The Raw Kitchen is a beautiful book. Lustrous gold foiled, wrapped in a pale pink border. It promises nutritious, delicious, beginner worthy raw food. Yes, I thought, this sounds amazing.
I open the book. Wow. It looks amazing. All these glossy pictures of amazing, glorious looking raw food, and creator Olivia Scott, glowing with health.
And then I start reading it. Wondering what I’ll ‘construct’ first. And then I stop. Check the publisher’s blurb, “With over 120 raw recipes The Raw Kitchen is the perfect book for raw food beginners with a number of easily accessible recipes.”
Ok. If by “beginners” the publishers mean people who already own an expensive high-speed blender, a dehydrator, a food processor and have a pantry full of expensive nuts, and time on their hands, then yes. If like me, you are an ordinary person who does not own these appliances, then most of these recipes are out of your league. (Note, If you are a person who doesn’t’ yet own these items but would like to, they are outlined in the “Raw Food 101” section of the book.)
The Raw Kitchen showcases Olivia Scott’s obvious passion for raw food, and for living a life of health and vitality. She runs The Raw Kitchen cafes in Auckland and is known for her divine cakes.
So of course the cakes in the recipe book look out-of-this-world amazing, but with the amount of expensive ingredients needed to create them, they are only for very special occasions. And sadly that is a fault of this book, it’s very expensive and time-consuming, to make anything out of it at all.
Overall, The Raw Kitchen is a beautifully presented, but very niche book. It’s suited not to beginners, or those would like to dabble in raw food. However to people already familiar with the raw requirements in terms of kitchen appliances, time commitment, and ingredient spend, then this book will surely appeal.
REVIEWER: Heidi North-Bailey
TITLE: The Raw Kitchen
AUTHOR(S): Olivia Scott
PUBLISHER: Beatnik
RRP: $59.99