RAWvolution: Gourmet Living Cuisine

I've just gotten into eating raw foods after doing the Master Cleanse and I'm so happy that I started with this book. The recipes are very easy and everything is delicious! I think the is the BEST raw food cookbook to start with before getting into more elaborate dishes and techniques. Yes, some of the recipes require a dehydrator but to start out you could use an oven on a low temperature with the door open. And of course if you're going to be making raw foods you'll need a dehydrator eventually. Happy eating!

This is a great raw food recipe book for anyone that is either transitioning to a raw food diet, or has made it their lifestyle for years! Easy to follow directions with tasty pictures of almost every recipe (a lot of the recipes only call for throwing everything in a blender, and presto!), and a helpful glossary of foods that may be unfamiliar to some. Make sure to have a food dehydrator--you won't want to miss out on the unbelievable food he has that requires one.

I have been eating raw food for only about 1.5 months. I came across this book after the first month, and even though I already had quite a number of raw "cook"books to work with, this one has emerged as my clear favorite, at least for this transitional period. Many of the other books seem geared only toward people who have fully adapted to a raw lifestyle -- even if they explain the principles for the newcomer, the food is often not exciting to the "raw palate in training" -- it's usually palatable, but just not exciting. This book has convinced me that I can stay with the raw diet for the long haul, because the food is really delicious. And the procedures are simple and generally quite quick to execute. For my first foray into the book, I made the mock tuna salad which I served on the famous onion bread. Both recipes worked perfectly and tasted absolutely wonderful. They will be staples for sure. This book, along with Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko, are the 2 that will light my way into the raw vegan diet -- which has already produced remarkable benefits for me in terms of weight loss, energy, and positive mood. I'm grateful to Matt Amsden for sharing his creative and delicious cuisine.

First off I would like to say that I dont live in California so I havent been able to go to RAWvolution and try the food there, I cant compare my home 'cooking' to his.I have 5 other raw cookbooks and was awaiting this release to add to my collection. This book is definately not for someone new to a raw food diet, as it doesnt contain much informatoin about they why's and how's of what you are eating. It does however include a small chapter on what ingredients you should keep in your pantry. With less than 200 pages from cover to cover it is on the small side for a cookbook. The recipe chapters include breakfast, soups, sides and starters, sauces and dips, entrees and desserts. The breakfast section is quite small with about 10 recipes. Although I usually have a green drink or juice I do like breakfast recipes to eat throughout the day, they're nice to have. Most of the recipes are pretty nut/seed patty heavy (using one nut loaf for 4 different entrees and a seasoned walnut meat for 3 others) but Matt does use more sunflower seeds than nuts which for me is refreshing. He also uses his onion bread recipe in anything that requires a crust such as pizza or sandwiches and for tostadas, no other bread, cracker or tortilla recipe is included. The book is also light on dessert recipes. Whole fruit pies in a 5inch pan make up most of them. You will either need to purchase a 5 inch pie pan or make 1 1/2 the recipe to fit a standard 9 inch. Some recipes that stand out are the mock tuna and mock chicken salad (my new favorite!), cheese pierogis, the big Matt with cheese (his raw version of a big mac), cheese sticks, cucumber dill salad, hummus, mashed potatoes and a fantastic chili. Dehydration, soaking, the use of a high speed blender (VitaMix or Ktec) and juicing are used so these machines will be needed to complete the recipes. What isnt included a lot is sprouting. Which is refreshing after so many authors being "sprout" happy which adds days to your preperation. There is only one recipe which requires soaking. The pictures of the food are appetizing and clear which make trying the recipes tempting. The photographs of Matt and his staff are a little California 'hippy' which is fine but I didnt buy the book to look at the author. The recipes are clear and easy to understand, they indicate at the top of the page how many servings each recipe yields and icons are used to denote what type of machines are used. This is a good book that makes a great ADDITION to your collection, I would not start with this book though. My favorite raw food book to date is still "Raw food, real world" by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Mengalis, which does have some lengthy recipes but the flavors are amazing. UPDATE: So Ive had this book an extra week since I wrote the original review. I have had issues with 3 of his recipes so far. The "Famous Onion Bread" which serves as every bread, cracker or crust is completely wrong. I ended up having to blend all ingredients in a Vit