Eating Raw: Raw Food is a Growing Trend
Raw Bliss
Photograph by Tom Ruggieri.
Raw Foodism is the practice of eating uncooked, unprocessed, and often organic food as a significant part of a diet. Depending on the person, a raw food diet can be strict or flexible to suit individual needs. The raw food movement emerged in the 1900s and interest in the practice continues to grow today. Local practitioners such as Heidi Van Pelt have even experimented with an underground restaurant (since closed) at Bad Seed to gauge local interest in raw food as a cuisine.
At the core of raw food are beliefs such as:
• Raw food contains enzymes that aid in digestion. Cooking or processing food diminishes this capability.
• Raw foods contains bacteria and other micro-organisms that affect the immune system and digestion.
• Raw foods have higher nutrient values than foods which have been cooked.
Resources
Raw Food KC Meetup - http://rawfood.meetup.com/197/
Raw SolFüd Social KC - http://rawfood.meetup.com/420/
Kansas and World Raw Foodists - http://rawfood.meetup.com/423/
www.goneraw.com
BadSeed Farm and Market
http://www.kcfoodcircle.org/
As part of a raw food diet, "super foods," or foods purported to offer health benefits because of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, or other properties, are often cited as an important part of a raw food diet. The term serves often as a marketing tool given that there is no established legal or medical definition or standard of what constitutes a super food. Numerous sources make claims about the "top" super foods, but such hype prompt questions. Based on what standards? About the same or differing properties? Based on what evidence? In what quantities as part of a daily diet?
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