Detoxify & Transform Your Kitchen!

- get your food preparation space raw food diet-friendly -

You don’t have to give up all the foods you love to eat all at once in order to become healthier and to start eating raw, organic, living foods. There is nothing wrong with gradual change, although admittedly, I work better with drastic measures. Whatever your approach, the best place to start changing your life and your diet is at the grocery store. Even if you don’t need to lose weight and are pretty healthy, take a tip from dieters: Go shopping with a list and don’t go to the shopping for food when you are hungry. Doing so will help you resist all those anpan cakes, pokki sticks, and senbei crackers. (These are some common junk food items that have tempted me in Japan.) To start detoxifying your kitchen, clean out your refrigerator and your cabinets. Throw out half-empty bags of snack foods. Put any microwaveable foods in a dark bag and stash them somewhere in the back of the freezer. Or better yet, bin them. Out of sight, out of mind. Clean out those crisper drawers in the fridge to get them ready for an influx of fresh organic, raw foods. If you have an oven (which means you don’t live in Japan), use it for storage.

Make eating fun. Invest in beautiful white dishes that show off colorful, fresh foods. It’s easier to arrange small portions of different foods that way. Getting new white dishes will be symbolic of this new, purer way of eating.  If you are not adept at using chopsticks, start eating with them, as they will slow you down.

Visit a bookstore and get a cookbook (uncook book) or a general raw food book so you can learn about eating as raw vegan. Buy a big vase and a bunch of sunflowers to symbolize letting the sun into your diet.

The Raw Food Pantry

Although the great majority of anyone’s food choices on the raw food diet should be fresh produce, a well-stocked pantry is essential for those even mildly interested in creating raw vegan culinary delights. Raw foodists don’t actually spend a lot of time un-cooking, but particularly for newbies, some thought has to go into creating a well-stocked kitchen. Here’s what’s on my shelves – organic wherever possible!

• Seeds: black and white sesame, flax, chia (mostly MILA), pumpkin, hemp, sunflower… (both whole and ground) Please note that all the ingredients listed are raw; unless your bag of seeds explicitly says “raw,” they’ve been roasted! Most commercial packages come salted and oiled to boot, but at least that is easier to identify.

• Spouting seeds: alfalfa, mustard, broccoli, sprouting mixes of different seeds or grains… I have not had much luck with sprouting, I must admit. I end up buying them fresh most of the time.

• Nuts: walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, coconut flakes… Try shopping in baking specialty stores for raw nuts, seeds, and fruit. They are likely cheaper than the specialty raw food stores. Again, most mainstream stores sell these foods in processed form, cooked with added refined sugars, table salt (the worst!), and heated oils.

• Condiments: apple cider vinegar (Braggs brand is awesome), organic balsamic vinegar, nama shoyu (unpasteurized soy sauce – need to refrigerate after opening), raw nut butters, coconut and cacao butters (a class of their own!), olive oil, flax oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, coconut oil, and other exotic oils if I can get them.

• Raw “Superfoods”: These are the goodies that might not be familiar to the uninitiated, but are worth a try if you’re keen to add super flavour and nutrition to your diet. I usually have a stock of cacao powder, carob powder, cacao nibs, mesquite powder (white carob), lucuma powder, hemp (mentioned above, but maybe not mainstream to some people) maca, and some brand of green food blend of grasses such as barley grass and wheatgrass combined with spiralina or chlorella. I also have the much-hyped goji berry, as it’s so cheap and readily available in Japan, but I have to admit that I am not a fan.

As a side note, I have to say how amazing it is the way traditional foods get so glorified in the media once a scientist or two finds out how healthy they are. In addition to the goji berry, currently the açaí berry and raw cacao are getting what I feel is exaggerated treatment. Yes, they are indeed fantastic foods, but it’s going to be life balance that makes and keeps you healthy, not the mere addition of a so-called superfood here and there. And there is opposition to the claims. Much as raw chocolate is chocker full of antioxidants, it is also highly acidic. And unless you live in Brazil, it will be hard to eat fresh açaí berries. As they keep so poorly, they have to be processed in some way to get to your door, loosing nutritional value and taste in the process. There have also been a lot of Internet skams revolving around açaí berries in recent years.

• Sweeteners: agave syrup/nectar, maple syrup, (neither – yep, not even many brands of agave – is technically raw), raw honey (no, not vegan), yacon syrup, stevia, dates and other dried fruits (raisins, apricots, figs, cranberries, currants, pineapple, mango… Watch out for the added refined sugar in commercial packages!)

• Seasonings: Celtic salt, Himalayan sea salt, or any other unrefined natural salt; extracts such as vanilla (and the beans themselves if you can get them), almond, orange, peppermint; dried, mostly ground herbs such as allspice, basil, bay leaves, cardamom, coriander, curry, cumin, chili peppers, cinnamon, dried garlic (and garlic salt and/or powder), ginger, celery salt, sage, cloves, dill weed, dill seed, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, mint, mustard, nutmeg, oregano, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili pepper, turmeric, onion salt and/or powder, lemongrass, and paprika. Any herbs I can get fresh, I buy. For me this in

• Seaweeds: akainomata, arare, dulse, hijiki, kanten, konbu, mekabu, nori, wakame, (soft, dried, liquid, or powdered)- sorry, I only know the Japanese names for most of these – probably the same in English, mind.

• Beverages: organic red wine with no preservatives (although it is raw, alcohol is generally a no-no for raw foodists. Not in my case); herbal teas (leaves or pre-made – easy to find in Japan) such as ocha (green tea) and oolong cha

• Non-raw ingredients: beans and lentils (vacuum packed or dried), genmai (whole grain brown rice)

If you’d like to see a list of raw food online shopping sites that I recommend, head on over to my my squidoo site at http://www.squidoo.com/rawfoodstores

The Raw Food Refrigerator

Although a lot of fruits and veggies do not require refrigeration, it doesn’t hurt to store them there, unless you want something to ripen faster. Bananas are much better on the counter, however. In my case I have little choice. I live in a tiny Japanese apartment with very, very little storage space outside the fridge. Also, half of the year it is quite hot and I am never home (can’t exactly keep on the aircon for the sole benefit of my food!) and cockroaches are indeed an issue.

What in my fridge?

• Fruit Often eaten: bananas, kinkan (kumquats), pomelos, oranges, mikan, lemons, papaya, strawberries, avocado, cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, olives… I generally store bananas and citrus fruit on the counter, however.

• Vegetables Often eaten: spinach, taasai (if you know how to say this is English, please let me know!), mustard leaves, onions, long onions (giant chives?), leeks; broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, peas, string beans, daikon (Japanese radish), leek and beets (hard to find, but I know a certain store in Setagaya), sweet potatoes, pumpkin, lotus root, burdock root (I eat these last items cooked)

• Fresh herbs and seasonings Often eaten: ruccula, basil, dill, parsley, cilantro (coriander leaves), garlic, ginger, wasabi root, vanilla beans

• Condiments etc. Often eaten: Korean kimchee (raw, spicy fermented vegetables), rejuvelac, sauerkraut, konbu cha (a fermented drink), natto (raw fermented soy beans), home-made sauces and dips, nama shoyu, unpasteurized commercial juices (hard to find and expensive, but beats juicing it!), and yes, I admit, some non-raw commercial juices sold in cartons. Also, I have Japanese pre-made teas such as ocha (green tea) and oolong cha, which do not have any sugar added at all – the bitterness is refreshing particularly in summer.  Oh, and leftovers of course.

What’s in my freezer?

Frozen fruit. Lots of it. I buy giant bags of frozen strawberries, mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries, etc.) a tropical blend (with papaya, pineapple and mango), and açaí (considered by some as a “superfood”), which is actually very UNsweet. I chuck a couple of cups into my morning green smoothies. I also usually have a peeled and bagged banana or two to easily whip up a pudding or add into a smoothie. I keep raw chocolate concoctions such as date bars or raw cookies in there, too, though they never last long…  Umm, not much else is actually ever in my freezer, other than ice. Perhaps occasional cooked food leftovers?

Raw Food Appliances

1) A blender – the best one your budget can handle. I currently own a South Beach 1500-watt blender I got for 6,000 yen at Costco in Minami Osawa. One day, one day I WILL get a BlendTec or a VitaMix. A blender is pretty essential for me, particularly as I make green smoothies pretty much every day. UPDATE summer, 2010: I have finally purchased a VitaMix. Yes, worth every single yen, and a lot of yen were involved!

2) A food processor – again, get the best one you can afford. I actually have a little CuisineArt, which is a great brand, but it does burn out when I stuff it up with too many goodies or when the ingredients are too hard and/or sticky. I want to buy a bigger one, but more than just the money issue is the problem of finding a home for it in my miniature Japanese kitchen, which also includes my living room and dining room – ha-ha! No complaints – it’s pleasantly cozy, actually!

3) A spiralizer (this thingy goes by many names, such as “saladacco“). This is a great affordable little device that allows you to, for example, make raw angel hair pasta by slicing up your zucchini into noodles. When I first went raw I was eating raw pasta with tomato sauce a few times a week! You can also slice and dice other veggies different ways with the different settings.

4) Often a little pricier is a mandoline. This is a manual, flat, slice-and-dice piece of equipment, allowing you to, for example, “julienne” your carrots and unripe mango to make a tasty raw Thai papaya salad. I often use it to quickly slice up cabbage nice and thin.  I only recently picked up one of these and don’t regret it.

5) A juicer. I have to admit, I am not a fan of the juicer. Juicing is fun, and the results are awesome, but there are two major problems for me. First is the clean up. I have had several juicers over the years, and none of them were fast and easy to clean. Mind you, I have yet to invest in a high-end juicer, so my opinion could change. This brings me to my second issue – cost. Fruits and vegetable are sooooo expensive here in Tokyo. I pay one US dollar for an apple, so when I juice the sucker and get a few tablespoons of juice, yummy and healthy as it is, I would rather pay a few more yen for a litre of the pasteurized stuff, or better yet, just eat the apple. If you have a lot of free time, don’t mind cleaning up, and live somewhere where produce is cheap and bountiful, go for it! Anyway, back to juicers themselves: There are basically three kinds, the centrifugal spinning machines (cheaper), triturating machines (twin gear) and  masticating (cold press) machines. The latter two are usually much pricier. If you buy a cheaper, centrifugal machine you will find 4 major drawbacks: 1) the machine won’t last long 2) the clean up is a pain in the ass 3) there is heat-generation; the heat produced from the motor may actually “cook” your tender fruit and veggie flesh 4) you will no get an effective separation of juice from fibre, so unless you plan to use the fibrous residue in some way, a lot of waste is produced.  Of course you can use this juicy fibre in other recipes, but that requires more planning on your part. Buying an expensive machine not only addresses these issues, but can also handle tougher items, such as seeds and nuts (make your own butters!) and wheatgrass. You can even make banana ice kream, although a good food processor can also do that just fine. For more detailed information to help you in your purchase, check out the Health Diaries. I own a moderately priced centrifugal type, which I got at Costco. Japanese blenders, juicers, and dehydrators ironically don’t cut it (the most powerful Japanese brand of blender I have seen is a mere 200 watts! Understandably, products made for Japanese food such as rice cookers are second to none, which is good for me as I still do occasionally eat brown rice.)

6) Save a dehydrator (they do not come cheap) for that stage when you rarely use the stove anymore, as then you can store your dehydrator on its new permanent home – on top of the stove! I think the best brand is probably Excalibur, but I do just fine with my second-hand Nesco American Harvest. Dehydrating really expands the repertoire of things you can do with raw food but it comes at a price: First, dehydrated foods emulate their cooked counterparts. Psychologically this may not be the best way to create new tastes and habits. Second, dehydrating removes the water content from food, which means you have to take more care to drink lots of water (raw foodists who base their diets on fruit don’t actually need to ingest that much water!). Third, dehydrating takes a long time. Lots of things can me made overnight, but it doesn’t exactly do wonders for your electricity bill or the environment.

7) Kitchen gadgets. Good cutting boards, knives and other quality kitchen doo-dads really make food preparation a joy. They don’t have to be expensive. My favorite gadgets include a plastic sheet I got at the Stinking Rose restaurant in San Francisco, which makes skinning raw garlic a breeze, my instant apple corer I got in the kitchen district of Asakusa in Tokyo, and my OXO citrus fruit peeler, which can even handle thick pomelo skin.