New Zealand and Raw

[Nenyath]

Are there any raw kiwi's in here? And if, how easy is it being raw in NZ? I lived witha family for a year in NZ as an exchange student and have been in love with the country ever since, eventually I hope to live there :rolleyes:

I've searched the forums for NZ and raw as I have searched google, this was all that came up http://www.vitalessence.co.nz/Home/tabid/210/Default.aspx but just take a moment to enjoy the food pitures even if you are not kiwi! This is food for both body and soul, so beautiful!

Thanks in advance!

Fly forever free..

[hawaiigal]

Hi Nenyath
I am a kiwi however I live in Hawaii at present. I am planning on returning there in the next year or so.
The only time I have been to NZ whilst raw I was able to find some great organic food stores and had no problem staying raw. There are raw foodists in Auckland area I seem to remember but not the name of the group. There is a raw food restaurant in Auckland city which I enjoyed.

[spirulina28]

Hi Nenyath,

Thank you for your compliment as my partner and I have created and are operating Vitalessence! :)
Although I haven't been raw in another country, from experience I do find NZ to be very suitable for a raw food lifestyle because of the temperate climate we have. You can enjoy fruit all year around. Like at the moment it is winter and at night it can be quite cold ( 2 C) but we just relished the feijoa and sapote season which started in May and now I'm feasting on one of my favorite fruits : persimmon. My kitchen is full of baskets with golden kiwi fruit, tamarillos ( 3 different kinds) , persimmons, mandarins, oranges, lemons,apples and bananas. Not bad for winter, I say.

And Cherimoya season is still ahead of us, Youpy!

Being a bit elevated we do not get any frost and I grow organic lady finger bananas in my garden with a lot of other fruit trees and berries.

We organized a few raw food potlucks, then launched "vitalessence" which takes a lot of time up. At the last potluck only a couple of people attended...
But that is one of our aims, to bring the raw food lifestyle into people's awareness and bring the raw food people together.
So if you have any other questions I can answer, please ask :)

[Misty*Mountain]

i miss NZ!!!

i spent three months there last year and it was amazing!!!!

spirulina, you live in HEAVEN!!

must. go back there. someday. :D

[rawpriestess]

I'm not from NZ, but after seeing the website, I wish I was


YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nenyath]

Oh wow! I'm sitting here with a broad, goofy smile because of all the wonderful replies!

Hawaiigal, that is so awesome! I guess being in Hawaii would make raw even easier but I'm glad for the information!

Spirulina, I'm glad to meet you! It is such a good initiative you and your partner has taken, the food looks divine and I am lookign forward to taste it! We are planning to go to NZ in january or later in the summer, I really can't wait to be back! Your post has only made me more keen on living in NZ, to be able to grow and get so much fruit, and local also! I guess it would be relatively easy to get Asian fruits also?

Misty Mountain, it's like that I guess, if you have been there even once you will always be longing to go back! Where were you?

And RawPriestess, I can understand you with that food, it looks so great! But just the nature itself is enough to make me want to live there. NZ has a wildnerness that we never see in Denmark, being such a small and cultivated country..

Fly forever free..

[spirulina28]

Thank you RP, coming from such a talented, versatile raw food chef means a lot ! :)

Yes, Misty Mountain, it is like Paradise!. Very green ( quite a bit of rain and more rainbows than I've ever seen before!), temperate climate, no dangerous animals so great for teenagers who love camping and explore nature and the bush.

As I haven't grown up in NZ , I must admit I do miss the "culture". Being such a young country has a lot of advantages .... did you know they were the first to give women voting rights? and you can feel the pioneering spirit, the versatility... but I do miss the history, the character and feel of old houses and villages, cobblestone streets, castles....
I also very much enjoyed the fact that in 2 - 3 hours by car you could be in another country, with another language, different climat and culinary delights...
So my favorite would be 6 months here and the rest overseas, like south of France or maybe a warm place where there are coconuts.
That's one that doesn't grow here although they import them from the islands.
And Durian... available frozen but not fresh.

[Nenyath]

Well, for me the nature has all the history itself, the mountains, the old forests, thats more history than I find in danish nature.. As for the culture, you have the Maori culture wich is quite old, but no, it is not european old culture.. where are you from originally?

Fly forever free..

[spirulina28]

I was born in France and grew up in Germany, in the black forest.
I agree, nature here is magnificent.
Yes, there is the maori culture although the one predominating is the junk food one.... I couldn't believe it when I arrived and saw soooooo many fast food outlets, hot lunch bars, takeaways...... feels like not many people are cooking!? Then again, you have the ones that are very health conscious ,concerned for the earth and are demonstrating against GE... :)

[Gosia]

Wow, that food looks so tempting! Yum yum yum!

Can I have a little suggestion to the creator of that yummy website? I think that it would be an improvement if under the question "What do our meals contain?" the foods that are contained rather than not-contained are listed. Or, perhaps, there could be two questions with answers below, one "What do our meals contain?" and the other "What do our meals not contain?".

Anyway, if I ever visit New Zealand.... Mmmm.... :)

Gosia

[spirulina28]

hi Gosia,

Yes! We LOVE feedback and any suggestion is always welcome.
I agree, we need to refine the website and are in the process of doing so, it's just a matter of time.... with a two year old and all

We do have a list of what our foods contain as in No bad things and another list of what they Do contain as in all the good things.... but it might be on another page....
Again, thanks for your feedback! :)

[Nenyath]

Hi again Spirulina..

You are quite a widely travelled person then! I guess in Auckland there are a lot of takeaways, but in the country side, like in Feilding where I lived it was not so overhelming and the families I stayed with cooked almost every day.. But coming to think of it, there was actually quite a number of small eating places compared to the size.. :rolleyes:

Fly forever free..