We met up with some good friends recently and they asked us whether we have plucked up the courage to try any raw food since we last met them. We told them that we had tried a few things and enjoyed some, but it wasn’t something that we felt we could make a regular part of our diet.
But later that day I realised how stupid this was, because we already eat raw plant foods every day. And I bet you do too.
The problem is not that raw plant foods are extreme or unpleasant, but that we brands them with emotionally and politcially charged words like RAW and VEGAN, allowing us to be blinded by cultural prejudice.
Don’t believe me? Here are some “raw vegan” foods that most of us eat at least occassionally, if not every day.
Yeah, I know it sounds obvious doesn’t it? Fruit is nearly always eaten raw and it is entirely made of plants. Duh!
Not everyone likes salad (including me to an extent), but many people love it. I mean normal people, that do normal things. Of course, you can have a salad that contains some cooked or animal components, but even in those cases, the heart of the dish is raw plants.
Nuts are a popular snack and can be a great source of raw plant food. Often when you buy them from the supermarket they have been roasted or toasted, but it isn’t uncommon to find raw nuts too.
Bare in mind that these example are not just raw, but raw AND vegan, the most extreme and ridiculous possible dietary combination in many peoples eyes. And yet most of us eat it. If you slacken off the criteria and just look at plant foods (not necessarily raw), then it makes up an even larger part of what we all eat. Those veggies with your roast chicken are 100% vegan, and so is that jam sandwich. We all eat a lot of plant food, but we just don’t look at it that way.
So next time you have a negative reaction to the idea of raw and/or vegan food, ask yourself honestly whether you have enjoyed any of the above foods recently. Put your prejudices to one side and judge each meal on its own merits.
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