful to the world of Raw food.

I just received this in the mail this week. What an amazing book. I have only tried a few of the recipes but can't wait to dive in and try them all! The instructions are clear; there are many many creative ideas that I would not have thought to do, seeing as he is a Chef, he has the aesthetics and taste profile to pull these off. Don't be discouraged: the recipes are a great mix of those which need gadgets and those that don't. It has full color photographs throughout and really shows the food with a sense of vibrancy. There is a Pumpkin Pie with Thyme on p118 that will make an appearance at *my* Thanksgiving table this year! And the Super Goji-Cacao-Maca Bars make a great hiking snack. Buy it! You will not be sorry!

It's all about the food.

That is the main thing I like about this book, it's all about the food. There are no lengthy chapters on the raw lifestyle and no pages full of pictures of the author in various settings looking pretty, it's just all about the food, pure and simple.
Like the title says, this is raw food for everyday. Most of the recipes are very easy to prepare and straightforward and do not have unnecessary or obscure ingredients thrown in. Which I like since it doesn't take forever to prepare them.

And the taste............just amazing. Some recipes I cannot even imagine how he came up with them. I mean raw potato salad and a raw chili that is out of this world.

This book really pushes Matthew Kenney to the front of the pack in the raw food community. Nobody comes close to him. I also like the way the book is laid out with large bold print and the beautiful photos of the food. It is extremely well done. Like others though I hope they fix the recipe for the ice cream cones since the photo of that was one of the first to 'wow' me.

In my opinion, this is the best raw food cookbook to ever be released.

Aloha!
I just wanted to share an easy method for opening young coconuts...no machete required!
There is a "T" shaped metal tool, which comes to a point. I bought mine at the health food store... look around!
It can be used to pop off the green leaves atop the coconut. Underneath is the soft, white "plug". Dig the tool into the center; twirl it in a circle to cut the plug; then pop it out and pour the juice into a large container.
The shell can be cracked in half with a few hearty throws onto a concrete sidewalk or driveway. Scoop out the soft meat and add to your smoothie.
I use the half-shells like mulch in the garden, to prohibit weeds. When the shells are good and dry, they can be added to your campfire.

This is a great raw foods book! Ice Cream Cones on page 134 has a duplicate set of instruction from another recipe repeated, and so here's the fix for that errata. The recipe directions were sent to me by Gibbs Smith Publishers:


Blend all ingredients in Vita-Mix until smooth. Spread thinly into 5 to
6-inch rounds on dehydrator Teflex sheets. Dehydrate 5¬6 hours until dry but very pliable. Remove from Teflex sheets and shape each round into cones; press edges together. If needed, use paper clips to secure the edges. Place cones on dehydrator screens and dehydrate for 24 more hours until crisp.