You can’t stick to a hectic schedule and lead a professional life and only eat at raw restaurants. There are too few of them. Besides, if you ate only with other raw foodists you’d be dining alone five nights a week. In this chapter I’d like to show you how you can eat raw and still have a social life like anyone else. That may mean eating at places that are not necessarily known for their raw-food menu. It includes sharing raw food with your friends and family on your own turf. And if you have a raw restaurant nearby, I’d like to help make it easy for you to take people there, to introduce them to the joys and pleasures of eating raw and maybe ease them into a healthier, raw-food lifestyle.
I can already imagine your question: if I eat only raw food—except, of course, for the occasional guilty cooked food—how can I possibly go out and have dinner with friends who eat everything cooked?
Let me assure you that you won’t need to make everyone else feel uncomfortable over your eating raw. It’s true, when word gets around some people you know and cherish may whisper, “Maybe we shouldn’t invite Carol because I hear she doesn’t eat cooked food anymore.” Just remember, they’re not trying to snub you. I think their real intention is to show respect. So don’t take it personally if you find yourself somehow overlooked for a dinner invitation. What’s most important is for you to know that there’s no need to let raw food curtail your relationships and activities. And the quicker you learn how to eat raw wherever you are, the sooner your friends will be surprised at how easy it is for you to blend in now the same way you always did before. Once again you’ll be invited everywhere.
For the raw foodist, much like trying to do your grocery shopping at the local neighborhood supermarket, going out to eat at a typical restaurant is less than ideal—but it can be easier than you might think. If it’s up to me and I’m asked where I’d like to go for lunch or dinner, of course I choose a place that has lots of raw options nestled among the cooked ones my friends are sure to want. Japanese is usually easy because sashimi—the raw fish used in making varieties of sushi—is there on the menu along with salads and vegetables that can be served raw. My New York restaurants of choice are Nobu and Sushi Samba because they serve marinated fish and ceviches. I also love to eat at Morton’s Steak House. Yes, a steak house is at the top of my list of places to eat raw. The reason is simple. Morton’s makes delicious fish and meats that I am able to eat seared as well as a wide variety of greens and salads. And, of course, a steak-house menu has something for just about anyone else I may be dining with. (Check with your local steak house to find out where they get their meat and if they feel it’s safe to serve seared.)
If you’re not the one choosing where to eat, try to find out in advance where you’ll be going. If it’s a place that’s popular and they have a lot of turnover there is a much better chance that their food is fresh and less likely to be on the edge of spoiling. I have found that as long as the food a restaurant serves is fresh, I can eat a meal almost anywhere. And sometimes I’m very pleasantly surprised at what I find. For example, I went to a Greek restaurant recently that didn’t serve any raw fish, but they had such fresh fish the owner was comfortable enough to make me the most delicious swordfish carpaccio and he rounded up a bunch of greens and garnishes for the best, most unusual salad. Actually, I had two or three orders of the carpaccio. As someone who eats raw, you may only be able to eat two or three of the items listed on the menu. But the good news is that you can have as much of it as you want!
If I have the chance, I like to call ahead and ask the chef or the maître d’ some questions. Try to make yourself do this. Begin by letting them know that you eat raw (but don’t be surprised if they make the same assumptions that so many other people do, for example, that raw foodists only eat salads). Tell them what sorts of things you like to eat. I’m fond of sea bass and swordfish if they are only slightly grilled outside, leaving the inside warm but still raw. I usually mention this. Then ask them what’s on their menu. Ask if they would have a problem making certain items seared—the “fresh fish of the day,” for example. If they hesitate and don’t have a suggestion for something that they could prepare and serve raw, it’s reasonable to assume that their food isn’t safe for you to eat, whether it’s raw or not. When that happens to me, I plan on just ordering a salad and fruit. I don’t risk food poisoning. I have never, not once, gotten sick from eating raw food in a restaurant and I don’t care to. I’m not one to take chances.
I have been known to show up at a restaurant and say, “I want a salad made from everything that you have that is raw in your kitchen.” Even the most raw-food-unfriendly establishment probably can be coaxed to cut up one piece of each variety of fresh vegetable they have. At a bare minimum that usually means celery, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, romaine and some other sort of lettuce, onions if you want them, and perhaps even mesclun greens and avocados. It often includes more. A salad may not be the sort of gourmet culinary delight that you were hoping for, but for just one meal out it will at least fill you up, especially if you can follow it up with fresh fruit for dessert.
Of course, if I know before going out to eat that the raw menu choices will be few or possibly only a salad, I have something to eat before I head out the door. Carol’s Rule Number 1 for Eating Out: don’t ever leave home if you are starving!
If you go out hungry you’re likely to devour the first thing that comes to the table—the bread! I’ve already told the story about how I suffered from sinus and colds I now know were directly tied to eating bread and other wheat-gluten products. Though I didn’t know it at the time, for many years bread was making me sick, as I believe it does so to many other people. Like most people I had no idea there was any connection between my various interrelated illnesses—colds, sinus problems, flu, headaches—and my deadly, daily bread and pasta products intake. Many people find that cooked or baked wheat gluten acts like sugar in one’s system and is a toxin to the body. Knowing that, the last thing you need to do is to sit down at the table in a restaurant and begin nibbling on the bread because you’re hungry and it’s your first and only immediate option. I typically have a piece of raw cheese, maybe some guacamole, and a couple of raw flaxseed crackers (available online at carolalt.com) or maybe a piece of sprouted “fruit and nut” Manna Bread to take the edge off my hunger before leaving home. I never touch the bread at a restaurant.
Rule Number 2: if you’re going to dinner straight from the office, bring raw-milk cheese or germinated almonds with you when you go to work because they make a good snack anytime and are easy keep on hand. I know this rule sounds kind of quirky, but it’s not. Just a little bit of these two raw sources of fats and proteins seem to suppress hunger while providing you the nutrients you need to make it through even the most Spartan of raw menus.
I also never take my own food with me to a restaurant. I know some people on special diets do this, but eating raw isn’t a special diet; it’s a lifestyle. I try to adapt wherever I go and I don’t wish to make my dinner companions uncomfortable or insult the restaurant staff by showing up with my own ice chest full of food. I have been known to take along certain spices, however. I typically carry along some Celtic sea salt in a small shaker. I also often travel with a small squeeze bottle of cold-pressed olive oil and raw apple cider vinegar dressing. Fill up the bottle at home and then put it in your (or your wife’s) purse and go. It’s easy.
Of course, if you’re inviting people to eat with you, out or at home, the decisions about what will be served rest in your hands. As long as you’re sensitive to your colleagues, friends, and family members you should have no problems. In fact, you may find that they are curious about raw food and want to try out new dishes with you that they wouldn’t on their own. Remember, take it easy. (They might also want to hear how your health improved after a couple months of eating raw.)
One good meal choice for raw foodists is a picnic. The reason is simple. Many of the raw-food dishes that non-raw foodists immediately seem to like are natural picnic selections. There are so many varieties of raw cheeses available, made from cow’s, goat’s, and sheep’s milk, that putting together a cheese plate is easy. When you’re shopping at the local Whole Foods Market or Wild Oats or the cheese shop, just remember to ask for the raw-milk varieties. There are all sorts of salads that are perfect for a picnic. Just among the recipes in this book they run the gamut from a lentil salad to a red and green cabbage cole slaw and a broccoli salad that I picked up from my friend Marybeth. With salads, the possibilities are endless. And don’t forget dipping favorites such as raw hummus, guacamole, and salsa. Even though raw chips and crackers are certain to stand out as new and different your guests are likely to enjoy them.
Nothing in your picnic basket should send up red flags as being 100 percent raw. Don’t be surprised, however, if you hear people around you saying with delight, “this food all tastes so fresh!” You can tell them with pride that it tastes fresh because it is fresh and very few of us are accustomed to routinely eating truly fresh foods.
Just as I do for a picnic, I often pack food to take with me in the car when I’m going on a trip. There’s no reason for me to stop for cooked junk food if I have something good to eat with me. Remember to pack raw foods in airtight containers and not to leave them out of refrigeration for too long.
I’ve become more and more inclined to take people to raw restaurants because I’ve gotten such good feedback about the food. That way, they can experience the foods I love and that have become such a part of my life. Even though I can’t imagine those I know and love continuing to eat cooked food day in and day out, I’m not the heavy-handed “convert the unrepentant dead-food eater” type. I prefer a gentler, subtler approach. I know that anyone who walks through the door of a raw-food restaurant like Quintessence or Pure Food & Wine and sits down and eats a meal with me is going to walk out glad that they did. I have yet to leave with someone who was disappointed. Not everyone is equally excited, but no one walks away with regrets—the food is just so good. And many people are positively shocked because they couldn’t begin to imagine how delicious and diverse well-prepared raw food really is.
If you have never been in a raw restaurant before, or if you have and want some hints on how to introduce others to eating raw, I’ll share with you a few simple steps.
The first thing I do, after getting seated and inevitably talking about the particular place, is to ask my guests to read the menu. This is important because people tend to have a lot of misconceptions about eating raw, and seeing what they may eat in black and white makes it apparent that what awaits them is not so foreign at all. There are certain ingredients that may seem new or unusual, but all in all the menu reads like any other menu. Of course, just because something raw has the same name as something cooked doesn’t make it the same. But overall, reading a raw-food menu is nothing like the puzzling experience you may have had the first time you sat down in an Indian or a Thai restaurant.
Once my guests have had a chance to look over the menu and I mention some of my favorite dishes, I explain to them about the food not being hot (and I don’t mean spicy). But hot is a relative term. So what is hot? For the sake of raw food the cutoff temperature is when foods begin chemically and structurally to be altered, more or less 118 degrees F. As a result, not all raw soups are served refrigerated, and “pastas” are definitely not served steaming.
I’m inclined to suggest something from the menu that is close to what they already know. Pesto pasta is a good example. The texture is similar to that of angel hair pasta served al dente and the sauce is made from pine nuts, olive oil, basil, and garlic—the same essential ingredients in the cooked pesto sauces they have had before. Though it is served at room temperature there is no mistaking the fact that the textures and flavors are familiar ones, so this is indeed “pesto pasta.”
Usually I order several entrées to share with my guests so that they can try a little of each and decide (and eat more of) what they personally prefer. All food, raw or cooked, is alike in this way: we each have our individual favorite dishes and everyone’s are different. Don’t feel you need to like everything. As with cooked food it’s perfectly okay not to like every dish you try. This is true of raw restaurants as well. If you ask those of us in New York City who have access to more than one raw restaurant, you will hear the names of several different favorite places to eat, like “Counter,” “Pure Food & Wine,” or “Caravan of Dreams.” We all have different tastes. You may think the food at my favorite place is too spicy and I may find your favorite’s too bland. People may prefer this dish here and that dish there. Others like them the other way around. Don’t expect everyone to love everything just as you do.
Over time, as we try new things, our palates change. As you eat more and more raw foods you will begin to grow used to certain tastes that seemed foreign not so long before. Some of these you’ll grow to love and crave. You may even begin to wonder how it was you could have “missed out” for so many years. What initially seem to be unusual tastes or textures become familiar everyday ones. Other tastes and textures, those of cooked foods in particular, will begin to seem unusual and possibly even unappealing to you over time.
Chain restaurants, fast-food joints, and even local diners like the ones that I grew up with on Long Island dot the map all over North America. That’s a lot of cooked food everywhere you turn. I remember when I was working in Italy in the mid-1980s and Rome’s first fast-food restaurant opened right in the shadow of the Spanish Steps. The Italians were torn between tradition and the unpleasant wave of the future—the rush for the unhealthy but quick and easy “Dollar Menu.” Since then, fast-food restaurants have spread all over that country and now there is hardly a place in the world where they aren’t known.
At the same time, because eating out at restaurants is more common and popular than it ever was before and so is raw food, there are more and more raw-food restaurants cropping up all the time. No, I doubt there’s a wave of raw fast-food chains on the horizon. But it’s only a matter of time before conventional cooked-food restaurants begin to feature specifically planned raw menu items—more than the often not-too-healthy salad selections with cooked dressings and croutons. And, as with fresh-food markets like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, I predict that very soon you’ll see all-raw restaurants beginning to sprout up all over the land. Meanwhile, you owe it to yourself to seek out any raw restaurants near you and taste some of the amazingly delicious raw culinary possibilities. And if you visit a new city, seek out these restaurants. Especially if you live somewhere without a raw-food restaurant.