For the second installment of our look at raw food, chef Matt Downes–who’s spent a significant amount of time studying and working with uncooked dishes–offers his perspective on the movement. In addition he’s come up with a raw miso soup that’s as flavorful as it is healthy. All that then some, below.
Having worked as a raw food chef for much of your career, what’s your take on it?
Raw food can be quite beneficial, but I’m skeptical about using it at the exclusion of cooking. While there is evidence that the enzymes provided in raw food–which are denatured at high temperatures–help in digesting food, there’s a considerable amount of evidence that the human body actually absorbs more nutrients from cooked food. In fact, humans evolved in such away that our stomachs shrank and brains grew larger, most likely because of cooked food.
Research has shown that it takes a considerable amount of energy to process raw food, especially proteins. This does, of course, have its benefits: If one’s goal is to lose weight, the expenditure of energy is great for that. However, it does not leave much energy for high activity. I wouldn’t train for a marathon while eating a 100% raw diet.
Thinking about raw food, then, as not a complete diet but as a component of a broader vegetable-based one–how might it fit in?
First, I’m a huge proponent of seasonal eating. There’s a reason why apples, potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets and so many other hearty fruits and vegetables grow in colder climates: they help us make it through the winter. They’re denser, earthier–and they need longer to cook, more fire to prepare them to be eaten. In simple macrobiotic terms, the longer you cook something the more heat you will ultimately consume. In the winter, eating these foods provide warmth.
In the summertime, with lighter, wetter and airier vegetation (like berries, melons and tomatoes) and quicker, lighter preparations we look to cool our bodies, or at least not add quite so much heat. Generally, we stay away from dense stews that have been cooked for hours during the heat of summer.
This makes eating raw, in my opinion, great in the warmer months, but very tricky during the colder ones. As much as I enjoy salad (and I do eat it occasionally during the winter), it certainly isn’t going to be my go-to meal to warm me through on a snowy day.
Because you can’t eat raw potatoes or raw hard squashes, it makes it very difficult to get those warming foods into the system on a completely raw diet. And even if you manipulate some foods, such as squashes, in a dehydrator for long enough, it’s still not the same as cooking. You get out the energy that you put in, and that includes the heat.
The standard complaint that seems to be lodged against vegan/vegetarian–not to mention raw–meals is that it’s tough to keep them from looking like spruced up side dishes, especially when improvising at home. What’s your advice there?
First of all, once you remove the “raw” things get easier: When I talk about a palate I’m thinking more in terms of paint colors than refined culinary tastes. Eat a rainbow of colors each day. Sauté some greens, roast some squash, make a stew with tempeh, carrots, blue potatoes and turnips. Start off with some miso soup containing mushrooms, radishes, scallions, tofu and wakame. Eat salad. But rather than top your salad with out-of-season tomatoes, toss it with roasted beets and toasted hazelnuts, or perhaps pan roasted Brussels sprouts and pinenuts.
We really don’t need much protein in our diets, maybe 15-20% of our daily caloric intake. That can easily be achieved with grains and beans, mushrooms, tofu and tempeh. Most vegetables have some amount of protein, even if just a little, so as long as you’re eating your veggies, you’ll definitely be getting enough protein.
Supplement with nuts, too. But don’t overdo it. One of the downsides of raw cuisine, specifically, is that while from a culinary perspective nuts are perfect for a raw, vegan “ricotta” or a vanilla “anglaise,” it’s easy for consumers to forget that although their Beet Ravioli with “Ricotta” and Truffled Cream Sauce is without cream and butter–it’s still quite high in fat and calories.
RECIPE: Matt’s Raw Miso Parsnip Ramen Soup
Per Matt: This is a nice dish to warm the body on a fall or winter day. It’s a take on Japanese Ramen Soup in which parsnip “noodles” replace the traditional noodles. A little bit of smoked paprika is added to the broth to replicate the smokiness from bonito, the dried tuna flakes often used in traditional dashi broth. This recipe requires the use of a mandolin, which is an essential tool in any kitchen, but especially when preparing raw food, as it can help turn out many different shapes, from matchsticks to ravioli to noodles, quickly and consistently. Japanese mandolins are quite inexpensive and can be purchased at most kitchen stores.
Ingredients (makes 2 large or 4 small servings)
3-4 large parsnips, peeled
1 cup stemmed shiitake mushrooms, sliced thin
2 scallions, washed and sliced on the bias
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
8 cups + 2 tbl warm water (about 115 degrees)
2 tsp sea salt
2 tbl umeboshi vinegar (a plum-derived vinegar. If you can’t find it, substitute with 1 tbl water, 1 tbl apple cider vinegar, and 1/4 tsp salt)
1 tbl + 2 tsp raw shoyu (a “raw” soy sauce. so, yes, it won’t be completely raw, but you can use regular soy here)
1 tsp grated ginger
½ tsp smoked paprika
¼ cup red miso
¼ cup mung bean sprouts, washed (optional)
1 sheet nori, cut into 8 equal squares
2 shiso leaves, cut into long, thin strips (optional)
2 tsp virgin sesame oil
Procedure
1) Using a mandolin with the medium teeth, slice the parsnips lengthwise to form noodles. You should end up with 2 cups. In a bowl, combine 4 cups warm water with 2 tsp salt. Place the parsnip noodles into the water, cover and set aside for 1 hour.
2) In a small bowl, combine 2 tbl warm water, umeboshi vinegar and 1 tbl shoyu. Add shiitake mushrooms and toss to coat. Set aside for 1 hour, tossing after a half hour.
3) In a medium pot, combine 4 cups warm water, 2 tsp shoyu, ginger, smoked paprika and set over a low flame in order to maintain 115 degrees, but do not heat any further. Whisk in miso until completely dissolved.
4) Drain parsnip noodles and place in miso broth to warm. Drain shiitake mushrooms. Divide the noodles in half and place them in mounds in the center of 2 bowls. Pour half the miso broth over each bowl of noodles. Working around the noodles in each bowl, place ½ of each ingredient in the following positions: shiitake mushrooms at 12 o’clock, scallion at 2 o’clock, carrots at 4 o’clock and nori squares at 6 o’clock. Place half the bean sprouts in the center, topped with half the shiso. Drizzle with half the oil.
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Camille