Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook [Paperback]

Sergei Boutenko (Author), Valya Boutenko (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 2008

Cookbooks need not—indeed, should not—involve cooking, say the authors of this authoritative, beautifully illustrated book. And they should know. Sergei and Vayla Boutenko bring fifteen years’ experience to this collection of scrumptious, sophisticated recipes and comprehensive guide to the raw life.

Fresh covers the whole range of recipes, including savory dishes, desserts, fermented foods, drinks, and wild foods. Techniques common to the recipes are introduced and clearly explained, including an inventory of uncommon fruits and how to handle and prepare them, as well as an immersion into the five basic flavors and the herbs, fruits, vegetables, and grains that help chefs bring out each flavor best. The authors introduce the three stages of adaptation to this lifestyle and provide a concise review of minimal equipment requirements and ideal appliance additions for the well-stocked raw kitchen.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Raw food makes us healthy, reverses aging, and improves our appearance, and now you are holding in your hands the proof of raw food's value in rearing exemplary youth. On every page of this book, the authors will surprise and delight you with fresh insights and deep understanding into the child-parent relationship. Their intelligence is vivid, their wisdom is astute, and their love for others is stupendous. Whether you are a parent or child, you will gain insight from this book.”
—Tonya Zavasta, author of Your Right to Be Beautiful and Quantum Eating

“Sergei and Valya share much wisdom and wit with sound nutritional guidance. They have been well taught and have a unique ability to share with others their perspective on the path to ultimate health.”
—Brigitte Mars, author of Rawsome!, Beauty by Nature, The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine, and Addiction Free—Naturally

“Valya's and Sergei's new book inspires and encourages people to explore, persevere, and also to be courageous and imaginative with their new way of eating. They offer helpful and practical guidance and recipes that provide a foundation for success and enjoyment on a raw vegan diet.”
—Vance M. Logan, MD

“Not only do Sergei and Valya prepare the most delicious raw foods, which is talent enough, but the clarity, wisdom, and insights they share about food and health are breathtaking. This book is a must-read for any aspiring health seeker-no question. What they teach now is unbelievably cutting-edge, and everyone should know it.”
—Karen Knowler, the Raw Food Coach

“The Boutenkos are so far ahead of their time in nutritional wisdom, but draw from the oldest and most simple, instinctive knowledge… The first quarter of [Fresh] is full of insight and information. The rest is comprised of recipes that are accessible and loosely written as to encourage experimentation.”
—Eco Mama’s Guide to Living Green

“Most of the recipes are quite simple and made with ingredients that are readily available… Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook is a really good place to start if you are interested in exploring the world of raw food.”
—Mindful Momma

“The compassion, presence and creativity one finds in Fresh will touch the lives of anyone who reads it, just as Sergei and Valya's love, clarity and maturity continue to impress and inspire in person.”
—VegFamily Magazine

“Fresh has many savory dishes, fermented foods, travel and survival foods, drinks, and desserts, plus an inventory of all the uncommon fruits you’ve wanted to eat, but didn’t know how to handle… You’ll find the special section that introduces foraging for wild edibles… and suggestions for ways to get kids involved in a raw kitchen.”
—Vegan Raw Ranch

About the Author

Sergei Boutenko and Vayla Boutenko are second-generation members of the Raw Family, among the foremost authorities on raw foods. With their father Igor and mother Victoria, the award-winning author of Green for Life, they have inspired raw food communities to form worldwide. They live in Ashland, OR.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books (April 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556437080
• ISBN-13: 978-1556437083
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

149 of 151 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous book, June 27, 2008

By 

Broox (Miami) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook (Paperback)

I have at least four other raw food cookbooks. The recipes in them always have a thousand ingredients and take forever to produce. I wind up not using them because of the exotic ingredients or the time it takes to make the food. Soaking, cutting, blending, juicing, dehydrating, all in one recipe usually!

This book uses simple, available ingredients and a minimum of time to prepare. I can usually prepare a dish from what's already in my house, which if you've used any other book, is usually impossible. Yes you might need to blend something and then dehydrate it, but you probably didn't have to soak it and juice it and hang it somewhere first.

The other thing I really like about the book is that if you use their recipes for salad dressings, for example, you are not just adding flavor, but you are also adding nutritional content. It's all very well thought-out. It's a lovely little book that I recommend to anyone who is interested in making simple, elegant raw food dishes that taste great.

95 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tasty & Easy, May 8, 2008

By 

Seeking Health "baker95" (CALIFORNIA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook (Paperback)

I purchased this book after trying 2 raw food cookbooks. They were very time consuming and needed expensive ingredients. This book is a breath of fresh air. The recipes are easy & tasty. I like that the ingredients are not expensive. These are recipes I can use daily.

77 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom Beyond their Years, June 23, 2008

By 

Laura Bruno "Laura" (North San Francisco Bay) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook (Paperback)

The precocious Boutenko duo is all grown up! Having co-authored Eating Without Heating: Favorite Recipes from Teens Who Love Raw Food during their teenage years, Sergei and Valya of the famous "Raw Family" now present wisdom from fifteen years of raw foodism.

Fresh includes "over 250 recipes from the Raw Family test-kitchen," both favorites from earlier Boutenko books, as well as new recipes using raw cacao, goji berries and wild edibles. They offer full color photographs of common "wild foods" like nettles, sheep sorrel, chickweed and purslane often belittled as "weeds" and show how such no-cost foods can supercharge salads and smoothies without breaking the bank. Readers who recall stories of the Boutenkos foraging for wild lettuce and berries on their Pacific Coast Trail hiking journey can now harvest some of nature's best superfoods at home. The book lists the twenty-three most toxic plants (excluding mushrooms) and encourages readers to be safe and learn how to identify them. Despite this warning, Fresh focuses on the abundance of nutritionally dense and beneficial plants available sometimes, quite literally, in our own backyard!

All recipes exclude meat, fish, eggs, and dairy, but some do contain honey. Vegans can easily substitute raw agave nectar or dates for the honey, though. In fact, Sergei writes an entire section on the importance of improvisation and customization. For those with gluten allergies, this book offers an almost gluten-free experience. A few recipes call for sprouted barley or rolled oats, but the vast majority are completely gluten-free, vegan and tasty!

Besides recipes, Fresh offers some of the best advice on how to thrive in mixed-diet relationships. Whether vegan, raw, vegetarian, carnivore or omnivore, you will find valuable tips on how to maintain your dietary preferences in a non-judging and non-threatening way. Valya, in particular, offers valuable insight into helping children choose and enjoy healthier foods. Given the epidemics of childhood obesity and childhood diabetes from which Sergei healed naturally this information provides hope and instruction to well-meaning parents dealing with "rebellious" eaters.

Because Sergei and Valya spent much of their childhood as raw foodists, they can offer insider advice from both angles that of instructors and that of children forced to embrace a new and unusual dietary regime. From them, we learn how they dealt with teasing, peer pressure and social services. With humor, gratitude, and wisdom beyond their years, they reveal a perspective that few, if any, others can share yet.

Chef Cherie Soria, founder and director of the Living Light Culinary Institute, where both Sergei and Valya have trained, provides a heartfelt forward. In Cherie's words,"Sergei and Valya shine as living examples of what is possible when we resolve to squeeze every drop of juice out of life." On a recent visit to Living Light, I repeatedly heard this idea validated by students, visitors and employees. The compassion, presence and creativity one finds in Fresh will touch the lives of anyone who reads it, just as Sergei and Valya's love, clarity and maturity continue to impress and inspire in person.


[This review, written by author Laura Bruno (If I Only Had a Brain Injury),first appeared on VegFamily's June 2008 Online Magazine.]