5 months on....

....and we have taken the plunge again, but this time it seems so easy, we have evolved our thinking from one that suggests eating a primarily raw vegan diet will be hard to the now obvious conclusion that there will more often than not ALWAYS be something in the way of fruit and veg available to us as we cycle through Europe and Africa...otherwise where would people who cook their food get their original ingredients from!

This realisation, although so simple, took a while to arrive at, but has precipitated our decision to ditch the stove in favour of a veg spiraliser called the Lurch spiralo. It is light weight, but pretty bulky. here is a pic I took today...not beautiful but it shows those wonderous strands of gorgeous veg. Completely transformed from chunky crunchy pumpking into perfect al dente 'pasta'




The Lurch Spiralo can be bought from here or here if you are in the UK (we have no affiliation) but is much cheaper in the US...Google it for the best prices...

Of course the weather has played a roll in our decision. Without access to a dehydrator being raw seemed so much harder over the winter months, but the birds are singing and we are in a far happier frame of mind now (of course only increased by the wonders of our diet)

not really travel food...but there you go

I find myself, of an evening, reading a lot of different blogs. This site by Heathy comes up again and again, along with Carmella from the sunny raw kitchen. What amazing food these two come up with. If I wasn't about to leave on a cycle trip I'd definitely be gathering all their recipes and books.

http://rawgoddessheathy.blogspot.com
http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/

Un Cooking

Just a short post.
I received my regular email this morning from a Raw Chef called Russel James. Looking at his recipes unfailingly makes my mouth water, so obviously I want to share....
His website shares some of his amazing recipes and how to tricks, for free, which seems quite novel in these times of money for everything! Whenever I attempt a recipe they never have that same visual panache, but they taste amazing, which obviously is the most important thing!
Also wanted to mention The Raw Freedom an amazing forum for all things raw, the lady who runs it Carmella also has a great, beautiful innovative and free blog 'The Sunny Raw Kitchen with recipes tips and the like.
I would love to one day meet these people. It is so obvious by what hey do that they love it, and it is so great for all of us to be able to share that.

One obsession leads to another

Food affects all aspects of my memory, I'm generally bad at remembering sequential happenings, but remind me of the time I ate squid ink pasta in Venice or the first time I tried an Acai berry Smoothie on the Pacific Crest Trail or that amazing bowl of sweet potato chips after a really hard mornings research dive in Sulawesi, then a whole flood of other memories surface and I could tell you a whole lot of exciting stuff that happened on that exact day....

My husband thinks my obsession with food is not totally a good thing, and I kind of agree. It would be so easy if I could go cold turkey and give it up, but unfortunately it's not like smoking, and I certainly enjoy food WAY too much to even consider anorexia...and bulimia...don't get me started, it's such a waste. so, writing this blog may be my only way of learning to live with it, to indulge my passion and take responsibility for it with words and pictures. (Is blogging going to be my therapy?? I wonder...)

Sadly my passion for munching leads to the eventual and very unwelcome side effect of weight gain...I have found a solution....incredible amounts of exercise....not easy to fit into a regular life, but we have found a way of challenging the body whilst also indulging the senses.

In 1997 we hiked the Appalachian Trail, in 2003 we cycled around France a bit, in 2006 we hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and now 2008 we are about to cycle from the UK to South Africa.
I have found a way to indulge my passion for Travel and the physical effort it requires affords me guilt free eating opportunities!

Africa will obviously be a bit different to Europe and the US, in as much as there may be certain places where food will be hard to come by, and I'm fully expecting to hit Ramadan at some point (no eating in daylight hours) which will throw up particular challenges, but I'm just as convinced that, because of the rich cultural influences, and the history of population movement, the type of food and the way it is prepared will be a hugely enlightening experience.

Can't wait to share it with the ether.
X

Food Philosophy

My food philosophy...

To make myself more aware of what I eat, why I eat it, what it does to the environment and my body and what response I have to the commercial systems that are subsequently developed and exploited in order to maintain the abundance of food we have access to daily.

Trying to write down my philosophy has been hard. It does not conform to a neat, easily transcribable list. It's often muddled with reasons pulled from many different sources. Stimulated from environmental, political and personal and scientific discourse. I want to encounter and maintain full health and although I feel I have educated myself enough to achieve that, I also know, I am often unwillingly controlled by my emotional needs not just physical food requirements.

Below is an evolutionary list of by requirements.


1. Healthy non processed food
a. food that requires very little preparation
b.prepared with raw ingredients
c. As few additives and E numbers as possible

2. Environmentally aware choices
a. Organic - pesticides and fertilisers damage the closed ecosystems of the plant..nevermind what it might do to us.
b. I like tropical foods, but my awareness of the pressure food shipping is putting on the environment I am choosing to eat (where possible) only food grown within the local area. (this will be more fully embraced when we are in a situation that will allow home grown food)

3. Meat Consumption?
a. Total rejection of the commercial meat production model (organic and non organic food is still all transported to large abattoirs that kill huge numbers of animals. To say these animals are either calm or unaware is a total denial of the process. The smell is that of blood and shit, the environment is totally alien and the whole mechanised process is visible to the animals well before death. Not to mention the process of killing.
b. Catching and killing of wild animals, if one so wishes, shows determination and skill. where the animal suffers as little pain as possible and if the situation demands it. There would be so little meat consumed if it had to be caught by the consumer. No guns. Guns require very little skill!

Having said all this I want to add that this blog, whilst maintaining the above rules, will mostly be about pretty and not so pretty pictures of the food I eat on a cycle trip from the UK to South Africa.

I may not all be completely unprocessed or vegan, or uncooked, but it will weave a story within a story and may or maynot be interesting for me to re read in the future!