Canberra Food Gardens: Pale Skin

As a young man, my boss, friend and mentor was a Chef and Frenchman called Laurent. He was an amazing, creative chef, generous with his skills and knowledge of food. I worked with him at a delicious little restaurant called Collits Inn, hidden away in the Blue Mountains. The little homestead was set amongst the bush, and I fondly remember looking out of the kitchen where I worked onto the open land where my dog played with the other dogs belonging to the various staff of the establishment (I learned that many workplaces would be happier if dogs were allowed). Laurent has since moved on to South Africa, but many of his words still remain with me.

I was reminded of some of these words recently when my wife gave me a surprise gift of attending a Raw Food workshop. Laurent used to say (imagine a thick French accent): "The Vegetarians are the ones who look pale". Of course, he was only half-joking, but referring to the fact that most chefs - myself included - love to make use of whatever fresh, quality produce is available to us - including meat. This also applies to cooking our food. Other than a great salad, the idea of eating raw food is something that I had never understood.

Kemi Nekvapil demonstrates a Raw Food recipe

Armed with my preconceptions of learning how to make carrot sticks and...well...not much else I begrudgingly gave up my Saturday to head off to the beautiful grounds of the Orana School kindergarten.

Within a few minutes, I realised that this workshop was going to be about anything but carrot sticks. Kemi Nekvapil, a chef from Melbourne and who has worked in some of the finest restaurants in England and abroad, ran the workshop - weaving story-telling, demonstration, and "hands-on", introducing us to the concept of raw food.

Some of the delicious Raw Food ingredients

Story telling is an essential ingredient of all nutritious meals

I learned that many people come to a raw food diet for health reasons and stay because it offers a sense of vitality, empowerment, richness and joy in eating. We learned how to make an amazing raw food curry (seriously, it was good), a sweet chocolate avocado mousse, cashew cream, and some "naughty" sweet treats. My favourite though was the "Green Smoothie" - a sweet recipe given to Kemi by a woman who wanted to make changes in her diet but found she could not give up all of her processed foods, coffee, and other "vices". She began having a Green Smoothie once a day and made no other deliberate changes in her diet, yet found her health improved radically. I immediately came home and made the Green Smoothie for my family, sharing the story of its discovery. Since the workshop we have started each day with one of these amazing drinks. I can't say we have given up our coffee or other cooked foods, but I do know that it has reduced our cravings for processed food across the board.

As well as an incredible, fulfilling raw food lunch and delicious recipes to "take home", the other valuable thing I took away from this workshop was the realisation how interconnected story-telling and food are. Each time I have made one of the recipes I learned at the workshop, I think of the person behind the recipe and in some small way feel connected to them. As we use (mostly) local ingredients and know where most of our food comes from, I feel a stronger sense of community and belonging every time we sit down at our kitchen table. This is something sadly missing from much of the food available on the mass-market today. When we eat a packet of chips, or a frozen meal we have no idea who prepared it, or in what soil the original ingredients were grown.

Imagine how much stronger, and more peaceful, our society would be if we could have just one "story meal" a week - one meal where we knew the person and the tale behind the recipe and the ingredients that we eat.