Adding raw vegetables in to cooked cheat meat?

[mythil]

Hi all. I know a lot of books now say that raw vegetables are really good. But lets face it, we tend to cook something from time to time don't we?

So I was thinking, is it still good to add raw vegetables in to cooked cheat meat? For example I tend to make bean/vegan mince chilli, one of my favorties. Now would it be good to add raw veg in after the beans/mince is done cooking?

[mythil]

And one mistake leads to another. I forgot I posted this thread and as soon as I saw it I dived for a quick correction.. However, what I originally meant was what I originally meant.. CHEAT MEATS not real meats... Erg I think I need to lay down before I get dizzy!

[Maître]

I don't see why not, water soluable vitamins etc won't be lost like when boiling etc and I doubt the temperature of the food will be enough to damage other nutrients.

[Risker]

Wouldn't it ruin the consistency? I mean, if you're eating something cooked then every now and then bite in to a hard raw vegetable. Why not just have them on the same plate but separate?

[harpy]

I quite like mixing raw and cooked foods myself (as in my gnocchi plus raw cabbage concoction that I was going on about a few weeks ago). It must be a question of personal taste so I would just experiment and see if you like the result, mythil :)

I don't think there's anything wrong with cooking some of your food, in fact it makes some nutrients easier to assimilate, but if you don't want to in this instance you can just add the raw stuff right at the end.

[mythil]

Well I tend to make chilli quite a bit. I tend to chop the vegetables that go into it very small so you don't tend to notice them. Just looking at it from a health point of view, though I did recently read that eating 100% raw is good but even just eating 50% raw is very good.

[harpy]

I did recently read that eating 100% raw is good

Some people think so, but from what I've read a mixture of raw and cooked is fine and there is some benefit to cooking certain vegetables: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=raw-veggies-are-healthier

[Risker]

If they're chopped very small then adding them to a cooked dish that's still hot would probably (in raw terms) cook them, unless you let it cool first.

Raw fruit/vegetables are good for you but you shouldn't worry about it so much, there's no real proof that raw veganism is any healthier than plain old veganism. I wouldn't want to eat all cooked food just for culinary reasons but I'll bet my life expectancy that there's no significant advantage to going out of your way to eat a large percentage of raw food.

[leedsveg]

Raw fruit/vegetables are good for you but you shouldn't worry about it so much, there's no real proof that raw veganism is any healthier than plain old veganism. I wouldn't want to eat all cooked food just for culinary reasons but I'll bet my life expectancy that there's no significant advantage to going out of your way to eat a large percentage of raw food.That's how I see it too.:thumbsup:


Leedsveg

[mythil]

Well at the moment I eat 70% of my veg raw.. Not only is it good for you (so I've heard but it being raw can't be bad for you) but it's also really easy.. For example I may have veg and rice or quioa and just keeping the vegetables raw makes it taste a bit better imo :) And it's a very quick dish