We kicked off Ani’s Raw Food Certification Course, Level 1 on March 15, 16, 17th, 2013 to a packed house! It was a weekend of raw food making and eating, eco-green living inspiration, and happiness all around. Experiencing visible transformations as people detox on raw food for 3 days is incredible! The room’s happiness index kept rising up as our days passed, and people glowed.
Ani’s Raw Food Certification courses are held a couple blocks from the Saturday morning Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, where local farmers bring us seasonal produce that’s been picked just a few hours before. Sometimes, we’ll find heirloom ingredients available for only a week, or better yet…..dry farmed produce. That’s when the plants just thrive on their own, without watering nor chemicals! Fresh, local, seasonal, gluten free, vegan, and organic…what better way to detox and cleanse from urban toxins?
I visited Erewhon Natural Foods in Los Angeles on May 28, 2011 along my book tour for Ani’s Raw Food Asia. Erewhon is my favorite Raw Food store. These beautiful photos are courtesy of the very talented Sherman Lee at http://www.digitalslimages.com.
Juan Hernandez, the store manager, makes sure to offer the largest range of Raw Food products and brand, and has created the nexus for Raw Foods here in LA. Juan was one of my earliest supporters of my SmartMonkey Foods packaged and prepared foods products.
Each year’s visit celebrating my new book always draws a packed house. I love Erewhon!
I showed everyone how easy it is to make my Mushroom “Bul Go Gi”, from Ani’s Raw Food Asia, page 186, using mushrooms marinated in tamari or nama shoyu (raw soy sauce), toasted sesame oil, asian pear, and sweetener of choice like agave or brown rice syrup. We topped off these beautiful Lettuce Wraps, from page 188, with my version of a traditional Korean Gochujang Sauce, page 225, made with miso, sesame oil, chile powder, and sweetener like agave.
Following my food demo and Q+A…next, I get to sign books and meet people 1 on […]
I was honored to have been invited to speak on a panel with superstars (from left to right above) Rachelle Carson Begley (married to Ed Begley), Sophie Uliano (NYTimes best selling author), Izabella Miko (actress), Carly Harrill (blogger ghost writer), Karen Stewart Brown (fashion designer), Kris Willey (host of WotGG), and Alexandra Spunt (author).
The focus of this panel was how we came into our careers. I explained how I used to work in a corporate environment that was not recycling, was wasting energy, and was using styrofoam cups for one 4 ounce shot of water. I realized my raw food catering and the weekly events I was hosting (to feed myself good food) was a successful business. So, I decided to leave corporate America to focus 100% on my prepared packaged foods, catering, and events. I followed my bliss because I believed raw foods helped people feel better and healthier. It also helps us tread lightly on our Planet.
This event was held in Culver City, Los Angeles, CA on Saturday May 14, 2011. These beautiful photos are courtesy of photosbyKailas.com. Thanks Kailas!
I had so much fun celebrating the pre-launch of Ani’s Raw Food Asia at Artisanal LA in Santa Monica.
All of these beautiful photos were taken by the amazing Sherman Lee. Thanks Sherman!!
It was a weekend full of local and seasonal gourmet foods (though way too much bacon! – what’s up with bacon these days?) and great expert panels and talks.
I love this fish eye photo, it was a full crowd with great people old and new to raw foods and the raw food diet and lifestyle. Thanks to the wonder woman organizer Shawna Dawson for all her support, for announcing my talk over the loud speaker, and for putting me and Ani’s Raw Food Asia in their printed program.
Q+A is my favorite part of my appearances because I get to listen and interact with my new friends.
It’s always so nice to have my brother Max and my family with me at my events.
This lovely lady […]
We launched FoodStuff LA with a big celebration at the Pedal Patch Community offices in downtown LA. Above is founder Jason Boarde and Rebecca McQuigg Rigal who works through GOOD with the Pepsi Refresh Project as the Arts & Culture Ambassador.
My RAWvolution event is on September 19th, where we’ll be harvesting from the PPC local community and rooftop gardens, then preparing a delicious raw food meal. Hope you’ll join me for this fun event.
Christian Page is a locavore, sourcing the finest organic ingredients from our local community. He made all the food happen for this event, including delicious black mission figs, which I ate by the pint! Christian’s Living La Vida Local event is in October.
LA Green Girl Siel was at our event, and it was lovely to finally meet her in person…a fellow Korean American!
My NYC tour kicked off last Monday at Rockefeller Center on the set of LX New York at NBC studios. I chat about the benefits of a raw food diet with hosts Janice Huff and Jane Hanson. You can watch my segment here, though it’s stretched out horizontally and the audio is out of synch. (As soon as I get my own copy of the segment, I’ll repost)
Tuesday evening, I had a food demo, talk, and book signing at Bonobo’s Restaurant. The room was packed with folks eager to learn more about raw food nutrition and recipes. I demonstrated how fast and easy it is to make my Simple Rosemary Oregano Noodle Salad with zucchini, tomato, avocado, and herbs.
Pictured above is Rose Voisk of the World Olympians Association. She was a gymnast in the 1948 London Olympics. She looks great, is vibrant, and strong. A testament for eating well.
Wednesday evening, I was hosted by the lovely Hyacinth Mills of New Life Journeys […]
I had the honor of meeting Dr T. Colin Campbell at the Farm Sanctuary Hoe Down last weekend in Watkins Glenn, New York, where we were both invited to speak about vegan lifestyle, health, and diet. He’s pictured above with his wife Karen.
Dr Campbell is the author of the best selling book The China Study. Campbell says about his research in the Philippines “In this project, however, I uncovered a dark secret. Children who ate the highest protein diets were the ones most likely to get liver cancer…” A 20-year research project partnership between Cornell University, Oxford University, and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine found that “People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease … People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease. These results could not be ignored,” said Dr. Campbell.
In the Farm Sanctuary ‘People Barn’, I spoke to a full house about the benefits of the raw food diet, why whole and unprocessed foods are important, showed everyone how fast and easy it is to make a healthy Strawberry Kream Pie using just a handful of ingredients, from page 267 of Ani’s Raw Food Essentials, and then passed out pies to taste. Folks thought the pie was delicious. You can’t really go wrong with dates, cashews, almonds, vanilla, […]
Last weekend, I was invited to speak and demo my raw foods at the Farm Sanctuary Hoe Down annual celebration in Watkins Glen, NY. It was a huge honor to be included in the speaker lineup with founder Gene Baur and T. Colin Campbell, author of the China Study. The Hoe Down was one of the best organized events I’ve attended.
Volunteers helped me prepare pies for over 120 people in about 30 minutes just before my presentation. We chose the manual ‘food processor’ style of hand mixing dates with almonds. Good forearm exercise.
Strawberry Kream Pie, from Ani’s Raw Food Essentials. Made with dates, almonds, cashews, vanilla, and strawberries. Simple and delicious.
A photo of my raw food demo, taken by Morgan Jamie Dunbar.
It’s so much fun to sign books after a raw food demo and talk. I love having this opportunity to connect with other like minded folks in the community.
Later, I got to visit the animals out on the other part of the 200 acre […]
My introduction to Sarasota RAWked! Exploring my idea that creating something together with other people in our raw community, rather than going it alone, is more fun, plus makes a bigger splash. We produced and threw down a pumping RAWktail Party, it was the biggest and most successful raw event in Florida to date! Dress code was RAWkstar, of course. A wonderful event and a very warm welcome to Florida and Sarasota.
A RAWstar RAWktail Party isn’t complete without headshots. Is that too cheezy?….
We brought together a fun crowd of local hipsters, movers, and shakers. Raw foods help us feel great, look our best, and fuel up for a long night of celebration. Raw food is also great for recovery, detox, and combating damage after a night of partying too hard and not sleeping enough.
The event was held at the Weller Historic Estate, and it was filled with rich period furniture and wonderful styling details. The host Jeff Weller is below in the white button down and jeans. I was to discover later that Jeff gives great massages!
The Weller Historic Estate was at full capacity with well over 120 attendees, and the energy was contagious.
Let me show you how simple it is to cut uniform cubes with potato and carrot in this video I shot with Vegetarian Times Magazine...
I was invited to the VitaMix headquarters in Cleveland, OH to shoot a 60-minute DVD that will be included in their latest VitaMix Turbo Blend Variable Speed blender...
