A raw deal when it comes to good food

The raw food movement, although in its infancy here, is beginning to take grip as more raw food dishes appear on restaurant menus, writes MICHELLE McDONAGH

WHEN FINANCIAL services broker Hilary Foley started a raw food diet to try to improve her stress-related digestive problems, she never envisaged that her newfound healthy lifestyle would set her off on a completely new career path.

After an initial disastrous foray into raw foodism when she put on 20 pounds in weight after following a diet from a book, Foley was reintroduced to raw foods during a trip to Thailand on a fasting retreat a year later. This time, she learnt more about proper nutrition and food combining and listening to her body’s needs.

She sold up her business, which she had found stressful, and set out to create a new balanced life for the future, focusing on eating as much raw food as possible to heal herself “without being fanatical about it”.

Out of her change in lifestyle has grown her new company, Ireland’s Raw Kitchen, an importer and retailer of organic raw foods and superfoods to the Irish market.

“There has been an explosion of interest worldwide in raw foods and superfoods. People are becoming more aware of their environment, their health and what they are putting into their bodies. There is a movement towards not only natural, wild or organic wholefoods, but also living, raw foods and superfoods.”

Raw foods, also called living foods, explains Foley, are unprocessed and uncooked foods that have never been heated to temperatures above 42°C and therefore contain more nutrients and active enzymes as they have not been destroyed by the cooking process.

Raw food diets often include raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouted wholegrains, eggs and fish. They may be sun-dried or gently dehydrated to make raw pizzas, crackers and desserts.

Superfoods are foods that are typically rich in beneficial phytonutrients and antioxidants such as açai berries, goji berries, mulberries, alfalfa, barleygrass, chlorella, spirulina, wheatgrass, bee pollen, chia seeds, hemp seeds and cacao.

Although the raw food movement is big in Australia and the western US, it has been much slower to take off in Europe. There are a number of raw food restaurants in the UK, Germany and other countries and many raw food cook books have been published, but the movement is very much in its infancy in this country.

In Dublin, Deirdre McCafferty has raw food on the menu at her popular Cornucopia vegetarian and wholefood restaurant on Wicklow Street while Masterchef’s Dylan McGrath has introduced a raw lunch offering to his menu at the Rustic Stone on George’s Street.

Dishes on the Rustic Stone’s raw lunch menu include monkfish cured in beetroot with cucumber dill and avocado; raw chicory with crunchy carrots and carrot quinoa; and sushi-style tofu with ginger cous cous, tofu and lime.

Veronica O’Reilly, author of Raw in a Cold Climate and chef at Healthy Habits Cafe, Wicklow, has been working with raw food for the past 10 years.

A member of the Servants of Love Catholic community, O’Reilly went to LA and New York to learn about raw and living foods after one of the community’s founding members became ill.

She was one of the founders of Alive, the Irish Living Food Association, irishlivingfoods.com, in 2003 along with author Bernadette Bohan and Deirdre McCafferty.

The aim of the group is to help people change to a living food or raw vegetarian lifestyle and they meet regularly for talks and lectures on aspects of holistic healing followed by a living food party.

“At Healthy Habits, everything is raw apart from the coffee and milk. We have been here since 2007 and business has really come on a lot.

“We get people coming to our cafe and store from all over the country and outside Ireland and we are getting more locals in now,” O’Reilly explains.

She wrote her cook book out of desperation, as she was having trouble following the recipes she had brought back from the US. The aim of her book was to make raw food easy for people.

“I can see raw food gradually becoming a standard item on every menu. We have been selling our raw food organic wraps at the Mind, Body, Spirit festivals and at Rude Health at the RDS since 2004. It has taken a good few years to build up but they have become a lot more popular.”

Natasha Czopor is on a mission to make raw and living food “sexy, fun and delicious”.

A vegetarian from childhood, the former harpist at Bunratty Castle trained to be a raw chef after an accident at work saw her pile on the pounds.

She set up her company, Natasha's Living Food, natashaslivingfood.ie, from her kitchen in Stoneybatter five years ago and since then she has moved twice into bigger premises and won a Bord Bia innovation award for her Kale Crunchies, a healthy alternative to crisps.

“When I mentioned raw food five years ago, people looked at me like I was a nutter. I really had to fight my corner at the start as a lot of the health food stores felt it wasn’t their market but gradually it began to take off and people love my products when they try them.

“I invented my own range of tasty, healthy snacks that people can use in their everyday, busy lives. You might pay a bit extra but unlike ‘normal’ snacks, there are no fillers. What you get is pumped full of nutritious ingredients.”

Natasha’s Living Food range is now in 150 shops around the country including some EuroSpar and SuperValus and at the beginning of this year, she moved to a 2,000 sq ft unit at the Park West Industrial Park where she now employs five people.

Her range is completely free of animal products, and chemically processed or pasteurised ingredients. She never uses flour, dairy, wheat, eggs, meat or fish, which is helpful for people with these allergies.

As well as cakes, chocolate bars, savouries and salads, she stocks raw cosmetics, books and dehydrators.

Her most popular sellers are her Kale Krunchies, Mighty Seed Energy Bar and Bomb in a Bag seed bombs.

Hilary Foley says some people put unnecessary stress on themselves to maintain a 100 per cent raw diet.

“Our aim at Ireland’s Raw Kitchen is to educate and create awareness of raw foods and superfoods. We want to make these foods easy and accessible to everyone.

“We believe absolutely in a holistic approach to life.

“We believe that just as important as a healthy diet are regular exercise, restful sleep and meditation, respect and compassion for all life on the planet and the pursuit of happiness.”

As well as selling raw and superfoods online, Foley is shortly going to begin manufacturing her own products at her unit in Galway city’s Westside business park.

Her extensive product range includes superfoods, fruits and berries, sea vegetables, nuts, seed and grains, bee products, supplements and personal care products.

Examples include gogi berries, wheatgrass powder, agave nectar, cacao ribs and raw gaia moisturiser.

Her blog on the website irelandsrawkitchen.iefeatures recipes showing how to use their ingredients to prepare raw dishes.

For people who are interested in learning more about raw food, the Irish School of Herbal Medicine ( greenmedicine.ie) runs a living food instructor course.

And the Irish Raw Food Meetup Groups Dublin, meetup.com/the-irish-raw-food-meetup-group/ meet for regular classes, demonstrations and tastings.