Why do raw recipe books use non-raw ingredients?

**fiamma** · Aug 27th, 2009, 02:13 PM

This question has been bugging me for some time. It seems to me that apart from fruit and veg, nothing is really raw. Not dried fruit or nuts - the staples of most dessert recipes - and why do I want to turn to a recipe containing tofu to be told "tofu isn't raw but it's a good source of protein"?

I realise not everyone is 100% raw, and these may just be ideas for combining ingredients that aren't raw to make good recipes. But if there are so many non-raw or borderline ingredients being used in raw recipe books, it makes me think that a 100% raw diet either doesn't exist or is unsustainable.

Thoughts?

**snivelingchild** · Aug 27th, 2009, 04:49 PM

I assume that the raw cookbooks that contain tofu are written by people who are 75%-95% raw, which is actually followed by many "raw foodists." There are also foods such as nuts that are "raw" but heated up by law in order to kill possible bacteria or traces of chemicals from the shell. I do not know the temperature they are heated to, though, and these laws vary depending on your country. They may or may not be considering these foods raw.

I can tell you right now that a 100% raw diet is entirely possible and sustainable when you depend on locally grown foods and/or grow some yourself. The raw foodists I know do a considerable amount of home gardening, sprouting, and buying from local farms.

**fiamma** · Aug 27th, 2009, 05:30 PM

Thanks for the reply; I'm quite sure a 100% raw diet is possible and sustainable, yet these authors themselves point out that such foods are not raw or are borderline, yet use them in loads of their recipes. If I wanted a 75% raw cookbook that's what I'd buy, but I don't - I want a 100% raw cookbook. And it's the authors themselves who are sabotaging their own way of eating, by purporting to be raw and saying you can be, but using non-raw ingredients. It's frustrating.

**vegcurry** · Aug 27th, 2009, 11:04 PM

Check out I Am Grateful by Terces Engelhart. I have it, and although I don't do a lot of raw stuff it's still a wonderful book to have, and as far as I can see it's all raw.