ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

(aka Love, Praise, and Gratitude Soup)

A recipe is only as good as its ingredients, and a life is only as good as the people you share it with. I have many people in my life to thank for making it positively delicious.

It’s not often you get to collaborate with the people you love on a dream project. I’ve had that rare and wonderful experience putting this book together. Chef Doris Choi, my coauthor, also happens to be one of my best friends. Spending hours, days, and weeks working side by side with her could hardly be called “work.” Doris is a genius—an innovator and artist of the highest caliber. I am honored to share this book with her and delighted that everyone can now benefit from her talent. While I may share the credit on the cover, the recipes and culinary innovations are all Doris’s.

While only two names appear on the book cover, there is another who has worked passionately and tirelessly at our sides to develop every aspect of this book: Ana Ladd-Griffin. If it were not for Ana’s indefatigable, loving dedication to this book and to DetoxTheWorld at large, I don’t see how any of it could have been possible. Ana’s input, recipe suggestions, organization, and inspired ideas are woven throughout the entire book. I should also note that Ana had to work with Doris and me while we were both pregnant—’nough said!

Anna Bliss, my brilliant editor, has been at my side since the launch of The Raw Food Detox Diet in 2005. It would be impossible to overstate how valuable she has been to me since then. Not only does she warrant the highest distinction as an editor, but she is also a solid-gold human being.

Effusive thanks to our photographer, Adrian Mueller, who swiftly and skillfully captured the quality, taste, and texture of the food. I think I’ll just let his gorgeous photographs say it all.

Thank you to Mary Norris and the wonderful team at Skirt! for sharing our vision and helping us bring it to fruition.

Thank you to visionary chef Matthew Kenney, for his gracious foreword and for being such a huge inspiration to me (and so many others). His innovations taught us that gourmet cuisine and higher consciousness can indeed share the same plate.

Above all, I thank my heart-and-soul mate—my husband, Lawrence. Despite his remarkable and demanding career, he remains an ever-ready, heroic father to our children, enabling me to have a loving, happy family and a fulfilling life of creativity and balance. Lawrence, in your love and support, I find the most rarefied, essential nourishment of all.

—NATALIA

I was fortunate to meet Natalia at a rare point in my life when I was open to change. Had I met her earlier, I would have been intimidated by her “warrior” ways and missed out on not only this “detox revolution” but also her enormous gift of friendship. I am only one among many who have been blessed to have found her.

Among all of Natalia’s wonderful gifts is a jewel named Anna. Anna Bliss, the editor, should get a medal for her patience and dedication to this book; she is a trouper, especially working alongside two obviously pregnant authors, one of whom suffered from “pregnancy brain” and was in dire need of her expertise. Thank you, Anna, for guiding this novice author.

Ana Ladd-Griffin, the pillar behind DetoxTheWorld, was able to weave both our voices into one, making this book a force to be reckoned with. Her contribution was invaluable, her patience godly, and her support endless.

To my husband, Niall, thank you for eating enormous amounts of kale before I learned to make it palatable and, more importantly, for teaching me to always take the scenic route.

—DORIS