Last Night’s Vegan/Raw/Macro Potluck
My friend Lynn, of Healthy Adventure, a travel company specializing in vegan and raw vacations to non-touristy areas, invited me to a potluck last night. I brought a Coconut Creme Pie that was the first dish to disappear. I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of it. It never crossed my mind. It was, however, quite attractive, if I say so myself. First, the ingredients (modified, from the Candle Cafe Cookbook):
- Macaroon Crust (cooked): Spelt flour, organic coconut, maple syrup, organic almonds, organic carrots, arrowroot, almond extract, sunflower oil, egg replacer, lemon zest
- Filling (raw): organic coconut, organic avocado, organic coconut milk, arrowroot, agave nectar, vanilla extract
The party was held at a beautiful historic home near downtown West Palm Beach and there were at least 75 people there when I left at 8:30 (I hadn’t felt well all day; I barely made it there), just as many more people were arriving.
Here are some observations:
- Lots of PETA T-shirts, hats and literature.
- Meet Your Meat was playing on a continuous loop.
- Many big cars outside.
- At least 80% of the cars had leather interior.
- With shoes, these days, you can’t tell, so I cannot say anything but TEVA.
- I have long hair (it was in a ponytail). Many of the guys had longer hair (also in ponytails).
- I was wearing the most make-up, by far, which is pretty funny considering I don’t wear much.
- Very stereotypical "grassroots activist-" looking people.
- Several people asked if I was a new vegan. One asked if I’m a flexitarian. I find this fascinating and I suppose it means I don’t look like a vegan. I was wondering how to interpret that. Is it an insult? I was clearly the chunkiest person there at 5’1" and 107 pounds, so maybe that was the supposedly telltale sign.
- There is evidently some kind of hierarchy, with the raw vegans at the top (not all raw is vegan, as some uses honey and other bee products). Truth be told, I aspire to raw veganism. I’m maybe half way there, just by virtue of eating one fruit meal and one salad meal each day. But it’s the second half that’s the difficult part.
- There is subtle infighting among the various contingents: macro, vegan, raw (vegan).
The evening reminded me of animal rights (of which there was no organized discussion). There is a spectrum of ways you can involve yourself, and some people in a certain group ridicule others for their lack of purity (read: they’re not helpful to those whom they might be able to convert, or to their own mission). Everyone’s doing their best, according to the information they have. Maybe if they had more or better information, they’d change the way they eat and shop. Maybe if they were supported for making better food choices than most Americans, and for being vegan, they’d be more receptive to taking their food activism to the next level.
aspiring to raw vegan is a very good idea (though cooked food really isn't poison as some 'enthusiasts' would have you believe). raw foods are rich in enzymes and therefore you don't end up depleting your own stores for something as mundane as eating.
as you eat more raw, you'll find that cooked food sort of sits like a lump in your stomach.
even if you mix raw with cooked you'll be doing better. for instance, if you make pizza don't top it with veggies and throw it in the oven – throw the crust and sauce in the oven first and then top it with raw veggies (you don't really have to have it all stuck together with that horrid tasting melted soy cheese without the caesin … develops your fine motor balancing skills, much less painful to eat and provides a rather rawvel experience.
Good idea. Funny, I used to be a Natural Hygienist (about 15 years ago) and I got so used to raw being ALL raw. Either you're eating raw or you're not. I wouldn't even think about putting raw on cooked. Silly me.
Hi Mary,
Can you please send me the recipe for the pie you made? It sounds delicious!
Thanks!
I just happened across your blog, which is funny, considering I was just talking to someone about how disected the vegan/raw foodist/ macro groups seem. I am 37, and have gone from organic, to macro, to macro vegan within around 2 years…and I am not at all hippy, radical or anything along those lines. I'm just doing what feels right for me. It's been amusing over the past couple of years to see that the macros are in it for health and spirituality but don't really focus on animal rights, and vegans don't seem to care that sugar is incredibly unhealthy even in it's rawest form so their diets aren't necessarity "that" healthy, and that the raw foodist seem to think that their way is best…so the groups don't really seem to mesh.
Good luck with your new interests in food/health/etc. I don't do it to be associated with any group, and I find something interesting in all of the groups, so I would have loved to have been at that potluck. They would have been eyeballing me too…I would have been the other "normal" looking person in the mix! Though I think everyone should get used to it. I think there's something to be said about the "new consciousness" that seems to be sweeping the planet. More and more "normal" people are going to be switching over to healthier and more compassionate lifestyles just b/c it feels right. If it can happen to this child of the 80s (read: low carb diets, shopping for food at Sam's Club, and eating lots of fast food and Doritoes) it can happen to anyone!