Extreme Dietary Restrictions: The Raw Vegan guest

[whatsanenigma]

Maybe you could ask her for some specific meal ideas or recipies.  You could tell her that you're really curious about this diet she has but you don't know a lot about it, so could she suggest some specific things, or even prepare them along with you, show you how to make them? Along with this could go the suggestion from a previous poster about shopping for food together.

I would think that she would appriciate a genuine interest in her way of eating and desire to accomodate it, as well as a real curiousity and open mindedness to exploring exactly what it is, and trying it yourselves, and even though you most likely won't switch over to it all together after she leaves, maybe you will end up incorperating some aspects of it into your meals, even if it's just continuing to enjoy some of her recipies even after she goes back home, should they suit you.

If you think there is any chance this will make the whole visit about food, and therefore boring, or that she'll think she is going to fully "convert" you, though, I would hesitate to try this, though.

[blarg314]

I would serve her something she can eat, but not worry too much about balancing nutrition requirements, or giving variety, as it's just two days.  As you said, a balanced raw vegan diet requires a fair amount of specialized equipment and techniques, so it's not really practical for someone following the diet to expect to get the same sort of food they would at home.

Fruits and veggies are easy. Starches and proteins are much, much harder to do raw - beans and lentils are generally cooked to make them edible, and most grains are also cooked before being digestible or palatable.  Tofu products are likely out, because the soy beans and milk are cooked during the tofu-making process. I'm not even sure if peanut butter would work, as  the nuts are roasted before grinding.  I think the protein/starch content in a raw vegan diet involves a lot of soaking, grinding and dehydrating, which is more than you can really ask of a host. 

So raw veggies and fruit and un-roasted nuts (try a baking supply store), and she can manage for a weekend.

[snowdragon]

http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/nutrition/raw-food-diets.aspx

Quinoa (sp?) or semolina might help you too

I would not be eating vegan ( muchless raw) that's her choice, it does not over ride everyone elses

[Isometric]

Oh, wow, good luck! I really think that because her diet is so extreme, she would need to shoulder much of the responsibility for feeding herself. A nut allergy or being vegetarian is one thing, but the vegan and raw foods diets are hard to follow (or take a lot of organisation) on their own, let alone together. Nothing against either diet at all, but I think it's unfair to expect a host to have everything prepared for them for such a strict diet. If I were following such a diet I would  provide and prepare my own main meals as a matter of course.

I would have a chat with her, ask her what foods you can have on hand for her, or if she will go shopping with you when she arrives.

[Kaypeep]

What has your SO said?  It's his mom, surely she's visited him before.  What did he do with her then?  I'm sure you want to make a good impression and be a good hostess, but I'd be relying on him to take up most of the work on this one since he's probably done it before.

[Mikayla]

Since Aeris mentioned in the OP that mom often switches from raw to regular vegan when traveling, I'd think this would be the most important thing to figure out.  If she's planning on eating regular vegan, then problem solved.  Just set out a nice assortment of nuts and fresh fruits/veggies along with any cooked dishes.

But I agree that the SO should be the one to ask her about this. 

[Hmmmmm]

I think I'd start by planning your daily activities.  If you plan to be out and about during the day, then try to find a raw vegan friendly restaurant in that area for lunch and then a lighter dinner at your place of salads, vegetables and fruit.  And maybe the next day, you serve lunch at your place and then have dinner out somewhere. 

....and have really good snacks planned for your SO and you for when she leaves to go back to the hotel.

[Dorrie78]

Personally, I would be very unwilling to do anything beyond having plenty of fruit and vegetables in the house. I simply wouldn't cater to an extreme diet like this. I think it is entirely on the person who chooses to follow an extreme diet to make it as easy as possible on his or her hosts. I would make available easy things that follow those guidelines (like the aforementioned produce) and I would have my normal food in the house, some of which is vegan-friendly but need cooking, but I wouldn't go through any further effort.

[blarg314]

According to Wikipedia

It excludes all food of animal origin, as well as food cooked at a temperature above 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit). A raw vegan diet includes raw vegetables and fruits, nuts and nut pastes, grain and legume sprouts, seeds, plant oils, sea vegetables, herbs, and fresh juices...

By this, you would have to exclude roasted nuts (including peanut butter), all soy products, canned fruits and vegetables, and any commercial fruit or vegetable juices or honey (as commercial versions are pasteurized by law). Vinegar and sugar seem to be problematic, as they are often cooked in the processing.

I was curious and did a quick look at various raw-food sites, for recipes - I can easily figure out what a vegan would eat, but wasn't sure about this.

The meals seem to lean heavily on dehydrated nut and soaked grain pastes for bread substitutes, and home-made nut purees and fresh nut milks for 'cheese' and 'milk', and grated vegetables for 'pasta'. If I remember correctly, raw grains aren't very digestible, and soaking/sprouting them helps make them edible.

So you can stock fresh fruits and vegetables, bean sprouts, raw nuts, cold pressed olive oil, lemons. If you have a grater, you can grate fresh zucchini or sweet potatoes for 'pasta', and top with chopped tomatoes, olive oil and lemon juice, or marinate raw vegetables in olive oil, lemon juice and herbs, with sun-dried tomatoes. A veggie dip could be made of pureed seasoned raw cashews.

As far as naturally raw-vegan dishes, I can think of salads, gazpacho, if the latter is made with fresh (not canned) tomatoes, and lemon juice instead of vinegar, and pesto, made without cheese and not toasting the pine-nuts.

 

[Aeris]

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions!

I did a lot of research since posting this, and had come to the conclusion that there were a variety of nice salads, and a few interesting soups, that I could handle and would be tasty. It seemed anything much more complicated than that either required massive amounts of prep time, or a dehydrator, or both. But I decided that having those things on hand, and a variety of raw nuts, fatty items (avocados, olives, etc), and fresh fruits and veggies would be accommodating enough - and instead of cooking full meals for SO and I, we would simply supplement that spread with some non-raw/non-vegan items, and it would be sort of 'picnic style'.

But EXCELLENT news! She has decided to drop raw while she is traveling, and just stick to vegan! Which means I can't bake, but I *can* cook a number of yummy dishes. There are a decent number of things in my repertoire that are already vegan or can easily be adjusted to be such.

I'm excited to show off my seitan BBQ burritos! As long as the BBQ sauce doesn't contain honey (honestly, she may not be anti-honey anyway), it's good to go!

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions, links, etc!

[Sharnita]

All I can say is that she is fotunate she is visiting Manhattan and not your average small town where vegan restaurants are in short supply let alone raw vegan.

[Winterlight]

Whew! At least the situation is now within your capabilities- I wouldn't know what to do for raw either.

[Snowy Owl]

All I can say is that she is fotunate she is visiting Manhattan and not your average small town where vegan restaurants are in short supply let alone raw vegan.

I'd have to agree.  I can't think of many places that have raw vegan restaurants in the UK.  I know a few vegetarian restaurants that are pretty good but I'd struggle to find anywhere that could accommodate that level of dietary requirements without some serious googling and a lot of research.   

[blarg314]

All I can say is that she is fotunate she is visiting Manhattan and not your average small town where vegan restaurants are in short supply let alone raw vegan.

I'd have to agree.  I can't think of many places that have raw vegan restaurants in the UK.  I know a few vegetarian restaurants that are pretty good but I'd struggle to find anywhere that could accommodate that level of dietary requirements without some serious googling and a lot of research.

There are quite a few vegan restaurants where I live, but absolutely no raw vegan places. At a lot of restaurants, vegan or otherwise, you'd have a hard time finding any raw vegetable (even a salad), because the local cuisine, while very veg friendly, has no tradition of eating raw vegetables, as they are regarded as unhealthy.

[Teenyweeny]

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions!

I did a lot of research since posting this, and had come to the conclusion that there were a variety of nice salads, and a few interesting soups, that I could handle and would be tasty. It seemed anything much more complicated than that either required massive amounts of prep time, or a dehydrator, or both. But I decided that having those things on hand, and a variety of raw nuts, fatty items (avocados, olives, etc), and fresh fruits and veggies would be accommodating enough - and instead of cooking full meals for SO and I, we would simply supplement that spread with some non-raw/non-vegan items, and it would be sort of 'picnic style'.

But EXCELLENT news! She has decided to drop raw while she is traveling, and just stick to vegan! Which means I can't bake, but I *can* cook a number of yummy dishes. There are a decent number of things in my repertoire that are already vegan or can easily be adjusted to be such.

I'm excited to show off my seitan BBQ burritos! As long as the BBQ sauce doesn't contain honey (honestly, she may not be anti-honey anyway), it's good to go!

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions, links, etc!

If you want to bake, I've made these brownies before, and they are super yummy. I add 100% dark choc chips and chopped nuts to mine, and they are delicious.

The best part is, because there are no ingredients that need to be cooked for safety reasons (i.e. no raw egg), you can basically adjust the cooking time to get the level of gooiness you prefer, without worrying that you might get ill.