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303 of 316 found the following review helpful:
 Tools, Skills, Time Required May 02, 2008
By studying student
Good recipes but some unconventional ingredients and tools are needed.
1. Coconut Meat + Ability to Cut Coconuts (required for many smoothies)
2. Blue green algae, agave, acai, ginger, goji berries, cacao nibs, tocotrienols, hemp protein, mesquite pod meal, maple powder, ancho chile powder, shoyu, lecithin (for nut milk drinks)
3. Soaked nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, macadamia, etc)
4. Tools: Dehydrator, Juicer (especially for vegetables such as cucumbers, carrots, and ginger), Strong Blender (author uses Vita Mix)
There are very few recipes which do not require these ingredients and tools.
79 of 80 found the following review helpful:
Not for those on a budget May 16, 2008
By P. Townsend
I was very excited to get this book after owning RAW FOOD REAL WORLD.
While I was struck by some original recipes, I found myself a bit dissapointed. Overall I thought as if the book lacked a certain polish I expected. The food photos are ok (and a few confusing, sesame cashew dumplings- why is there another plate of untitled food in this photo?), the interior page colors were harsh, one recipe is not complete in the book (ice cream cone), several recipes were rehashed from RFRW, and I even found a exact quote about mangos from RWRF in this book again.
This is definitley not for those on a limited budget.
There are many out of the ordinary ingredients and large amounts used(some not completely raw either).
Prepare to use a lot of coconut meat, cashews and dehydration (one cracker recipe calls for 2-3 days of dehydration).
Good points - the price of the book, originality and taste of recipes -some simply wonderful(although he does hint they are not all his creations), lack of filler info (which is a major plus). Its straight up recipes. The font makes the recipes and ingredients easy to read. Most are also easy enough to make for everday(minus those needing dehydration).
I own several raw recipe books, and while this is in my top ten its not my absolute favorite. I do appreciate having a fresh new recipe book though and its good to see Matthew back on the scene, so maybe it will grow on me.
81 of 83 found the following review helpful:
Great Starter Book for Raw Food, but not 100% Raw May 14, 2008
By Laura Bruno
"Laura"
I received this book a few days ago and looked forward to making many of the recipes. I love gourmet raw food but don't have much time to prepare it, so this book seemed like a great idea.
So far, I have made the Triple C smoothie, the tortilla chips, the white grape and tomatillo gazpacho, and a variation of the fennel and orange salad. The items have all tasted good. If I had had every single ingredient on hand, they likely would have tasted excellent, but the reason I give only 4 stars is because some ingredients are not the most commonly available in a raw food kitchen. I am a raw foodist, so the ingredients I'm missing tend to be things like nutritional yeast, white pepper, chili powder, and maple syrup--all non-raw items. The recipes tasted fine without these ingredients, and I improvised with ones I had on hand, but some hard core raw foodists might take issue with the frequent use of non-raw items.
I appreciate that this book makes raw food accessible to less hard core raw foodists, though. Most vegan kitchens would contain at least maple syrup, nutritional yeast and chili powder. The only other reason for the 4-star instead of 5-star rating is that some of the recipes still take a long time to prepare. I spent about an hour and a 1/2 in the kitchen yesterday, not counting 24 hours of dehydrating time for the tortilla chips. It's faster and tastier than many raw food books but definitely not near-instantaneous food prep unless you just happen to have all the ingredients pre-chopped and on-hand.
45 of 46 found the following review helpful:
 *This* is what I should do for my everyday fare? Jan 30, 2009
By dnk
"dnkboston"
And this is what other people actually do?
You should know: you will need a Vitamix for most of the recipes and a dehydrator for a good chunk. For those recipes that you will need a vitamix for you could probably substitute a regular blender- mine usually works pretty well- but not for everything (goji berries, for example, don't blitz that well at regular speeds). For those recipes that require a dehydrator, you're going to need to plan ahead as many of the recipes would have you dehydrate for a day or more- seriously. These are not things that you're going to be inspired to make and eat quickly. For me, that's a big part of my everyday life.
I will say that the smoothie, salad, sauce and soup sections had recipes that 1) didn't require a lot of dehydration and 2) were relatively quick to prepare. But that's not what I'm going to eat those exclusively on a regular basis. Also, I agree with another reviewer: some of these recipes will be ridiculously expensive to prepare, particularly the Maca-Cacao Truffles. Two cups of Maca? Really???
There are some interesting flavor combinations, but it's very much a jumping off point. I wouldn't even use this as a starter uncookbook- just for the occasional inspiration (and there are better sources for those).
29 of 30 found the following review helpful:
 Genius Apr 17, 2008
By R. Hanson
Matthew Kenney is a raw food culinary genious. This book is fantastic! I have made a few recipes already and am completely impressed. The raw chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookies are fabulous raw, I'm waiting for them in my dehydrator now....
I hope Matthew will continue to produce such great recipes and that he will share them with us in another cook book.
My only complaint is that on page 134, the ice cream cones have the directions for the recipe above them. The ingredients are correct, just not the directions. I called the publisher and she emailed me the correct instructions within 24 hours. I just printed it off and taped it in my book over the incorrect instructions. I'm excited to try them too.
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