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Students given raw food for thought

Uncooked food was on the menu at Langley Fine Arts School last week
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Teresa Holoman of Tasty Raw Chef stirs a handful of organic cranberries into a bowl of granola which Maya Nue-Lee (left) and her classmates in Fran McLeod’s Grade 6 class at Langley Fine Arts School later sampled.

The sight of massive kale leaves may give the average Grade 6 student gut-churning nausea if, that is, they have even come across the vegetable.

After all, bundling kale with others of the brassica family, such as cabbage, broccoli and sprouts, doesn’t inspire many immature palates.

But when the Grade 6 students of Fran McLeod’s class at Langley Fine Arts School were offered kale chips, it gave them food for thought — raw food for thought, in fact.

Teresa Holoman of Tasty Raw Chef demonstrated the versatile ways that kale, the new superfood on the table, and other fruits and vegetables can be used.

Using chard, Holoman tossed the leaves in a blender, added fresh pineapple, bananas, mango and water to make a smoothie which the students loved.

After making kale chips, Holoman showed how another acquired taste, avocado, can be made into a mouth-watering chocolate mousse which is healthier than a dairy-based dessert.

Scooping the avocado flesh into the blender, Holoman added agave, medjool dates, cacao powder, raw vanilla and water to make a delicious dessert that looks and tastes like a delightfully smooth chocolate mousse. It’s difficult to detect the avocado.

As the blender whirled, Holoman defined raw food: It is food that is raw or has not been heated above 150 F. Raw food also reduces the amount of water used in traditional food preparation.

That element alone fitted in nicely with McLeod’s class on teaching students to be more globally aware. Millions of people either have little or no access to water, they have learned, while millions of others have access to water that is unsafe to drink.

Holoman’s class was intended to give the students the tools to make changes at home, and take those changes into the world.

For example, Holoman said, why not have one meat-free meal each week?

It’s a practice she and her husband follow after they visited a wellness centre called Sanoviv, in Mexico.

“This place changed our life forever,” she said. “It gave me a better understanding of why eating a good amount of raw food is very good for you,” she said.

“Raw food has natural enzymes that we need in our bodies to break down the food so our cells can use the nutrients. When we cook food we lose those enzymes.” she added.

When they returned from Mexico, Holoman couldn’t wait to share with friends. She put together a health event and served a raw lunch, catered by Bryan from Raw BC, to more than 40 people.

“They enjoyed the whole experience so much that they wanted to learn how to prepare this food for themselves in their own homes, and that is what inspired me to start the Tasty Raw Chef (tastyrawchef.com),” she said.

In March, she went to New York to take a raw preparation class taught by an industry expert, and is now a certified raw food chef.

She began sharing that knowledge with the first of a series of raw cooking classes in Langley City in March. Classes cover the basic equipment and supplies used to prepare raw food, and teach students how to make such basics as smoothies and almond milk, tasty dishes such as corn chips and guacamole dip, raw lasagna, and desserts.

On June 22, the Tasty Raw Chef will host a pot luck of raw dishes. The event, which starts at 6:30 p.m., will feature an internationally known nutritionist and will include a demonstration on how to make a chocolate cake that requires no oven.

For details on this and classes, go to www.tastyrawchef.com, email Holoman at tholoman@shaw.ca, or call her at 604-862-7606.

The event is at 5794 203 St.