a raw food lunch (with raw chocolate!)

I went to a raw lunch yesterday. It felt like a wise move, to balance out the full day chocolate tour on Saturday. Before you think “ick”, let me say the food was actually really good. Peter has spent time working in professional kitchens, before deciding to try his hand as a raw chef, and you can tell. None of the “wholesome” (read: gritty) sauces and over-complex spiced salads, Peter’s specialty is replicating cooked foods that people crave. He makes incredible “corn chips” from flax seed. After spending two days studying with Barry Callebaut last week I expect his range of raw chocolate treats will only get more delicious. These are the light lasagnes with sundried tomato and pesto that we had as a main on Sunday, before they were plated with a spinach, olive and pine nut salad and brought out to us.

Unfortunately I have no picture of the "maple pecan icecream with chocolate sauce". But it was smooth and cold like icecream and the chocolate sauce thick and solidified on contact. Incredibly sweet and creamy. I'm not so certain that this was the best antidote to yesterday afterall! (But delicious and fun, nonetheless. If you are interested in trying these raw food experiences (I swear, even hard-core meat and veg people will like them) go to www.rawfoodparty.com and sign up for Peter's newsletter and you'll get information of the meals as he schedules them. Each meal has a theme, this one being Italian. I'm sorry I missed the raw Indian (or maybe that one is still to come... hmm...).

I left armed with supplies for my almost guilt-free chocolate treats, which, after all I've eaten lately, might be a good way towards weaning myself into having some days with less chocolate.