Department of Health

Kari Bernardi knows that the best way to open people’s minds is through their stomachs.To spark an interest in eating more raw food, she simply arrives at a dinner party with one of her crowd-pleasing cheesecakes. And then, after someone inevitably proclaims it the best cheesecake ever, Bernardi mentions that the “cheesecake” was neither baked nor contained any cheese; instead it was completely raw, made from whole- some, whole foods, like cashews and dates.

“Later they call to say ‘not only was it the best cheesecake, but I feel so good,’” says Bernardi, a certified gourmet raw food chef and instructor who is known on the Monterey Peninsula as the Super Natural Chef. “They realize ‘Hmm, maybe these [raw food] people are on to something.’ And then they are willing to try the nut patés and the kale salads.”

Armed with blenders, juicers, dehydrators and other gently transformative culinary tools, local raw foodies like Bernardi are creating luscious cuisine and winning new converts, trouncing the myth that a raw diet means only carrots, celery and feelings of deprivation.

In fact, Bernardi argues, raw cuisine “tastes better than everything else.”

It’s no wonder that in an age when people are increasingly making the connection between what they eat and how they feel, as well as between freshness and taste, the raw diet should be one of the flavors of the moment.

But as of press time for this issue of Edible Monterey Bay, the local raw movement was about to get its biggest boost yet with Bernardi’s launch of a line of raw prepared foods. In August, Super Natural Chef Co. was poised to start offering time-saving components of raw cuisine such as nut creams, as well as ready-to-eat salads, dressings, patés and desserts, all made with fresh, raw ingredients and sold at the Cornucopia Community Market in Carmel.

The basic premise of raw foodism—first espoused in the late 19th century by Maximilian Bircher-Benner, a Swiss physician best known for creating muesli—is that high heat destroys important nutrients and beneficial enzymes, and can even introduce new toxins to foods.

“Living foods are filled with vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, chlorophyll, high-density nutrition and necessary enzymes,” explains Bernardi. “When you heat foods above 118° F, these vital nutrients can be destroyed.”

Bernardi experienced the health benefits firsthand when she adopted a raw regime first in her 20s. “I was already vegan [eating no animal products] and struggling with some personal health issues, and got turned on to green juices and wheatgrass. I found that my body loved them and a lot of my ailments washed away,” she says.

All in all, there remains widespread consensus that eating a lot of raw fruit and vegetables is essential to a healthy diet. But whether a completely raw diet is healthy or not is another point of contention.

During a June 18 talk in Santa Cruz, author Michael Pollan got a hearty laugh from the crowd when he quipped, “You cannot support the human brain without cooked food. Think about that, raw foodists … if you can.”

He was in town to discuss his latest book, “Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.” In the tome about the connections be- tween cooking, health and culture, Pollan points to research by British primatologist Richard Wrangham that pegs the development of cooking as what allowed humans to evolve from simple creatures whose energy went mostly to digestion of raw foods to big-brained creators of civilizations.

“By freeing us from the need to feed constantly, cooking ennobled us, putting us on the path to philosophy and music,” writes Pollan, going on to say that “cooking allows us to digest more of what we eat, and to use less energy doing it.” He cites research that suggests humans “don’t do well on raw food,” with side effects such as low body weights and halted menstruation for women.

Fuhrman, the well-known physician and author who coined Bernardi’s preferred designation of “nutritarian,” stresses the importance of eating mostly plants, prepared mostly raw. (This type of eat- ing is referred to as “high raw” among the initiated.) But he advises against eating only raw, citing on his website, “Frequent fungal skin and nail infections, poor dentition, hair loss and muscular wasting” are common among those who follow a strictly raw diet.

“Our caloric needs cannot be met on a raw food diet without consuming large amounts of fruits, avocado, nuts and seeds,” he explains on his site. “This may be an adequate diet for some people, but in my 15 years of medical practice…I have seen many people who weakened their health on such raw food, vegan diets.”

Bernardi and Fontaine both emphatically believe that it is pos- sible to be optimally healthy on a 100% raw food diet, but they admit that it can be hard socially.

Fontaine points out that even among prominent people in the raw movement, very few eat solely raw foods.

“I don’t know too many people, even nationally, who are 100% raw,” she says. “A lot of people feel like it has to be all or nothing, but that’s not the case. I believe that the more raw you can eat on a daily basis, the better off you are.”

To her clients, Fontaine recommends aiming for at least 50% raw in each meal. Personally, she shoots to eat raw for breakfast and lunch and mostly raw for dinner.

The Changeover

Raw foods pack a serious nutritional punch for anyone who commits to them, but making the switch to raw won’t be an identical experi- ence for everyone, says Bernardi. Those transitioning from an already healthy diet will find it easier, while those coming off of an average American diet (lots of meat, processed foods, etc.) may experience headaches and tiredness at first, before going on to feel supremely