Raw Food Plating and Planning

Friday kicked off with a raw taco bar set up by our instructors. It included things we worked on during the week like dehydrated taco “meat” and pumpkin seed pate. There were tomatoes and other raw vegetables, too. Austin is known for its breakfast tacos, so why not?

We spent time Friday planning a sample raw menu, including thinking about time needed for fermentation, soaking, sprouting, and dehydrating – all time sensitive activities that are common in raw food preparation and all of which help diversify the flavors and textures you can experience when eating raw food. (By the way, if you live in Austin and you want to experience all of these raw techniques, check out Beets Cafe!)

Below: Edible flowers – a more unusual raw ingredient.

Below: We did some raw food plating practice Friday afternoon using raw chocolate cheesecake and some raw vegetables and spreads. Here’s my cheesecake plating effort.

Below: I plated a raw amuse bouche (a single bite of food, designed by the chef to help tantalize the palate) made of raw sushi rice, dehydrated pumpkin seeds, and an orange bell pepper “salmon” on top.