Customer Reviews

Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.]

I'm not really the audience for this book. I picked it up on a lark because, honestly, I was curious and I'm always on the lookout for quick recipes that don't require cooking. Additionally, I love smoothies and the description indicated that there was a big section full of these types of drinks.

Fresh is interesting, especially in the beginning where the authors discuss the lifestyle and their own experiences with it. I'm a tad cynical that eating this way will automatically solve all of your health woes like the authors seem to hint at, but I can definitely see the benefit of eating fresh, non-processed foods.

Here's the thing. If you are going to follow this lifestyle and get the most from this book you need three things:

1) A dehydrator
2) Access to exotic fruits and items
3) Determination

My biggest problem with the book is that all of the recipes seemed to be less a recipe and more of a guide. The actual instructions are usually no more than a sentence or three that involves "Blend ingredients. Serve" or "Dehydrate ingredients. Serve." Sometimes, they're more complicated: "Blend ingredients. Dehydrate ingredients. Serve." I'm being a tad facetious but mostly not.

In the middle of the book there's a few pictures of items. One in particular looked divine: a chocolate dessert. It provided the page number and I was shocked when the instructions were simply to blend and serve. Wait a minute, I thought to myself, the picture is of little bit-sized candies with a little strip of chocolate on them...there has to be more to the instructions than that. But there wasn't. Blend and serve. Right.

Additionally, the smoothies consisted of mixing together whatever fruits you have available, adding lettuce and blending. Voila. A lot of the ingredients mentioned (like Dragon Fruit, for instance) I can't get at my local grocery store, so it helps to be in areas where fresh fruit of this nature are readily available. I did appreciate the little section towards the end that showed how to get the fruit out of its shell and what to look for.

In the end, Fresh didn't really make me want to start eating more fresh/raw items. For those ingrained in this lifestyle, Fresh is probably a very good guide. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a recipe book as some of the recipes aren't exactly complete and require some creativity. But for someone looking for a guide and a good place to start, grab a blender, a dehydrator and go to town.

It is a bold move to include words like "ultimate" in the title of a non-fiction book of any kind. On first look, I was disappointed by the seeming simplicity of the recipes, but after 6 months of ownership, this is the raw foods un-cookbook that I come back to on a daily basis for quick, tasty eats and "weekday" meals. I believe that is definitely one of the "ultimate" in accessible raw food recipes for a few reasons, the first being that the ingredients may be obtained at any well-stocked market. That is great when you are on a budget! Second, the recipes are quick and are only time-consuming if "dehydrate" is part of directions. Third, raw foods is about playing with ingredients and taste! We all have different taste buds and I have grown to really like the fact that the authors purposefully stay away from exact amounts in the recipes. It leaves one free to play with different combos while having nice guidelines to guide the overall flavor of the dishes. Because of this collection of recipes, I am now able to combine my own raw foods dishes based on the flavor teachings of the authors. All of the recipes that I have tried (and re-tried!) have been delicious and satisfying. I am especially fond of the russian carrot salad, gorilla burgers, chocolate pudding, and a variety of bar cookies.

This was my first raw food cookbook I purchased. It had a good introduction and I liked the personal stories of the authors. Some of the recipes were great and others were not so good for a first time raw cooker (who had eaten cooked food for 28 years). Some of the recipe require an acquired taste. But overall, I got some good ideas from this book.

Brother and sister Sergei and Valya Boutenko of the "Raw Food Family" have been living on a diet of raw foods from age nine and eight respectively. Their personal story and reason for starting a raw food diet in childhood is explained in the first chapter. We hear their story of healing from disease, as well as the similar story of both of their parents. Formerly they published a raw food cookbook called EATING WITHOUT HEATING and their story was also told in the book RAW FAMILY.

Writing in an uplifting and inspirational manner, the first 55 pages of text l in the beginning of the book left me wanting to dive in and convert to eating a raw diet. I'm not on a raw food diet at present, but have been curious about the raw food diet and its claimed benefits. I learned I was formerly misinformed that those on a raw diet live on almost all smoothies.

I have been eating slow food for years with high quality ingredients (before I knew there was a term for it other than "home cooked meal") and also understand and appreciate the higher quality of organic foods and fresh produce, and I've gardened organically for almost fifteen years.

I also read the book because I'm sick of the `same old, same old' vegetable side dishes, vegetable soups and the boring steamed veggies. I am sick of eating fruit only raw from hand to mouth. I'm tired of plain old garden salads and the same boring salad dressings (even homemade ones). Although at this point I have not converted to a raw food diet, I'm using the book to infuse new vegetable and fruit dishes and non-meat sources of protein into my diet. I was looking for recipes with more complex flavors and new uses for familiar vegetables as well as delicious recipes for vegetables that heretofore I considered inedible (some greens and some mysterious vegetables).

Besides telling their story and providing over 250 recipes, the book gives advice on the bare minimum of kitchen equipment and small appliances that are necessary to create these recipes. Also included (to my surprise) is a chapter on foraging plants from the wild (wild crafting) including eating what we usually consider to be lawn and garden weeds (dandelion, purslane, chickweed and clover to name a few). The authors convince us of the nutritional benefits of those wild plants not found in grocery or even health food stores.

Two challenges of a raw food diet are having snack foods available when one gets hungry and eating raw while traveling. The authors write at length about a strategy to supply oneself with foods that can travel well when away from home as well as when away for overnight trips. Plans and ideas for foods that can legally travel outside the country and shopping strategies once you arrive at your destination are included.

The last and possibly largest challenge one faces when eating a raw diet (or any restricted diet for that matter) is criticism from others such as family or friends. There is wise advice given about how to talk to people about their choice to be on a raw diet and how to handle pressure from others to eat non-raw foods while in their company. This advice is helpful to anyone on any special diet of any kind. Having lived with dietary restrictions due to my children's food allergies I can attest that this advice is very good and it does work as I've used these same tactics in the past.

The wise and practical advice about naysayers, snacks and travel are probably enough to justify the purchase of the book!

To summarize the content the book covers recipes for these types of dishes: savory foods, desserts, drinks including smoothies, marinated and fermented foods, travel foods and wild edibles. A section of color photographs includes images of fancy finished dishes, rare fruits and vegetables more common in other countries and images of wild edibles not commonly eaten by modern day Americans.

I feel this book answered my questions about a raw diet. It was inspirational and it is tempting me to try a raw food challenge (such as the popular 100 day raw food challenges). For now I plan to use the recipes in this book for some new recipes for meals, side dishes, smoothies and even to try some of the recipes to finally use the food dehydrator that I already own.

I can only imagine that people already on a raw food diet would like this book to have some new recipes, practical advice and information about adding wild edibles to their diet.

Because most of these recipes do not use wheat product, and none use dairy products these recipes can also be of interest to anyone on a diet restricting wheat, gluten and cow's milk (dairy).

You better have some free time when you pick up this book, because it's hard to put it down. Just like their mother, Victoria Boutenko, Sergei and Valya have a way with words. Both talk about their journey to raw foods, and tell the story of how they were able to reverse life threatening medical problems and go on to thrive. They discuss challenges like how to eat raw while traveling, how to get children interested, and maintain a healthy diet in a world where that's not always so easy.

The Boutenkos are so far ahead of their time in nutritional wisdom, but draw from the oldest and most simple, instinctive knowledge. Once they point to it, it's as plain as day and you wonder, how did we ever get so far away from this?

The first quarter of the book is full of insight and information. The rest is comprised of recipes that are accessible and loosely written as to encourage experimentation. At one point they talk about how odd it is that we even need recipes with measurements to consume raw foods. How is it we are the only species who don't know instinctively how and what to eat?

This book is thought provoking and filled with great ideas for yummy food. There are some beautiful photos, but not that many. Normally I like my cookbooks to have a photo accompanying each recipe, but this book is so rich that it didn't bother me. Maybe the Boutenkos will one day do a hardcover traditional photo laden (un)cookbook? I look forward to more from this knowledgeable, inspiring family!

Great "cook" book with very simple yet delicious recipes. Uses everyday ingredients and gives great insight into fresh, raw foods.

I've always been interested in the concept of a raw food diet, but I've also been skeptical. For me, the difficulty of maintaining this diet plus the cost of the foods you can eat PLUS the cost of equipment you need to properly make the food compared to normal kitchen utensils PLUS the 8-12 hour timespan it takes to make the meals outweighed a lot of the benefits. Still I was very interested in reading this book and perhaps finding the answers to the above drawbacks.

I have to warn you now that the answers were basically, "suck it up and deal," albeit it in a nicer tone. In fact the tone of the book is quite possibly the best aspect of it. Sergei and Valya realize that most raw foodists, themselves included, come off preachy or almost fanatical about their views on eating. They do touch on this and point out that this is not how raw foodists should carry themselves and they apologize for ever sounding condescending to those that don't implement the raw food diet. They take nearly half the book discussing why their family went raw, how it has helped them and ways to do the whole raw food lifestyle.

As mentioned earlier, raw food dishes can take a lot of time to cook. Eight to twelve hours is neither unheard of nor uncommon. For the average person, the time alone is offputting. Who has that kind of time, right? Well, much of that time is spent with food in a dehydrator or cooking at very low levels (nothing hotter than 104 degrees F). Thankfully the Boutenkos realize this and also provide the reader with 250 recipes they can do, ranging from the half day of cooking time to only a few minutes. This means anyone who picks up this book can at least try a few raw food recipes without plunking down $500 for a high quality juicer or food dehydrator.

Raw food meals are delicious but the time and cost may be prohibitive to the average consumer. Factor in that the health benefits of going purely raw compared to a normal healthy diet, veganism, vegetarianism, etc., are not actually proven and FRESH may be a hard sell to the "common man." This 200 page cookbook does however give someone new to raw food the best introduction and insights into this lifestyle choice that I've seen so far. It's informative, educational, and there's a great list of ingredients you probably haven't tried before like stinging nettles and dandelions along with a list of those pricey kitchen appliance you'll need to make the RAW diet work.

For a person who is constantly on the move like myself, a raw diet isn't feasible and the Boutenkos say as much in this book. For it's still a great idea and something that everyone should at least try a meal or two from, if only to expand your horizons.