Where do you Find a Raw Foodie in Bath?
Well the answer is obvious now, in March 2011… at Positive Living Bath’s monthly Raw Food Potluck, of course! or at one of the Friday night Cafe Grace parties. But what to do before Positive Living was created? It was partly the search for other raw foodies that led us to create Positive Living Bath to generate a local raw food community.
Musings by Alison on my early raw food journey, January 2010
Since making the transition to mostly raw food in early August 2009 I’ve been looking for raw friends locally for inspiration, knowledge and shared meals and recipes.
An advert in The Spark (a newspaper “at the heart of the alternative west country”) caught my eye and my delight in December: Raw Food Potluck in Bath. Sadly, I was reading the ad a week after the date of the event but I got in touch with the guy to find out when the next one was. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a response… until I tried again in January. It turns out the Bath potluck hadn’t taken place due to lack of interest – but Jamie put me in touch with a woman in Bristol who runs a monthly potluck there.
Raw food really agrees with me and I’ve been loving the journey of discovery down a new avenue of food, one of my favourite subjects. Since becoming raw my eyes are clearer, the rosieness of my cheeks has lessened, I have so much more energy – my days are a couple of hours longer, I often find it hard to go to bed before 1.30am – I spend less time preparing my meals, there’s virtually no washing up, no nasty frying smells lingering in the house, and my kitchen my bin is empty for much longer due to hardly any packaging (not that I ate much ‘plastic’ food before, I’ve always been a healthy veggie). My figure has returned to my early 20s (I’m now 40) and my hairdresser swears I’m getting younger. It’s all good.
After about a month of raw food I was eager to expand my repertoire beyond salad (!) so I booked on a one day workshop hosted by my raw friend Cath Parker who runs regular workshops from her home in north London. It was great to spend a whole day connecting with real living food and truly alive people on the raw path. I came home totally inspired, armed with recipes and with a full and happy tummy. And new raw friends! www.cathparker.wordpress.com
I wanted to expand my sphere of raw influence so I started looking around for other companions on my journey. My sister in Northern Ireland had been partly raw since January 09 and had benefited from stunning and dramatic weight loss and increased vitality. I remembered that a local tai chi friend had been raw several years ago (and got hooked on raw chocolate as I recall. It’s easily done!). Then I discovered that a new friend of mine had previously tried raw. And all of a sudden I’ve set something in motion, reigniting the raw spark and we’re inspiring each other and I’m discovering a healthy addiction to seaweed thanks to raw sushi, raw chocolate brownies… wow! I served those at my birthday party alongside the cooked ones that I was reknowned for.
So how would I find the other Raw Foodies in Bath? I even registered on veggieconnections.com to find raw friends – but the nearest one was in Reading, not my idea of local. I thought that the Potluck ad in The Spark would be the perfect way – apparently not. They must be deep underground in these depths of winter. It is hard keeping raw when it’s so cold and grey – but the great thing about raw food is that it is edible sunshine, both energetically and visually when you prepare colourful dishes. So, where to try next…?
I was passing my local health food shop shortly after the potluck non-event in Bath, and recognised Jonathan who I’d made contact with at a kundalini style yoga class in the summer (the mantra chanting had lured me in….). I had chatted to Ian and Jonathan and they invited me to try a glass of juice, a delicious concoction of pear, cucumber and ginger I believe. They spoke about their allotment, but I didn’t make the connection with raw food (I wasn’t yet raw myself so it wasn’t on my radar). And being otherwise engaged on Tuesday evenings I didn’t have the opportunity to go to the yoga class to find out more. Little did I know that they were having raw food potlucks of their own after the class, preparing an impromptu meal from veggies offered by the students and from the allotment.
So it wasn’t until 6 months later in December when I re-made Jonathan’s acquaintance on the doorstep of Who Cares? wholefood supermarket in Bradford on Avon. My dog waited mostly patiently while we exchanged tips and resources for raw food and other inspirational happenings – after discovering that we were both now on the Raw path. Jonathan reminded me about the yoga class and encouraged me to try it out in the new year… which I did, braving the fresh snowfall one Tuesday evening in January. And there I reconnected with my heart thanks to the beautiful Naam Yoga, and I found the first two of my new local raw food friends.
Last night took the 3 of us to Bristol for a Raw Food Potluck hosted by Anna Middleton, a nutritionist who runs workshops in raw food and raw chocolate www.rawsome.co.uk. In fact, it wasn’t potluck at all: when I booked my place for the evening Anna had asked what I would be bringing – to avoid previous evenings when the Raw Foodies were so in tune that they all brought the same dish!
I knew it was going to be a special evening when I had an email from Anna just before the weekend outlining the menu… spaghetti bolognaise, lasagne, thai green curry, sushi, sprouted spelt grain salad, hummus, crackers, chocolate fudge, ice cream and black tar chocolate sauce, energy balls, a variety of chocolates…. and all raw! And special it was, I was in heaven! Home is where my heart is and food comes a close second, together with lovely people. My heart soared to be in such an easeful space with my perfect food and the company of beautiful open people connecting on the health and spiritual level that raw food engenders.
Anna’s home was welcoming and I felt very at home surrounded by familiar textiles and pictures from her travel in SE Asia and India. The next thing that struck me was the counter loaded with plates and dishes of the most beautiful raw food. It was truly a visual feast and I could not resist getting my phone out to take some pictures. There was not much green in evidence – everyone had made their very best gourmet raw dishes: beetroot ravioli, sushi with tied carrot bundles, cashew cheeses, flax seed and vegetable crackers… Having been vegetarian for nearly 20 years and used to always having to ask for something different, it was a sheer joy to be presented with an array of dishes, every single one of which I could eat without having to ask ‘does it contain xyz? … is it vegetarian?’
We interrupted our conversations to help ourselves to a bit of everything on the table. So many new flavours, tastes and textures to delight! Then back for more of our favourites…. And then dessert, OMG, I didn’t think it could get any better, but no! Raw ice cream made from bananas and mango and….? with a runny chocolate sauce called black tar. Luckily, to save us spending all night copying our recipes, Anna was well organised and requested them in advance so I look forward to receiving an email bursting with vitality and ideas.
Yes our luck was very definitely in. And it doesn’t stop there because Ian, Jonathan and I are setting up a heart space for Yoga and Living Food in Bath www.PositiveLivingBath.co.uk . Weekly yoga classes in the Love Lounge behind The Bell pub on Walcot Street, followed by raw food, and special events planned, the first of which will be on Sunday 14 March with the magical combination of yoga, living lunch, an introduction to shiatsu massage, more raw snacks and mantra chanting. I’m hoping that Positive Living Bath will entice more raw foodies out of hiding…
Raw food has come to my door, or should that be my plate? I’m very much looking forward to dessert. Thank you thank you thank you.
January 2010
Postscript: yes, I’m very proud to say we made it happen!