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That's a bit of a tricky one. You could gently warm some dishes in a dehydrator or soups by whizzing them for longer in the blender.
Having said that, you can't really do anything about the staple meals for most raw foodists like smoothies and salads. :-)
When you say he has a thing against cold food, does that include things like sandwiches, because you can make various raw sandwich type meals with raw bread/crackers, pates, salad, veggies, etc.
Start looking through the recipes on this site as there are some great ones and really helped me when I started raw.
Good luck to you both!
vegetara, i still have this problem!! the way i usually fix it is to eat a lot of fruit throughout the day so i don't have to heat up food for dinner. if i get home, and i'm starving, i usually succumb to warm food. i've noticed my warm food cravings have gone away since i started eating more fruit and green smoothies.
you could also not do 100% raw, especially to start out with. you could transition and eat some steamed veggies instead and then transition to marinated raw veggies to make them taste like cooked.
you could just go high raw- pick and choose some cooked vegan foods to serve with the raw. i.e. make cooked brown rice and top it with loads of fresh veg, drizzle a bit of raw sauce on top- the rice will warm the veg but not enough to really damage the nutrients- he'll never know
you can also do light steaming- it hurts some of the nutrients but not all- its a good way to transition. steaming is thought to increase the bioavailability of some foods, like broccoli and kale. you can also make lots of things that are traditionally eaten cold, like smoothies, raw ice creams, dips and veg. stuff like that.
I also have trouble eating cold food all the time, especially in the winter! So what I do is make raw soups or "stir frys", and then gently warm them on the stove, stirring often, until they are pleasantly warm (not hot!). I also like to make hot chocolate in the winter. I just warm some water and add it to the blender. I have to be ready to eat/drink though, because it doesn't stay at that pleasantly warm temp for long.
Thanks for your comments everyone. Luckily we live in a tropical country at the moment so I don't feel deprived of warm food at all :)
I'm going to make raw sushi for lunch today (swap rice for avocado and fish for veggies). I think it will be yummy, but the last time I made vegetarian sushi he microwaved it!!! And apparently he's not fond of avocado either, I tried to explain it's pretty much a raw vegan staple but oh well... *sigh*. I'm just going to make it and see if he'll eat it.
I don't have a dehydrator yet, and I'm not even sure if they will sell them here in the Philippines. (They don't have Amazon here.) So I could make salad sandwiches - he likes them - only we'd have to use 'normal' bread.
I seem to have a natural tendency to love colourful raw food, while he approaches all this 'new' food with caution. It's frustrating. Does anyone else on here have partners who are stuck in their ways?
Tara
Update: He ate the raw sushi! Yay. And I've just put some Raw Nutty Choco Ice Cream in the freezer, he won't complain about that being cold!
So he doesn't like avocado... make him a chocolate avocado mousse. Avo, soaked dates, raw cacao, a little water, blended... good god, it's so wonderful.
'Does anyone else on here have partners who are stuck in their ways?'
Yep, sure do! My bf isn't remotely interested in raw but amazingly, he did switch to having green smoothies for breakfast with me.
Unfortunately, he's now switched back to two slices of white bread. :-( He said the smoothies were not good for his digestion. Humph! He's always suffered a lot with indigestion but I'm sure this is from years of just eating cheese sandwiches on white bread.
What can you do though, I'll encourage him but he's his own person at the end of the day.
>"So he doesn't like avocado... make him a chocolate avocado mousse. Avo, soaked dates, raw cacao, a little water, blended... good god, it's so wonderful."
Wow, sounds yummy :) I need to buy some cacao.
>"What can you do though, I'll encourage him but he's his own person at the end of the day."
Yeah, I feel like that too, but it's just as easy to prep food for two as it is for one and I just like it when we eat the same meals together :) He eats his choco cerial with cow's milk on in the mornings, but I can't care because I'm always still asleep, so it's just lunch and dinner.
Tara
Get a heat lamp and warm the food up you prepare. Granted, that will only work for gourmet food, but it's all about transitioning.
Count your blessings...my boyfriend of five years won't eat any "wierd food"...which encompasses cold, fresh, healthy...you name it! Ha! He will, however, eat smoothies and I sneak Cuisinart chopped fresh produce into his meals (mix in with sauces etc). A little is better than none, I say! :) I'll make you healthy...I will!
>Does anyone else on here have partners who are stuck in their ways?
Mine is a little bit, but he does want to be more healthy so lately he has been eating more of the salads I make. Nori rolls are successful, but he eats them with a tuna sandwich because he says they're not filling enough for him. He's pretty open minded as far as trying new things, but not as much with trying new ways of preparing things that he "knows" he doesn't like; beets, for example. He also is against the whole principle of raw dishes that attempt to mimic non-raw.
The difficulty is that for myself, I don't want to make heavy food with a lot of nuts, avocados, etc. because I'm trying to focus on the greens. I think he, on the other hand, would do better with the transition foods, but if I make that kind of stuff I am definitely going to be eating at least some of it! It's not that big of a deal, I'm working on finding a good balance for us.
I'm interested in reading what meals/foods have worked for others in a similar situation! Besides the nori rolls, we like guacamole and pesto (familiar stuff that is easy to make raw), and I experiment with different ingredients in salads.
-Sara