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Raw Food Recipe Books

Not sure if there is already a topic on this or not? I skimmed through the forums looking for a similar thread and failed to find one.

What is your favourite raw food recipe book? Post reviews and comments here :_

I don’t have a favourite yet but I bought The Complete Book of Raw Food yesterday despite the fact that it reads “vegetarian raw” on the front cover. I saw it in a used book store for $10 CA and I figured I’d pick it up. It turns out the book is called vegetarian because they use honey and a few other controversial ingredients. However, I found all the recipes to be so boring! Nothing like the recipes we all create and share with each other on this site :) It was also very poorly edited. Although, there were some great tips in it because the first 100 or so pages are about raw food preparation and techniques. I was especially interested because there was a whole section on soaking and sprouting.

Anyways this book really renewed my appreciation for the recipe section of this website. I don’t have the book on me, otherwise I would write a full review.. I’ll do that later after work.

Comments

  • BluedolfinBluedolfin Raw Newbie

    bronwyn~ This topic comes up about every other week so there are tons of threads that have people suggesting/commenting on great recipe books. Try searching the Forum tab on “favorite book”, “raw food book”, “uncook book”, “recipe book” and/or “cookbook” as keywords that will bring up some of those helpful threads. If you post on one of the existing threads, it will bring up the conversation for additional input. Happy exploring…

  • FeeFee Raw Master

    My favourite is generally the one I bought most recently! Ive always had a thing for recipe books and I have an entire bookcase just for recipe books Im that sad. I read them in bed like other people read novels (although I do that too!).

    Im currently enjoying Ani Phyo’s book although she does use a lot of nuts. I love Kate Wood’s latest book Raw Magic especially as I as lucky enough to meet her and get it signed.

  • Bronwyn: My favorite at this time is Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 people by Jennifer Cornbleet. I like it because she doesn’t use recipes that require dehydrating or sprouting which makes it easier on a beginner like myself. Also, she doesn’t leave me with the feeling that 100% raw is a must, which is nice too, because when you are beginning off sometimes it’s easy(for me at least) to get stressed about the percentages of raw/non-raw you are taking in. I’m also reading Sunfood Cusine by Frederic Patenaude. I think Sunfood Cusine has a lot more information packed in, but the recipes aren’t as fun to me, but I’m starting to experiment on my own based on some of the ideas I’ve gotten from the books.

    Also: Bluedolfin, I can’t find the forum search button anymore, has it disappeared during the changes that have been going on the website? I mean I see a search for recipes but not for the forum posts. Is there anyway we can “sticky” a few posts in the New to Raw section for reviews on raw books? I like the other sticks you had in there, but I didn’t see one on reviews on raw books.

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    Rawvolution was simply too difficult for me. The recipes might be good for someone with raw food prep experience.. but I can only handle REALLY simple foods. I’m going to save this book until I have 1-2 years of raw food prep experience, then maybe I’ll try it again. Some recipes were easy and delicious. Some foods might be easy, but they’re not the type of food I crave. You should decide for yourself, I guess.

    Fresh was good – easy. If you’re experience with raw food, don’t get it. If you don’t have 1 year of raw food prep, get it! 250 great recipes, it’s an excellent reference. I’m terrible at raw prep, but I haven’t been able to screw up those recipes – they’re foolproof. Great purchase!!

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    my favorite is definitely Eat Smart, Eat Raw by Kate Woods.

    it is very informative, has really ORIGINAL recipes. it doesn’t have any photos, but the most important thing i love about this book is that she has TESTED her recipes. the flavor combinations are REALLY interesting and delicious.

    it does include some non-raw ingredients like tamari, miso, etc…

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    That sounds lovely! I haven’t seen Eat Smart. Since I’ve heard rave reviews about Phyo’s book, and Cafe Gratitude, I bought both a minute ago!!!! Woohoo! At amazon they’re on sale, plus I had a $5 promo coupon… only $27 for the two books. Can’t wait to see what’s inside! It’s a birthday gift to myself, lol.

    I thought a lot about getting training in raw food prep. The living light culinary institute intrigued me. someone who went there, gave me advice – she said Buy every raw book out there, and spend some time trying out new recipes. That will be only 5% of the cost of spending 1 week at culinary institute

    And she’s right! 1 week there could be $2700. Buying all the raw books out there, say 25 recipe books – assuming $15 a piece, is $375. And you can refer to and refine your recipes from those books many times! Over the next two years, I hope to save enough to get all the raw books.

  • I don’t think I have found my favorite yet. I got Ani Pho’s book and I hated it because of her use of icky cashews and I am allergic to the truly raw ones (found out the hard way be careful). Even then I did not find one recipe that I wanted to try in that book but some people really like it. I just mainly use goneraw and ideas and recipes off of the internet. I plan on getting the Raw Gourmet though in the future.

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    Cashews are my favorite food in the world! I know i’ll like her book if she uses them. It would be nice to use internet recipes, but I can’t afford to waste food – when i use online recipes, 50% of them taste like CRAP. Sorry, but it’s true – they’re posted by inexperienced folks who aren’t chefs. And while I appreciate that there are free recipes, there’s no standard – they haven’t been tested, carefully selected for a book.

    Someone with very low skills in preparing raw food is going to have a difficult time discerning how to fix a recipe that could be awful if i follow it exactly.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    Hmm, I love The Complete Book of Raw foods. Mine doens’t say vegetarian raw on the front of it. There is a new 2nd edition though. Maybe you should check that one out?

    I think my favorite book is Alissa Cohens Living on Live food. It is huge and has so much in it! I definatley feel that is worth the money.

    I also have the Cafe Gratitude book and How We All went raw.

    rosehebrew – I found that sunflower seeds are often a good replacement for cashews in many raw recipes.

  • BluedolfinBluedolfin Raw Newbie

    lightlike~ To conduct a search like I mentioned previously, one needs to be on the Forum tab. If you are using Internet Explorer for your browser, it appears (I just checked) that the “search” field/button on the Forum tab is MIA (missing in action). Yes, this would be due to the changes happening to the site. If you want to search on the Forum tab, you might consider using the Firefox browser instead of or in addition to using Internet Explorer.

    As for the “sticky” posts… the ones with the “glue” (the ability to make a thread stick at the top of a tab page) is Kandace and Ray, the owners of the website. If you find a thread you think is a candidate for “gluing”, bring it to the attention of and make a request to Kandace or Ray (their contact info is at the bottom of each page, simply click on Contact Us).

    Thank you for your kind sentiment about some of the threads that I have been involved with. My intention was to create useful resource threads. However, I don’t have any special “sticky” powers. I’m simply a person, who at times, has way to much time on one’s hands, am extremely anal about consolidating info for easy access, and sees “trends” or patterns… oh, and have been on the site for a bit… It is Kandace/Ray that has the super sticky powers as I mentioned above.

    Keep participating! Keep asking questions! :)

    BTW, welcome to the site. :)

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    My favorite for recipes-Renee Underkoffler’s Living Cuisine.The dressing s are outrageously delicious. I also come back to my first book, The Raw Transformation by Wendy Rudell. I still love that one. There is a small amount of steaming by Renee, but having been raw now for 2.5 years, i’m actually thinking of going there. I’m going to have to divorce all these raw desserts for awhile in favor of eating lighter.

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