Begin the Year Raw

Looking for a new year's resolution for healthy eating? Why don't you consider going raw vegan. I have had the pleasure of catching up during the holidays with a dear friend who went raw vegan and learned a lot about this diet.

The premise is you eat healthy by not only skipping animal products but also keeping the essence of all non animal products by eating them raw, dehydrated, or cooked at a temperature below 115 degrees F. 

The meals can be large bowls of salads or you can get real sophisticated and let your imagination go wild. Some raw vegan twists of dishes we know include:

• Shredded zucchini instead of pasta, with blended tomatoes, onions and mushrooms as sauce over it
• Humus with zucchini instead of chick peas - simply use a food processor to blend zucchini slices with the rest of the ingredients to make humus
• Baba Ghanouj where eggplants are sliced thin and frozen overnight, thawed and having the water squeezed out of them to become a similar texture to grilled eggplants used in this dish

Raw vegans can also enjoy a variety of restaurant options, at least in Vancouver. Two popular raw vegan spots are Gorilla Food on Richards Street (www.gorillafood.com) or Organic Lives on Quebec Street (http://organiclives.org). But with both restaurants closed over the holidays, we had to improvise and the closest we got to raw vegan options was:

With freshly squeezed juices, tabouleh and Fatoush, we managed to have an enjoyable filling and tasty raw vegan lunch.

Thank you JE!

Nuba has three locations in Vancouver (www.nuba.ca). More on Nuba at an earlier somerville kitchen post How Authentic is Nuba