RAWvolution: Gourmet Living Cuisine (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Following a vegan, raw foods diet does not mean you have to give up your favorite delicacies or condemn yourself to a life of celery and carrot sticks. As renowned raw foods chef Matt Amsden reveals in this vibrant, inspiring book, raw cuisine represents the discovery and innovative use of luscious natural ingredients. From imaginative new dishes such as cactus salad, onion bread, and spirulina pie, to tantalizing variations on everything from pizza, tacos, and cookies, to the signature "Big Matt with Cheese," Amsden's mouthwatering recipes feature soups, sauces, salads, appetizers, entrees, and even desserts.

More than a cookbook, RAWvolution is the indispensable, all-inclusive guide to the many powerful benefits of raw food. Beginning with his personal account of "How I Went Raw," Amsden shares essential advice, information, and encouragement for adopting a raw foods lifestyle. His delectable recipes are organized by type, level of difficulty, and what equipment, if any, is necessary in their creation. Accessible to both beginners and experienced cooks, RAWvolution addresses everyone from vegetarians who want to take the next step in natural cuisine, to those who simply want to diversify and improve their everyday diet.

There has never been a more important time to incorporate raw foods into your lifestyle. Raw, vegan cuisine is making news daily, providing healthy and nutritious alternatives that are changing lives. Best of all, raw food can be delicious. There is no need to sacrifice flavor for bland and boring "health" food. Enliven your senses and taste buds instead with rich, living cuisine.

About the Author

Matt Amsden has quickly established himself as one of the premier raw food chefs in south-ern California and the world. Matt's company, RAWvolution, is the first of its kind, delivering gourmet raw food meals throughout the United States. Originally from Ontario, Canada, Matt began eating a diet of 100 percent raw foods virtually overnight after hearing an interview with author/lecturer David Wolfe on the Howard Stern Show. Matt's desire to learn more about raw food preparation led him to Santa Monica, California, the heart of the raw food movement, where he soon began to share his talent with hundreds of people, including celebrities such as Margaret Cho, Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, and Alicia Silverstone.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (July 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060843187
• ISBN-13: 978-0060843182
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,211 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best raw foodbook for the novice, July 22, 2006

By	Hardenberg (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

I have been eating raw food for only about 1.5 months. I came across this book after the first month, and even though I already had quite a number of raw "cook"books to work with, this one has emerged as my clear favorite, at least for this transitional period. Many of the other books seem geared only toward people who have fully adapted to a raw lifestyle -- even if they explain the principles for the newcomer, the food is often not exciting to the "raw palate in training" -- it's usually palatable, but just not exciting. This book has convinced me that I can stay with the raw diet for the long haul, because the food is really delicious. And the procedures are simple and generally quite quick to execute. For my first foray into the book, I made the mock tuna salad which I served on the famous onion bread. Both recipes worked perfectly and tasted absolutely wonderful. They will be staples for sure. This book, along with Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko, are the 2 that will light my way into the raw vegan diet -- which has already produced remarkable benefits for me in terms of weight loss, energy, and positive mood. I'm grateful to Matt Amsden for sharing his creative and delicious cuisine.

83 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and Beautiful, but......, June 2, 2007

By	tShine "Chief, Cook, & Bottle Washer" (CO United States) - See all my reviews

First off....this book is a beautiful book. I will also say that it is inspiring. Seeing the gorgeous photographs of the recipes makes you realize raw foods are more than lettuce salads. For the pics, and inspiration, I would recommend the book.

Here's the "but". Many of the the recipes were not to my taste.....either tooooooo salty, toooooo oily, tooooooo much, as in overkill, on some of the spices. Don't get me wrong, I do love flavorful food...and when you're preparing raw foods alot of the volume/amounts of liquids, oils, spices depends on the main ingredients as to how much you will need to add. Just be aware of this if you follow the recipes in this book exactly as written....taste test as you can in the process.

[...].

If this is NOT your ONLY raw, living food (un)cook book, get it. BUT, don't let this be your only or your first. Not all of the recipes in this book "suck"; however, I would recommend any of the following books for the recipes before your purchase Rawvolution:

Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People, Jennifer Cornbleet
The Raw Gourmet, Nomi Shannon
Ani's Raw Kitchen, Ani Phyo
Living on Live Foods, Alissa Cohen

From my perspective, any of those will give you a better start to raw, living foods. Also, you'll get an understanding of what ingredients are good for crunchy or creamy, and options for sweetening, thickening and thinning so you can begin to create your very own fantastic recipes.

Juliano Brotman's RAW book is also very pretty and inspiring.....but there are definitely errors in several of the recipes.

Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to experiment....and do enjoy the renewed health and vitality that you are sure to experience by, at the very least, adding more "raw food" to your diet.

Bon Apetit

52 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save your money, August 18, 2007

By	Lisa Graham (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This cookbook was a huge disappointment. First of all, the directions were severely lacking - for example, recipes may call for nuts, but do not indicate whether they should be soaked or unsoaked, which can really change the ultimate outcome of the recipe, as well as greatly alter the volume of the ingredient that is needed. Second of all, I found all recipes to be completely uninspired and lacking in culinary creativity. Sure, any dessert will taste good if you slather it in agave nectar, but that is about as tasty as this one gets. Mr. Amsden is not a chef. Proof of this shows through in his recipes for all entrees and sides, as he relys mostly on nama shoyu soy sauce and garlic to try to make his foods palatable. As a result, foods are salty and pungent, yet lacking real flavor. At the end of the book is Mr. Amsden's real reason for publishing this book - to promote his cafe and food delivery service. Again, save your money - I thought maybe I had screwed up the recipes and decided to check out how they are supposed to be prepared. I hadn't screwed up. They are just really bad. It seems like the true purpose of this book was just to make a quick buck for the author, since the recipes reflect a lack of understanding in raw food preparation. Save your money and instead spend it on "Raw Food Made Easy" by Jennifer Cornbleet - a much better choice for the raw food cook.