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Her Raw Deal
Wine expert Simone Baldwin comes clean on becoming a raw food adherent and chef
Wine expert Simone Baldwin comes clean on becoming a raw food adherent and chef.
Raw food-ism, a wholly plant based regimen, avoids heating any ingredient past a threshold of 45 degrees Celsius, above which enzyme function ' crucial for digestion and nutrient absorption ' plateaus and then drops.
Simone Baldwin went raw cold turkey three years ago. The 41-year-old says the purist 'no-heat' approach of raw cuisine applies equally well to salads as to bread (which is 'baked' in a dehydrator for 12-16 hours or in a fan-forced oven), desserts and even burger patties, which Baldwin makes using dehydrated ground almonds, cashews, pumpkins and sesame seeds.
Meanwhile, soups are made from vegetable purée and served cold, while the raw version of chocolate mousse derives its fluffiness from avocado instead of whipped cream.
The business development manager for a local wine importer, a nine-year resident of Jakarta, consumes an average of 60 percent raw food. Feeling good, she says, 'is a full-time job'.
The Australian extols the cascade effect of a clearer mind, stable moods, boosted energy levels and higher self-esteem from her new approach to eating.
People may doubt that they would be able to stick to a raw food diet.
When you have a taste of waking up feeling amazing every day, why would you go back to feeling lethargic and sluggish and bloated and have poor digestion and poor sleep? So that's why for me it was such an eye-opener, an epiphany. The more you start fueling yourself with this natural food, your body just kind of recalibrates and it just says Wow, I actually just really need to thrive on 'this'. And 'this' might just be a repertoire of different fruit and veggies. My diet's really simple now.
What do you tell the participants in your classes on raw foodism?
I encourage people to just try. Just take the bits that you like and always follow what your body is telling you.
Isn't preparing raw food time consuming?
When I'm working, I bring my food in three separate containers, one for raw soup, the second for salad and another for a treat such as raw chocolate or ice cream. Raw foodies simplify their repertoire so much because they're time-poor, so you just throw together a salad. Your veggies are already washed and they're basically ready to go. To chop up a few items and throw it into a plastic bag takes five minutes.
The extra time you take to prepare a few extra dishes, you gain that time in the less sleep that you need and the increase in energy that you get.'
And isn't it more expensive to go raw?
I started out with a knife, a blender and a desire to know more. I've definitely saved money ' because vegetables aren't expensive whereas a slab of salmon is. And a slab of imported tenderloin is expensive '¦ but when you can get great fruits and vegetables that are locally grown and they're organic then definitely you'll save money.
Do you see more people eating healthy?
People are making a move toward more whole foods, whether that be meat or dairy or seafood or plant. But definitely toward eating food that's not gone through thousands of different chemical processes to get to where it is. Unpackaged food ' that's where I see the trend going toward.
' Photos Ricky Yudhistira
