Product Description

Top New York chef and restaurateur Matthew Kenney and his partner, Sarma Melngailis, had been thinking of opening a Moroccan restaurant. But one night they were invited to a raw food restaurant -- and it changed their lives. They instead opened Pure Food and Wine, a restaurant devoted to creative, tasty raw food, and it has been drawing rave reviews. Dishes such as Zucchini and Green Zebra Tomato Lasagne, Golden Squash Pasta with Black Summer Truffles, and Dark Chocolate Ganache Tart with Vanilla Cream have given raw food a sexy new appeal.

The decision to go raw was shocking at first for these two ex-carnivorous chefs, but they soon found that preparing and eating raw food made them and their guests feel their physical best. Melngailis noticed a difference almost immediately -- "Light, clean, natural, and alive foods make you feel light, clean, and more alive. And sexy." This new way of life has changed their outlook on eating and cooking and connects them to the world around them. As Kenney says, "Raw foods and the lifestyle associated with it are so compelling and complex that we will be forever learning and growing. Already it seems that we have discovered some of the magic that life offers."

In this lushly photographed book, Kenney and Melngailis share some of that magic -- and show that preparing and eating raw does not mean bland, unsatisfying, or impossibly time-consuming meals. Using dehydrating, Vita-Mix blending, a nuanced understanding of spices, and unprecedented creativity, they explore a whole new outlook on raw food that transfers beautifully and easily from their kitchen to yours -- no matter what your present diet. And you'll immediately begin to reap the benefits of healthful, delicious, life-giving raw food.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3662 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-01
• Released on: 2005-07-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

About the Author

Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis are the head chefs and co-owners of Pure Food and Wine. Matthew Kenney has been the chef and partner of numerous successful restaurants including Matthew's, Canteen, Commune, Commissary, and Mezze. In 1994, Food and Wine included him as one of their Ten Best New Chefs of the Year. His other books include Matthew Kenney's Mediterranean Cooking and Big City Cooking. Kenney and Melngailis live in New York City.

Customer Reviews

great book
This was a great book. Full of information that really gets you thinking about the things you put in your body. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Great smoothie recipes too.

raw food, but not the real world
This book has lots of beautiful pictures that make raw food look really tasty. However, the recipes I made never looked as beautiful as the pictures. I also had a hard time finding a recipe I could actually make. Many of the recipes in this book contain ingredients that are hard to find , and take a lot of prep time to prepare. The recipes I did make tasted good, but due to the time factor, I probably won't be making them again any time soon.

Raw Food Unreal World
This book can't be faulted for the culinary artistry of its recipes, which are among the best I've come across compared with several previously purchased vegan cookbooks. (The Chocolate Gnosh recipe is outstanding, and if prepared with the same ingredient quantities in the book, will leave a couple with a high-end restaurant quality desert every night for a week. And, amazingly, the desert is good for you.)

The second part of the book's title "Real World" is only partly true. Its truth lies in the personal anecdotes, advice and information scattered throughout the book. For the new or even veteran vegan, this is high quality information generated from about the most intensive experimental lab you can have--an upscale NY vegan restaurant. If you spend long hours everyday in a kitchen innovating new dishes, perfecting old ones, and sourcing ingredients and suppliers, you'll learn something. These authors have, and they share it with you.

The downside to these high quality recipes is that quite a few make rather tall demands on your time. Many vegan recipes call for soaking (nuts for example) and dehydrating (the substitute for high temperature cooking), and this book is no different in this regard. But many of the recipes in this book require a decent amount of kitchen time--not all of them, to be sure--the authors are people too and sometimes just want to whip together something fast. As with most recipes, shortcuts and substitutions should be readily apparent, and these can save you time. Let's remember that low time commitments and quality are usually not fungible.

Finally, I should note that for those hoping the world will move in a more vegetarian and vegan-y direction, the kind of high quality recipes found in this book will likely be key to changing the minds of others. Almost everything we've tried in here has been delicious and could serve as an eye-opener to skeptical carnivores.