Does anyone think raw vegan food tastes better?

[tomcar]

I like some raw foods… but at the end of the day I need cooked food to be satisfied. As a vegetarian, I need a combination of grains, proteins and fruits and vegetables to be satisfied and have energy. It is very hard to get that kind of complex food raw.

[amanset]

@jackdavinci

But there are plenty that taste better raw. Definitely the texture is richer. Compare the difference between a chicken fillet and a ground up nugget.

Opinion stated as fact.

Confirmation bias

[grude]

@Aizle

An easy example for most people to use to help understand this is milk. Chances are that at some point you drank whole or 2% milk and then at some point switched to 2% or skim. When you first switched, the new milk tasted “thin” or not as good. But after a while you became used to it. And if you ever went back (after having been on the new milk for a long time) and tried whole or 2% milk it was terrible, like you were drinking cream.

Moved to a country without fresh milk, only boxed UHT stuff. When locally produced fresh cows milk became available it was a REVELATION, fracking delicious, I ended up binging on the stuff drinking liters a day.

So I disagree with your theory.

[ladyfoxfyre]

@Starving_Artist

So as it is now I’m waffling between the South Beach diet, a vegetarian diet, and a full-on vegan diet. Time will tell I guess, but either way I know I’m gonna have to allow myself some time to become acclimated to the flavors of natural foods instead of the richer foods I’m used to now, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if once I do, I’ll find I like them just fine.

Hey Starving, if you are looking for a good resource for vegan recipes and such, I would highly recommend getting theEngine 2 Diet book. It’s available in iTunes and for Nook / Kindle, if you do better with the ebook format. It has a ton of good recipes, along with a weekly meal plan and shopping guide that I have found to be very helpful. I tend to alternate between Paleo / E2 most of the time, but I have found this book to be very easy to read and it has a ton of good recipes.

[pulykamell]

@pulykamell

I also do like vegetarian and vegan foods, but cannot imagine ever going on a raw diet.

I take that back. I could see myself doing it for a limited time and actually being somewhat satisfied as long as steak tartare, carpaccio, sashimi, and ceviche are on the menu. What about salt-cured meats? Cause then we’re open to a whole mess of possibilities. Cold smoking? It would be nice to have some kind of bread to go with all this, though. I’m sure there must be some kind of raw foodist dehydrated grain paste that simulates bread, right?

[obfusciatrist]

@Spud

Ever had a raw potato?

Yes, and they’re good. If you gave me a raw potato and a boiled potato, I’d rather eat the raw potato.

Now, when you take that boiled potato and add salt, some butter and some milk and then mash the hell out of it, it is much better than tje raw potato. But mostly because of the salt, milk and butter.

@Aizle

But after a while you became used to it. And if you ever went back (after having been on the new milk for a long time) and tried whole or 2% milk it was terrible, like you were drinking cream.

Oh god no. I go years without drinking whole milk (which is what I grew up on) but whenever I do it is like being let back into heaven.

But the larger point seems fair. To a large extent you adjust to what you eat and it becomes normal and good (which is why I love my mom’s homemade chicken noodle soup, even though it is objectively awful).

It has now been more than 20 years since I stopped meat other than birds and fish. When I did that, there was nothing I liked better than a good thick steak. And now I find that beefy meat texture completely repulsive and can’t believe I ever put it in my mouth. The smell of bacon makes me want to leave the room.

[Starving_Artist]

@ladyfoxfyre

Hey Starving, if you are looking for a good resource for vegan recipes and such, I would highly recommend getting theEngine 2 Diet book. It’s available in iTunes and for Nook / Kindle, if you do better with the ebook format. It has a ton of good recipes, along with a weekly meal plan and shopping guide that I have found to be very helpful. I tend to alternate between Paleo / E2 most of the time, but I have found this book to be very easy to read and it has a ton of good recipes.

Just now getting online and wanted to say thanks for the recommendation.

[pulykamell]

@pulykamell

I take that back. I could see myself doing it for a limited time and actually being somewhat satisfied as long as steak tartare, carpaccio, sashimi, and ceviche are on the menu. What about salt-cured meats? Cause then we’re open to a whole mess of possibilities. Cold smoking? It would be nice to have some kind of bread to go with all this, though. I’m sure there must be some kind of raw foodist dehydrated grain paste that simulates bread, right?

(Of course, I just now realized the OP specifies “vegan” in the thread title, but not all raw diets are vegan, as far as I know).

[Michael63129]

@hogarth

It’s supposed to be healthier, for various real and/or new-agey reasons.

If one wants to eat healthier, just stop eating junk food. Really; here is the typical caloric makeup of the average American diet (values are for the latest year on this graph, unsourced but the trends are supported by this paper; the trends themselves are also interesting, with big increases from grains (largely refined) and added fats/sugars in recent decades):

Added fats and sugars: 1,040 calories
Grains:                625 calories
Meat/eggs/nuts:        420 calories
Dairy:                 260 calories
Fruits and vegetables: 200 calories

Total:                 2,545 calories

No wonder we have epidemics of diet-related health problems! Cut out added fats and sugars and reduce caloric intake by 40% (or replace them with fruits and vegetables for a sixfold increase).

Also, as for meat, if you don’t want to eat meat because you think it is unhealthy, just don’t eat processed meats (cured, salted, smoked; e.g., hot dogs, bacon, cold cuts, etc, which are also often high in fat and sodium):

Eating one serving a day of processed meat – or the equivalent of a single hot dog or two slices of salami – was associated with a 42% increased risk for heart disease and a 19% increased risk for diabetes in the study, conducted by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Eating unprocessed beef, pork, or lamb was not linked to a higher risk for heart disease and diabetes.

Myself, I have to say I rarely eat raw foods, except for things like apples and bananas, not that cooked, even canned, vegetables are necessarily nutritionally inferior unless you eat them right after harvesting or cook them to death; I also consider myself to be very healthy and rarely get sick, as evidenced by my not ever getting flu shots or anything.

[adhemar]

@Starving_Artist

I’ve been getting into a bit of a health kick lately and I’ve been considering switching to a vegetarian or maybe even a vegan diet lately, mainly because so many people who seem really healthy subscribe to them. Recently I discovered this guy, whose name, as you’ll see if you click the link, is Jim Morris, a 77-year-old lifelong bodybuilder who became a vegetarian at 50 and a vegan at 65. In the linked video he explains what he eats and how it takes time for people used to high sugar, junk food diets to adjust and become accustomed to the flavor of natural foods. The video is general in nature and meanders somewhat, but his comments on his own diet begin at around 5:30 and his comments on becoming accustomed to eating natural foods begins at around 12:13.

From other articles I’ve read about him, he doesn’t eat a mostly salad diet at all. Instead he chooses foods that he describes as unprocessed, unrefined, whole natural vegetables, beans, grains, fruits and nuts.

“My diet is very simple. I eat only from five food groups. Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts, Beans and Grains. I do not eat anything made FROM any of the foods in these food groups. I eat the fruits and nuts uncooked. I microwave some of the vegetables sometimes but mostly eat them uncooked. I cook the beans and grains as little as possible so as to destroy the least amount of nutrients. … Every nutrient, with the possible exception of B – 12, is in those 5 food groups. Every craving can be satisfied with something in those 5 food groups.”

He goes on to state that:

So I’m thinkin’, what the hell, I’m gettin’ up there. I have allergy trouble and my knees are startin’ to bite me pretty good. And I’d like to not be on any medication. Maybe I oughtta give this vegan stuff a try too. And maybe start lifting some weights and doing cardio along with it.

Anyway, couldn’t hoit, is what I’m thinking.

So as it is now I’m waffling between the South Beach diet, a vegetarian diet, and a full-on vegan diet. Time will tell I guess, but either way I know I’m gonna have to allow myself some time to become acclimated to the flavors of natural foods instead of the richer foods I’m used to now, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if once I do, I’ll find I like them just fine.

You might read the Paleo Solution as well, I found it very interesting. They have similar sucess stories on thier website as well.

[Starving_Artist]

Thank you, I will. I’m surprised at how interesting it is to be learning about all this stuff. I appreciate everyone’s feedback.