About

About this site:

This blog started as simply a repository for all my favorite raw food recipes, but now it has blossomed into a super pet project. The concoctions I post here are not all original – far from it: I get my raw vegan inspiration from books, magazines, online sites, and raw vegan friends. I provide links to these resources whenever possible. On the very rare occasion I come up with something original, although simple – I won’t be shy in letting you know!

Not all raw vegan recipes are created equal. Some are harder to make than others, some require fancy equipment, and some are more than just a little too high in fat or sugar (though raw and natural) to be considered healthy. I aim to steer away from those on this site, BUT a few time-consuming recipes are worth it on special occasions, a dehydrator can be a great piece of equipment for making food last for weeks (thereby saving preparation time) and for recreating your favorite cooked food delights, and a little high-fat sin is perfectly acceptable once in a while, no? Or maybe not just once in a while? Especially when you are transitioning from an unhealthy diet, high-fat raw is definitely a step in the right direction.

Still, the goal here is to provide myself, and YOU, with fast, easy, tasty, and healthy raw food recipes. I enjoy (un)cooking, but a lot of the time I’d much rather spend my time eating and blogging about food than actually preparing it.

About me:

my alter ego avatar - nope, no tats or black mane in real life!

My name is Cathrine-Mette (aka TRINE) Mork, and I am a Canadian expat who’s been teaching mostly EFL at universities in Japan since 1995. I turned vegetarian when I was in university myself in 1989, but had a difficult time avoiding fish when I first moved to Miyazaki in Southern Kyushu. EVERYTHING seemed to have at least fish in it!

But times have changed, and I live in the Big Mikan that is Tokyo now, a city that offers a lot more food diversity. There are not only vegan hangouts shooting up here and there on a regular basis, but now also a couple of raw food eateries.

I have been experimenting with different degrees of the raw food lifestyle since the beginning of 2009. I wish I’d known about this way of eating earlier!  For the first month experimenting with raw foodism I was pretty much 100% raw, and like so many others who’ve done the same, I felt absolutely fantastic! I initially only wanted to try it to see if it would help me loose some weight (it did), but subsequent motivation to continue was based more on the way it made me feel – more mentally than physically, actually. So I did, roughly for about 6 months. Then what happened? I had a sudden influx of stress and retreated into some bad eating habits, like eating processed breads on the odd evening, and then I fell off the wagon big time. This too, apparently, happens to a lot of people in the early stages of their raw food journey, most often because they are too strict with themselves, as was I. Another lesson learned!

In 2011 I had the pleasure of formally learning how to un-cook under the instruction of top chef Elaina Love and her Pure Joy Culinary Academy, held in Thailand. It was a wonderful experience! I learned so much, ate well, and met so many fantastic people. I guess I can officially refer to myself as a chef now, too, though just a budding one. It has motivated me to pursue more formal study and make more effort in my own tiny Japanese raw kitchen and with this website. To those who wish to follow in my footsteps, mention “raw food home” for a discount on your own chef training!

My approach with raw food is now moderate. I eat out with friends at “normal” places (usually at izakayas, as they have salads en masse these days) and I am definitely not 100% raw. I also eat things like cooked quinoa, cooked brown rice, and sometimes beans and lentils.  In general, I feel that when there is a choice between cooked foods and high-fat, hard to digest raw substitutes, I may be better off with the former.  Also, I do not mentally punish myself for eating the occasional faux pas, whether it be bread, or even the odd bit of fish or cheese (Go to notmilk.com to find out why you should ideally NOT eat dairy products, unless fermented).

As of fall 2011 I have added kefir to my diet- essentially a fermented milk like yoghurt, which I am currently consuming at least once a week, in order to help combat candidiasis. I’m finding it making my own kefir is so easy and works better for me than my other attempts with cultured foods. Starting to eat lower on the glycemic scale has been very challenging for me, especially on top of raw, but I am noticing amazing results! Kefir can also be made with soy milk (or coconut water if you are lucky enough to live where it’s readily available), but I feel that some versions of cow’s milk are better for us than most soy milks, and definitely taste better. If I had access to raw goat’s milk, that would be ultimate. Kefir fermentation eats most or all the lactose from milk, and predigests the casein (milk protein), so I have pretty much no digestive problems, and the kefir also blasts my gut with lots of welcome probiotics.  It reduces my sugar cravings, and kills the yeast!

Anyway, no, I am neither dogmatic nor militant about raw veganism, and hate to label myself, as some people can be so anal about things! I don’t personally believe that having a piece of grilled salmon once or twice a year should discredit me from self-proclamation as a vegetarian (although the heavy metals in fish these days are to be avoided, and there are more omega3s to be found in chia seeds like MILA than in salmon). Nor do I feel I deserve to be fully stripped of the vegan title for having a slice of pizza with cheese once in a blue moon, or for eating honey, which I do consume in its raw state on occasion, and now my milk-based kefir. I admit that my personal reasons for vegetarianism/veganism are more for health and the environment than for animal rights. This is not to say that I don’t feel the current methods of animal “production” are unnecessarily cruel, but I am more against factory farming for the negative impact it has on society, our health, and the environment.

One thing I am adamant about, however, is drinking a massive green smoothie or green juice pretty much every morning. No better way to start the day, me thinks!

In any case, it’s all about one’s overall, dominant philosophy, n’est ce pas? And mine is: eat predominantly  fresh, raw (unheated/ unpasteurized/ unrefined/ unprocessed) plant-based food → feel great → live long!