In the raw
Raw - you heard it here first. It's the latest buzz word in top kitchens in the USA. And we're not talking carpaccio or sashimi, we're talking vegetables - raw, organic vegetables that never reach boiling point (plus a few fruits and nuts). This form of cuisine even has a new label - "living foods". And before you say: "Oh, that's just a hangover from hippie days," leading US chef Charlie Trotter is into it.
Just tap "raw food" into a search engine on the Internet and see what happens. There are dozens of dedicated raw food sites, extolling its apparently life-changing virtues. Yes, there is a lot of weird stuff, too - such as raw foodists (as they call themselves) with names like Hygeia Halfmoon, and a site about Primal Mothering in a Modern World - but there's no denying that raw food is big. It even has its own convention, the next one taking place in Costa Rica in February 2003, called the International Festival of Raw Food Enthusiasts.
So you hadn't figured on famous Chicago chef Charlie Trotter being a secret hemp-wearing granola eater? "I've always been interested in eating healthily," he tells Caterer. "My friends, Michael and Roxanne Klein, turned me on to the possibilities of raw and living foods a couple of years ago. I do not, however, approach preparing raw and living dishes purely from a health perspective. I'm as much into the aesthetics, flavours and textures as I'm into the health side of things."
The Kleins are old hands at raw cuisine, having switched to a raw-food diet some five years ago, and they've been preaching its benefits ever since. Last December, they opened Roxanne's in the town of Larkspur, north of San Francisco, which has notched up considerable praise and attracted a wide following. But it's not full of vegetarians and raw fooders. "The vast majority of our guests are fine-dining types," says Roxanne, who cooks.
Trotter says: "It's moving away from the strictly alternative realm of things. Roxanne has opened my eyes to a new way to prepare food. Her dishes explode with many dimensions of flavours and textures. Roxanne's culinary vision is extraordinary and it has inspired me on many levels." So much so that he is publishing a book on raw food with the Kleins early next year, through Ten Speed Press.
At the moment, at least a couple of dishes on Trotter's vegetable menu are raw, and he frequently incorporates raw components into non-raw dishes (yes, there will be raw dishes on the menu in Trotter's London restaurant, when it opens at the end of the year). "But at any time," he says, "we can serve a full 10- to 14-course raw menu spontaneously - and we get about six requests a week for it. More and more people are asking for an all-raw menu, but some of our clients just want to try three or four raw preparations, and then have the rest of the meal cooked.
"There is definitely a growing awareness of the virtues of eating raw vegetables," he concludes, "and more and more chefs are looking at this trend very closely." These include Ron Siegal at Masa's in San Francisco, Norman Van Aken in Miami (who regularly creates all-raw menus) and Tolentin Chan at Quintessence in New York. Like Roxanne's, Chan's restaurant is 100% raw and is doing so well that she has opened another (also called Quintessence), with plans for more.
A selection of raw dishes from Charlie Trotter's menu
Timbale of radishes with hijiki and fennel vinaigrette
Carrot broth, spinach, endive and Brazil nuts with camomile
Chanterelle and morel mushroom salad with pattypan squash and pecans
English cucumber sorbet with jicama soup and pineapple sage
Porcini mushroom trio: whole, ice-cream and purée with Granny Smith apples
Red Delicious apple with rose petal, cherry emulsion and soy vanilla ice
What Britain's chefs think about raw food
Anthony Demetre, Putney Bridge, London "Vegetables need to be cooked. There are very few things I use in their raw state, and I haven't got time to faff around with temperatures. I use lots of shoots in my salad section and I do have a centrifugal juicer, so, yes, I do mess around with raw. But all-raw sounds weird to me."
David Everitt-Matthias, Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham
"It's not for me. We don't serve vegans here, though I would incorporate elements of raw into my tasting menu - maybe even serve it as a contrast to something cooked on a plate. You'd get the crispness and freshness of the raw contrasting with the softness of the cooked. But for a restaurant our size - and in the country - people wouldn't go for it. I guess it's something we will see more of in the future, especially when the Trotter book comes out."
Heston Blumenthal, the Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire
"We can't do raw in this country because most of our produce is rubbish - it has a complete lack of flavour. The main problem is getting really fresh fruit and veg - it needs to be picked out of the ground and eaten straight away. Anyway, by presenting vegetables raw, you are depriving yourself of all the things that cooked vegetables have to offer. Most raw things don't have that much flavour - you have to cook them to get the flavour. But combining raw and cooked together on a plate - now, that's different. One accentuates the impact of the other."
Top five items for a raw kitchen
- A good set of sharp knives
- High-speed blender
- Dehydrator
- Champion juicer
- Mandolin
Raw and wine
"Do you believe in alcohol?" asked a customer meekly, at Roxanne's. The answer was a resounding: "Yes." The list was produced by none other than renowned sommelier Larry Stone, of the Rubicon restaurant in San Francisco.
"I've always believed that minimalist intervention makes for better wine, as does the absence of obvious additives, so naturally I incline towards wines that are organic, biodynamic or sustainably farmed," Stone tells Caterer.
So, expect wines from the likes of Nicolas Joly, Anne-Claude Leflaive, Zind-Humbrecht, Angelo Gaja, Shafer, Sinskey and many, many more, with Italy, France and California dominating.
"They are not just great producers, but understand the importance of making their vineyards come into balance with their environment," Stone says. "They also have a sense of ecological responsibility in not polluting the environment with chemicals."
But are they organic? Stone says: "Many of these wines are not labelled ‘organically certified' since these producers are apprehensive of government control and sanction, but they practise good husbandry and minimalist winemaking and so are in effect ‘organic', or even more stringent than the official ‘organically certified'. I seek these wines out in any wine list I put together."
Finally, is raw food more difficult to match with wine? "It's difficult for me," Stone admits, "not because it doesn't go well with wine, but because it is so complex and delicious with wine. The techniques Roxanne has devised are so unique that I'm still trying to understand how the various elements work with different wines."
Raw - according to Roxanne Klein
"You just have to look at the animal kingdom," claims Roxanne Klein on her Web site. "You do not see any significant incidence of the diseases that have become pervasive in humans - there's no cancer, no heart disease, strokes or diabetes. Living food is a key to our health and longevity."
That is an impressive claim, but it echoes Roxanne and Michael Klein's response when they first tried a raw diet. "We thought we'd give it a go for a month," says Roxanne. "When the time was up, our bodies just went, ‘Wow'." Apart from gaining a significant boost to their energy levels and general well-being, they found that they needed less sleep.
According to raw foodists, cooking denatures the proteins in our food, rendering them harder to digest and utilise. Indeed, they say, cooking destroys 50% of the protein in our food, and between 50% and 80% of all vitamins and minerals; pesticides break down into more toxic compounds when cooked; and there is lost oxygen content and production of free radicals. But, most importantly, say the Kleins, enzymes are destroyed when food is heated above 118°F.
The couple, who both look startlingly younger than their years, believe that a high enzyme count is the secret to longevity. "An 85-year-old has only one-thirtieth the enzyme activity level of an 18-year-old," says Roxanne. "Ageing is nothing more than running out of enzymes."
And, apparently, that post-Sunday-lunch slump is all down to the fact that the food was cooked. "We burn half the calories we consume in a cooked meal just to digest it," the Kleins say.
Klein even suggests that we should stop cooking with olive oil. "Heat even the finest olive oil above 118°F and you will not be able to digest it - it'll clog you up," warns Roxanne.
This may sound rather militant. However, Roxanne says: "What people eat is a very personal decision. I don't think anyone should be so presumptuous as to tell another how they should eat. I eat this way because I love the flavours and textures of the food."
But is a raw-food kitchen trickier to manage? "There is more of a multi-day production flow, as many ingredients are sprouted the day before preparation, or dehydrated for extended periods," Roxanne says. "Onions, garlic and spices, in particular, have to be layered in a dish differently. But once you get the hang of it, it's not so difficult."
The Kleins have their own organic garden, packed with microgreens, edible flowers and exotic herbs. And they have a "forager" who works directly with dozens of local organic growers, including contract-growing of specific items. "We also find great produce at our local farmers' markets," she says.
Roxanne has "cooked" her way around some of the USA's great restaurants, including Stars and Lark Creek Inn, so she has used her experience to develop some highly innovative techniques.
Couscous, for example, is actually made from parsnips and pine nuts, pulsed in a processor to a consistency not too dissimilar from its North African original (the "rice" in the sushi rolls is the same mixture, but chopped more coarsely, and flavoured with a little vinegar and honey).
Roxanne Klein's 65-seat restaurant, with deli and juice bar attached, is a model of eco-friendly design, with solar panels generating electricity, service counters made of sunflowers pressed into composite board, chair covers, curtains and napkins made from organic hemp chenille, and recycled wood galore. Although such materials did increase the cost, Roxanne says: "We believe that, when you include the costs we save by not degrading or polluting our ecosystems, this approach is a real bargain."
A selection from Roxanne Klein's menu
Marinated olive and tomato pizza with baby arugula and herbed cashew cheese
Pad Thai of coconut noodles, cilantro, Thai basil, almond chilli and sweet tamarind sauces
Sea vegetable salad with kaisou, pineapple yuzu and hijiki vinaigrette
Vegetable tajine over saffron-scented couscous with chermoula spiced carrots
Apple pie ice-cream with spiced maple drizzle and candied maple pecan
Banana cream tart on a chocolate shortbread crust with mocha almond fudge ice-cream
