Raw

Rating:
Summary: Tasty, hard-to-prepare food with a side of pseudo-science
Review: This book has some wonderful, delicious recipes for all sorts of dishes. The sauces, in particular, are things that I'll come back to again and again. Beware, though: These recipes are definitely the most labor-intensive I've ever seen, and you cannot do many of them without two specialized pieces of equipment: a dehydrator and a heavy-duty juicer. You also need to plan far ahead, as beans need to be sprouted and raw nuts need to be soaked for hours and days at a time.

But why oh why does Roxanne Klein have to muck it all up when she starts her silly, totally uninformed gobbledygook on enzymes? Enzymes in the human body are different from the enzymes in plants. There is absolutely no science behind any of the raw-foodies' claims that heat destroys any good effects of these plant enzymes. Additionally, there is tons of real science that shows many nutrients actually become far more bio-available to the human body when the foods they are in become cooked. The ridiculous, pulled-out-of-thin-air 118 degrees rule is as nutty as these recipes.

Additionally, people should be aware that juicing removes tons of fiber from fruits and vegetables. You're still getting the vitamins and minerals (and those "vital enzymes!"), but the result is just fortified sugar water. This book makes extensive use of juicing.

Rating:
Summary: The best food if you have time & patience
Review: This book looks beautiful. It is definitely not for someone trying to cook in a hurry. It is complicated book with many steps requiring days of preparation. But I decided to try...I made a goal to make one dish per week. I had to start shopping for ingredients Wednesday-buying stuff in Asian market, Wild Oats, and regular supermarket to collect all ingredients. It would be easier if I would live next to gourmet shop. Another reason for early preparation was because many dishes require soak nuts for 12 hours. Thursday I choped ingredients, Friday I made sauces,and result? I definitely hate when people compare dishes to "heaven", "die for", but I had some of those heavenly feelings eating this food. I love how creative this food is, how wonderful sauces taste, it is very very hard to believe it is all raw!
But now I need 1,200 dollars worth of equipment...I want to continue living and eating like this. It is wonderful how you are full of energy-no heaviness after eating this food!
I could not find Smoked salt or Celtic salt, but dishes turned out to be wonderful anyway. I thought when using maple syrup about my trip to Vermont-I sort of remember seeing how they evaporated it by boiling, so I don't think it is raw ingredient. But I don't want to be critical, because this book deserves praise. Congratulations to Klein and Trotter- they are top notch-before this book I had no idea who they are, but now I am waiting for Raw 2:-)

Rating:
Summary: Tasty and healthy
Review: This delightful book contains more than one hundred recipies of raw foods that can be prepared by slicing, dehydrating and juicing or cooked at low temperatures. Compiled by Roxanne Klein, a proponent of the health benefits of raw food, and restaurateur and writer Charlie Trotter, it opens up a new world of culinary delight in which the food retains all of its nutritional value.

Intense heat destroys beneficial enzymes and that is why raw is better. The authors explain the beauty and the health benefits of fruits and vegetables whilst providing delicious recipes like for example Polenta with Wild Mushroom Ragout and Peppercorn Crusted Cashew Cheese with Honeycomb and Balsamic Vinegar.

In their engaging writing style, Klein and Trotter take a fresh look at the benefits and the tasty variety that is possible in a raw food diet, although some of their ingredients might not be easy to find for the average person. Tim Turner's beautiful full color photographs illustrate the text. This book ought to be on every vegan and vegetarian's shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Caveat Emptor - High quality material for a select audience
Review: This is a very difficult book to rate, as it undoubtedly contains expertly crafted information authored by one of the country's leading culinary practitioners, yet very few of the people who buy this book are likely to actually prepare the dishes in the book, as written.

All of the recipes have one or more aspects, which make them impractical for the average foodie, let alone the average reader. These requirements are:

Expensive equipment which most people do not have such as a dehydrator, ice cream maker, or juicer.
Fresh, seasonal, rare ingredients commonly available only through a farm catering to restaurants.
Pantry item preparations which involve one of the two above or an inordinate amount of work, with no application to dishes in more common cuisine.

I commonly give five stars to some books I know I will never cook from, because I know there is an audience, which will make very good use of the book. Rachael Ray's books are an excellent example. I have all the time in the world to cook, but people with little time will be very well served by using her books. But who will actually be making things from this book 'Raw'. I can imagine it may be hard core vegans who have the passion to search out these ingredients to provide variety and eminently healthy to their meatless diets. It may also be restaurateurs who wish to follow in Roxanne Klein's footsteps and have a client base, which can support it.

One can argue that like travel books, which provide a means of virtually visiting foreign lands, this book would be bought and read as a travelogue. But, I believe very few people buy cookbooks for that reason. I have over 200 cookbooks and I have not prepared any dishes from many of them, but each and every one was purchased with the intention of making several dishes in the book. I know that there are ambitious chefs who keep abreast of new things and, since the book is co-authored by Charlie Trotter, they are sure to read it, just to see what Charlie is up to. There may also be some foodies who do in fact buy cookbooks just to read. But, I'm sure this audience is small.

When I purchased the book, I expected to see a cuisine based on the well-known sushi, sashimi, ceviche, and carpacio techniques. Only one recipe comes even close to belonging to one of these traditional styles of preparation. Every dish is constructed from plant products. The argument of the devotees of this raw cuisine is that heat above 115 degrees Fahrenheit destroys enzymes in plants, which promote the digestion of the plants in human digestive tracts. The theory goes further to believe that this depletes a store of enzymes in the body which may reduce one's health. This may be true, but I'm skeptical. I have no doubt that this cuisine is healthy. I do doubt it is the most healthy or the only healthy way to eat.

The advocates of this cuisine strike me as monks who follow a lifestyle to which all Christians may aspire to, yet is totally impractical for most people who seek the rewards of work and family in the world. This doesn't make the life of the monk less worthy or even more worthy. It is just a different path, which only a small minority of people are willing to take.

The best thing which could come of this book is for someone to apply the doctrines in the book to practical practice. Who will be the St. Paul for this cuisine?

Meanwhile, I shall read some of Charlie Trotter's other books with every expectation that they will supply me with recipes I can use. I recommend you do a very careful browse of some of the recipes in this book before purchasing a copy.

So, I give the book only three stars not because the book contains mediocre material, because the techniqes and recipes are excellent and interesting. I rate it as average because I wish to caution people to think twice before laying out their money.

Rating:
Summary: A work of art, but not a useful cookbook
Review: Trotter and Klein have produced a beautiful book of really interesting vegan recipes. No milk, no meat, no eggs. What's intriguing is that the dishes seem like they'll be very tasty and the photographs make them look wonderful. I'm glad that someone is out there pushing the edge of cuisine. But, after reading through Raw, I really understood Mark Twain's comment that Richard Wagner's music "is much better than it sounds."

A problem with the cookbook is that the many of the recipes are unapproachable. Either the equipment requirements are beyond what most people have or can afford or the ingredients are so obscure as to be nearly unobtainable. Some of the procedures require several days to execute which is not really a problem per se; however, the process complexity is overdone. Like the Shaker song says "it's a gift to be simple."

The notion that only raw foods are truly good for you is specious at best. Some vitamins and other nutrients are released by heat; cooking kills potentially dangerous bacteria and germs; and cooking makes some foods easier to digest.

Bottom line - a lot of work went into this very creative cookbook. I'll keep it on my coffee table instead of my kitchen shelf.

Rating:
Summary: A work of art, but not a useful cookbook
Review: Trotter and Klein have produced a beautiful book of really interesting vegan recipes. No milk, no meat, no eggs. What's intriguing is that the dishes seem like they'll be very tasty and the photographs make them look wonderful. I'm glad that someone is out there pushing the edge of cuisine. But, after reading through Raw, I really understood Mark Twain's comment that Richard Wagner's music "is much better than it sounds."

A problem with the cookbook is that the many of the recipes are unapproachable. Either the equipment requirements are beyond what most people have or can afford or the ingredients are so obscure as to be nearly unobtainable. Some of the procedures require several days to execute which is not really a problem per se; however, the process complexity is overdone. Like the Shaker song says "it's a gift to be simple."

The notion that only raw foods are truly good for you is specious at best. Some vitamins and other nutrients are released by heat; cooking kills potentially dangerous bacteria and germs; and cooking makes some foods easier to digest.

Bottom line - a lot of work went into this very creative cookbook. I'll keep it on my coffee table instead of my kitchen shelf.