raw food

We handle quite a variation of groups and events throughout the various outlets in our resort.  Food allergies are one and special diets are another, and it's beneficial when someone contacts us ahead of their arrival allowing us time to communicate the situation to our staff.  I was put on the spot last night by a different sort of dietary request.

The raw food diet has been around for a few years now.  Despite it's fair existence, I have never personally had to deal with it.  I guess that by keeping myself ignorant (even with great books such as the Charlie Trotter Raw book which has been our for a few years... and which I have never purchased or read), I left myself open for a spontaneous challenge.  That challenge came in as part of a party of 20.  Two women in the group claimed to be on the raw food diet, and I found out with less than 30 minutes to their reservation time.  Even worse, they were owners of a condo next door... who are famously high-maintenance and we can never seem to please for some reason... despite our best efforts.

So with a quick and fruitless internet search, I cursed our slow network and found a morsel of information.  People choose the raw food diet because they believe that vital enzymes and other nutritional goodies are lost when food is taken above 116F... that's just a little over room temperature in south Florida!  Also, 75% of their diet must consist of raw foods... that makes sense considering that certain flavorings and oils must undergo a good deal of processing (usually involving heat).  Dairy (considering the pasteurization process) I was not sure of, so I avoided it.  Raw meats... well, they fit the bill, but I wasn't sure on their acceptance.

Here was my submission to "Battle Raw Food."  The tuna component on the right is there only because I found out (again, only 10 minutes before dishing) that although the girls were on the diet, they absolutely allowed themselves the vice of seared raw tuna and soy sauce... whatever.  So the tuna went on, cold smoked with the new smoking gun, and topped with soy-infused shaved red onion.

The rest of the plate was my spontaneous creation... compression-braised watercress (smoked with peach wood, then compressed with grilled peanut oil), vacuum-infused eggplant with white anchovy oil, garlic, and preserved meyer lemon dust (compression technique again), slow-warmed teardrop tomatoes, and shaved pecans.

The watercress was interesting... allowing smoke and wilting without heat.  Strong meaty flavors there.  The eggplant was also interesting.  My train of thought was that although the dieter could not enjoy anchovies themselves, I could use the oil with compression to offer a similar flavor to the diner... this falls in accordance with the 75% rule in my book.

Next components.  To add more umami, I threw some tomatoes in the Alto Shaam for a short time on low temp.  This slow-ripening or pulling of flavor reminded me of MFK Fisher's story of placing orange wedges over her radiator in her French Apartment.  It's a slow dehydration and glutamate builder.  Taking something naturally good, and making it incredible with very little effort... only patience.  The shavings of pecan are just for extra flavor dimension and texture.  I wanted to incorporate some sort of nut shaved on the microplane, but which one could I use without toasting?  Maybe it was conceived years ago by growing up with a pecan tree, but the flavor of raw pecans are much better than toasted pecans.  I'm not sure if I'm the only one out there who feels this way, but it makes the pecan an anomoly among nuts.

So what's the conclusion here... when I offered to answer any questions about what they were eating, both ladies declined.  They also both ate the tuna from the plate and did not even touch the rest of it... insult to the chef!  I try not to let such things get to me, but I did run around hyped up for a good 40 minutes on this dish while organizing the rest of the parties food.  It wasn't a masterpiece, but I was momentarily proud of it (at least in technique and flavor... not in presentation).  Miami is full of trendy wannabe nobodies without a freakin' clue.  Rise above, Zilla!  The bright side is that it allowed me to educate myself on yet another ridiculous food diet and its unnecessary rules.

Comments

[bob]

We were in the middle of an unusually busy Thursday night service at Higgins in Portland, Or and the FOH guy comes to the pass to let us know that David Odgen Stiers(Charles Emerson Winchester III from MASH) is in, and would like a vegan chef's tasting menu. Of course, all the food is to be prepared on grills and pans untouched by animal proteins. So we quickly set up the porto grill and make everything happen. The impossible is made to happen. forth course, we're plating up buckwheat crepes and asparagus, when the server chimes in. Mr Stiers would like that with a grilled chicken breast......
I feel ya Chad, i really feel ya

[Sean]

As a vegan, I really appreciate any effort that a cook/chef will make to accommodate me at the spur of the moment though I try in all circumstances to call well in advance if I know the restaurant does not normally have vegan options. Your dish looked and sounded delicious (save for the tuna/anchioves) and I'm very sorry that it was not appreciated. As a home hobbyist cook I am always crushed when a guest (and worse, family member) will decline to eat something I prepared because it's "vegan" (as if that classification suddenly makes vegetables taste different) or ethnic.

Bob, your story is hilarious though I hate to think what kind of message people like Stiers are sending with these sort of mixed messages. It's hard enough explaining to most people that fish isn't a vegetable without chicken breasts becoming an acceptable vegetarian entree.

To any chef who might care to respond, do you like dealing with special requests if forewarned? If I as a vegan were to make reservations three days in advance and inform the front of the house of my dietary preference at that time, would you approach my meal as an opportunity or a burden? I had gotten the impression from people like Anthony Bourdain that most chefs hold vegetarians/vegans in contempt; is this generally true or perhaps true of a certain generation of chef?

[Roberto N.]

That salad sounds awesome, I would've liked to taste that... and to think that it went to waste is a damn shame.

[chadzilla]

I will agree with Bourdain that most chefs do hold vegetarians/vegans in contempt... but mostly from a food philosophical perspective. We will honor any diet/allergy/religious request if the chef views his career with any bit of honor and if... and this is the big IF... the person requesting the diet knows exactly what diet he/she is on. It happens more often than not... you get the vegetarian request, you prepare the food, you plate the food, you send the food out... then it comes back, and they want to put a piece of fish on it (or as in the posted example of the tuna and soy on the raw plate). Any chef feels pride in creating something and having a guest enjoy it.. no matter what the diet is. The contempt comes from people who label themselves with certain titles for fashionable or misguided sociable reasons. It's becoming far too confusing for chefs. If you don't know what you eat, then how can I know? Stop wearing the cross if you're not going to church!!!
In conclusion, if I were a true vegetarian or vegan... I would be far far more upset over these pseudo-veg's that parade themselves into every restaurant and circle than any chef could be. They are giving you a bad name. Stand up and let it be known!

[Joseph Hall]

I went to a couple of raw foods classes a couple of years ago. The idea intrigued me, and I wanted to see what the whole movement was about. After a morning of hallelujahs and praise the raw foods, I left in disgust. My fellow students all seemed to be best friends with the instructor, and few people (including the instructor) seemed to care about what she was actually making. Some of her food was decent, but most of it was crap.

A year later I went to another class by the same woman, to give her another chance. The class ended with an older gentleman standing on his chair, ranting to whomever would listen about the evils of monsanto.

I tried to understand raw foodists, and I have failed. I know that there are some out there that know their stuff, but I have yet to find one. So far all I can find is a prevailing stereotype that does nothing but damage the reputation of those who are actually serious.

Good luck in trying to understand them. If you figure them out, I hope you can help me understand too.

[chadzilla]

Thanks, Joseph.
I was just thinking that someone who was on a diet as restrictive as raw food would be ecstatic to learn new techniques (such as infusion and compression through vacuum pressure) to vary their daily food intake a little. Guess I was wrong. Oh well, I'm happy with the food I eat everyday.

[craig thornton]

i live in l.a. and work as a private chef. this is the place where raw is the trend with these celebrities. most of them only do raw because they think they are supposed to and they end up getting sick quite a bit because being on this diet you have to really know what you're doing. i cook all types of food and yes i have had a client who ate raw. chad a word of advice they love fucking cashew cheese or other nut cheeses. take raw cashew and a small amount of garlic i mean small like a 1/4 of a clove (it will add depth without overpowering) throw into a vita prep add in a couple of Tbs of nutritional yeast and some salt, add water and spin into a puree, gauge the thickness to your liking, i like mine like thick nacho cheese. i use a lot of the yeast because it will add that funk that cheese has, you can throw it into some cheesecloth and hang it. out here the hardcore raw foodies won't cook past 106f because thats the temp your body starts to break down enzymes and basically starts killing you when you have a fever. anyways i actually use quite a bit of raw food throughout my cooking now just based off of raw flavor, the best thing about that style of cooking is that you have to figure out how to make something that normally not good raw taste good. it gets to be pretty intense. enjoy your blog, been reading for a long time.

[Chris]

What can you do? Raw Foodists are irrationally fickle and without much sense of taste (or good nutrition science, to boot.) While I have a similar but less intense dislike of veganism, i could imagine that there are far more of them that appreciate quality ingredients and methods.

[acaiberrypills]

good read bookmarked will return to read more posts

[pureacaiberrypro]

great read and info!