Living Raw Food: Get the Glow with More Recipes from Pure Food and Wine (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This follow-up to Raw Food/Real World offers 100 new recipes inspired by the New York City restaurant Pure Food and Wine, where Melngailis is a partner and executive chef. The restaurant is swanky and the book is irreverent (there's even a photo of the author smoking)—it's hardly a paean to an obsessively ascetic raw lifestyle. But the recipes are legit: at once sophisticated and rigorously raw, they range from quick and easy milks, juices and items from Pure Food and Wine's family meal (that's the staff meal, in non–restaurant speak) to intriguing dishes off the restaurant menu. Baby fennel and truffle-cream tarts; beet ravioli with pine nuts and goat cheese; pumpkin gnocchi with walnut cream sauce, spiced pumpkin seeds and crispy sage; and vanilla panna cotta with tarragon-peach sauce all have gourmet appeal well beyond those already committed to the raw food movement. And nonpreachy primers on ingredients and techniques used in raw preparations make the book accessible and usable for a wider audience than might typically go for a raw foods cookbook—if cookbook is even the right term for a volume of vegan recipes in which nothing is heated over 118 degrees Fahrenheit. (July)
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Review

"At once sophisticated and rigorously raw, [Melngailis' recipes] range from quick and easy milks, juices and items from Pure Food and Wine's "family meal".to intriguing dishes off the restaurant menu. And nonpreachy primers on ingredients and techniques used in raw preparations make the book accessible.for a wider audience." (Publishers Weekly )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks (June 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061458473
• ISBN-13: 978-0061458477
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,860 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #6 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Drinks & Beverages > Wine > Food & Wine
  #61 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Vegetables & Vegetarian > Vegan
  #69 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Natural Foods

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice but not for me, September 12, 2009

By	Evalina (Palma Sola, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this raw food recipe book based on the glowing reviews here. I had to return it. That's not to say that this beautiful book, authored by an equally beautiful and accomplished chef, is not a fine book. It is. It is just not for me. Why and why the 3 stars only? Here are my reasons:

First of all, although the recipes look amazing ~ creative, delicious, original ~ they are more for entertaining and entertaining 6 to 8, not at all practical for me, a single raw vegan who even if I did more entertaining or could convince my non-vegetarian family to try raw food, would only need servings of 4 or less. The large amount of ingredients, many exotic or not so easy to come by, was daunting to me. I already spend a fortune on my regular organic and raw foods. I just can't imagine keeping my fridge and pantry stocked with a lot of the required items for these recipes.

Secondly, and maybe the most annoying to me, is the extraordinary amount of photos of Selma, her staff, the restaurant, their store products. This really drives me nuts with so many of the popular raw food books out there now! And in this one there's even a picture of a restaurant staff person smoking a cigarette! That floored me! How inappropriate is that? Or is the message that smoking will give you "the glow" too?

Lastly, even though while I perused I did glean some helpful and interesting tidbits here and there, I thought much too much space was wasted on Selma's "philosophy" or on the most basic info about raw foods and its preparation. If one is advanced enough in raw food prep to prepare recipes at the level of this book, is it really necessary to dedicate so much space to such very basics? I'm not saying that this sort of infomation is not helpful or useful but it just seems to me that it is as superfluous as all the photos of Selma and crew. I would rather have more photos of the food, which by the way are wonderful.

Yes, the food photograghy is gorgeous and the book itself is beautiful, quality publishing. For those of you who really love this book, please don't get upset with my review. I acknowledge all your reasons for loving it. I just think maybe others like me will appreciate my counterpoint.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Amazing Book by Sarma!, July 10, 2009

By	L. Williams (Mesquite, NV) - See all my reviews

I just bought this book a few days ago and I love it. I know the other reveiws dont recommend it for newbies, but I am new to raw foods and I love it. If I'm going to eat mostly raw food I need recipes that taste good so I don't miss the cooked food I use to eat.
It does take planning and prep time, but I love the challenge and the amazing results. I may not get the same end result as she does in the photos, but it still tastes amazing.
It does have a lot of photos in it, but I like it and think it adds to the charm of the book giving it personality. She is beautiful and lets face it, who would want to buy a book or change to a lifestyle that makes you fat & sick looking? We all strive to look and feel our best and I think Sarma did an amazing job with her new book. I live in a small town where there are not many raw foodist, so I like seeing and reading other raw foodists thoughts and stories.
I have tried several recipes and love them all. I have also earmarked several more I can't wait to try.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sexy Raw Food, July 6, 2009

By	Stephanie S. (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

While this book is sort of a Sarma fashion portfolio, the food is amazing. I got my copy last week and made several recipes, all of which are very, very good. FYI this is a more "gourmet" book for those that like to be creative in the kitchen, but if you've got a love of food and want to eat the freshest way possible, this book is for you.

And the cocktail section is to die for. *hiccup*