Raw: The Uncook Book: New Vegetarian Food for Life

Absolutely love this book! Some recipes are easy and others take a little more effort (like any type of food —even cooked food requires some effort for some dishes). This book is AMAZING! It is a masterpiece— the chef is brilliant! We already have a favorite (“meatloaf,” the mash “potatoes,” and gravy). This is perfect to transition to raw vegan or if you want to surprise your guests or make something delicious. Yes, some recipes require more ingredients but there are others that honestly isn’t that much when you start making it. I am so grateful to have found Juliano’s book! Get the book and try some recipes— you will love it! Fresh and delicious! I can’t stress it enough, I love it!

Juliano is a genius! If you can forget the health benefits, and environmental benefits and the spiritual benefits of this cuisine, and that is a tall order because they are substantial, the flavors and textures will knock your socks off! I do not eat raw foods all the time, but I have been eating more of them since reading this book. I have been a vegetarian for nearly 30 years and there are recipes, like his Mac Cream, that simulate riccotta not just in flavor, and texture, but in the bodies response to the food. He manages to elicite pleasure, delight, and energy with his cuisine. It works like comfort food without the health consequences of most of that.Also, I don't understand why people say it takes longer. Most of it is done with a knife and a blender. In my experience it takes way less time than cooking a regular meal. There are a few things that are dehydrated. But just like marinating, those don't take your time, just a delta time before you can eat it. It needs a little forethought. There is plenty that doesn't use the dehydrator though. I have been using a peeler to get fine ribbon like shreds of veggies ever since I saw his "pasta".This book is right up there with Escoffier as far as I am concerned, but it is for our age where have to take more measures to care for our health.

By far my reference raw food book. I own about a dozen of them, all very nice and useful (except one that I bought on Amazon too, I will tell one day which:) but this one is the best. I know many of receipes require a lot of ingredients but Juliano makes everything easy explaining how you can replace or even omit ingredients. This is a genuine raw food concept, its gourmet, its totally healthy, its insipiring. There are some main courses and dressings and cookies that I keep making for years and years. I bought first copy of this book in London in 2007 and I keep reordering it everywhere I move. It introduced me to the real raw food world that goes so far beyond salads and carrot sticks. By the way, Juliano’s carrot cake is to die for. My friends and I used to make it as a birthday cake for our children. All my best friends own a copy of the book, of course. I dined in Juliano’ s restaurant in Santa Monica years ago and I felt as if I was in a temple.

Overall, this is a great book. It's inspiring and fun, and the food doesn't get much healthier. I've really gotten into the book during the last couple of weeks, and most of the recipes I've tried are very good. You don't need all of the ingredients he lists, so don't be afraid to omit or substitute. I do not yet have a dehyrator, and my oven doesn't go below 170 degrees, but I have been able to test some of the bread-type recipes. They're very good. Actually, everything has been very good so far (especially the milkshake!), except the Butternut Squash Soup. I found I just don't like raw butternut squash.If you are on a low calorie or lowfat diet, be aware of these things:1-There is no calorie information. Once I calculated the calories for the Cashew Gelato, I found out why! It was enough for a whole day's calories for anybody. But it really looks like ice cream.2-Many recipes use nuts, dates, orange juice, olive oil, avocados, and maple syrup. I think that keeping the avocados in any diet is a good idea, though. Flax seeds show up a lot, too, but they are highly beneficial and don't seem to always get digested, if you know what I mean!3-Juliano's "butter" is olive oil with salt. He says, "Slap an extra slab of 'butter' on everything! You can eat all you want and get what olive oil promotes most: healthier hair and skin and better circulation." Easy for him to say. He's already skinny.About the orange juice-it shows up everywhere. He combines it with things I never would have thought of. However, he usually lists low calorie substitutes. And he never claimed this was a diet book!I found sprouting to be surprisingly easy, but his chart for sprouting and soaking times is incomplete. Sometimes he refers you to the chart, but what you need is missing. More information on sprouting would be helpful.Juliano is clearly in love with this way of cooking and this way of life. His enthusiasm is contagious. He seems to jump off the pages. Along this line, his sense of humor shows through when he names his recipes odd names which can be very misleading. Two examples are "Cottage Cheese" and "Nacho Cheese", which have no ingredients remotely contained in real cheese (except oil). I'm not saying these recipes aren't good substitutes or good on their own merit, just that the names are misleading.If you are new to vegetarianism or raw foods, I would not suggest switching over to this way of eating quickly. It will shock your system, and you'll probably get discouraged. Break yourself in over the course of a few months, and your body will thank you. This is the nicest book I've seen on the subject.