When I first went raw almost two years ago, I really had no idea where to start. I had read about the benefits of raw food on several websites but it wasn’t until I started to delve deeper that I began to understand the philosophy behind it. Raw food is simply about getting back to nature and eating whole foods in their natural form. This way, you consume the maximum amount of nutrients and enzymes and gain maximum energy. And quite honestly, who doesn’t want more energy?!

I have always loved food. Even before I started eating more raw food, I would often find myself spending hours in the kitchen coming up with new creations and more often than not, you’ll find me drooling over a recipe book of some kind. So when I got asked to review Raw Living by Kate Wood, I jumped at the chance. Kate has been living the raw lifestyle for nearly 20 years and has raised her three sons as raw vegans (which let’s be honest is no easy feat!). What I love about the book is that it very much caters to the mum who wants to feed her children super healthy food but doesn’t have the first idea of where to start. We all have limited time these days and Kate makes it as easy as possible for you to transition to eating a superior diet packed full of foods with higher nutritional profiles than we are used to. The very first chapter is choc-a-block with info on how to feed your kids, your (possibly fussy) partner, how to cater for kids parties as well as laying out some sample menu plans for you to use for meal planning. Good start to a book I say! So, on to the recipes.

The first thing I made was Beetroot soup. I made this because this is a challenge for me. Not the making but the eating. I don’t mind beetroot grated in a salad or in a juice but the idea of beetroot soup doesn’t appeal so I was intrigued to taste it and be converted. Fortunately it was a winner and super tasty so I can give this a big thumbs up. The other ingredients used in the recipe really disguises the earthier taste of the beet.

There are literally dozens of suggestions of soups, breads, cakes, crackers, dips, snacks and breakfast recipes. I also really enjoyed the Spinach and Mushroom Quiche, Mediterranean Stuffed Tomatoes, Coriander wraps and Love Burgers to name a few.

One of the easiest ways to get friends and family into eating more living food is by introducing them to raw desserts. Most desserts can be made easily in 10 minutes by combining some nuts, dried fruit or sweetener, flavouring and some kind of fat like coconut butter or cacao butter. The person you are feeding won’t know it’s raw unless you tell them! And when you do, they’ll have a hard time getting their head around the fact that it has no eggs, white sugar or flour!

Next, I made the Superfood ‘Cookie Dough’ Balls from the guest recipe section only rather than roll balls, I made one big cake. This tasted good and was inhaled rather quickly by my hungry brother!

If getting started with raw food, I recommend you have some raw recipe books on hand because if you’re not sure how to create meals from scratch, you’ll end up staring into your fridge wondering how to put all the delicious living foods together that you’ve just gone and bought. Trust me on this one – I have heard it hundreds of times!

Having a plan of what you’re going to eat and having recipes to stick to can make the difference between whether you succeed and experience the benefits with the raw food diet or get stuck on eating the same thing and getting bored. So if you don’t have a recipe book yet, or want to add to your collection, I recommend buying Raw Living by the lovely Kate Wood.

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