Judy
08-23-2006, 10:22 AM
The last couple of weeks have been góód, raw food (and other) wise and I just wanted to share my story! A couple of weeks ago, someone else (I forgot her name) posted her happy story about raw camping on this board and I found that so inspiring that I want to do the same.
I just came back from a two and a half week holiday in France. I've been raw for about three months now and was a bit concerned about going, because it would be my first really big social challenge: imagine you have to eat with (a lot of) other people constantly for two and a half weeks and breakfast, lunch and dinner is being provided for... And you've just started this whole raw food journey so aren't really a secure expert yet!
I hardly had any problems! I knew the organizers personally and just said I ate fruits and vegetables mostly and some seed and nuts and wanted to prepare my own meals. I asked if I could just special order some fruits and vegetables every other day or so and if the shopping team could get them for me when they went out for groceries. It was no problem.
I had my own small mix equipment with me and some seeds, nuts, seaweed etc, to make sure I could make nice things for myself all the time. Fruits and vegetables wouldn't be hard to get in France, but seaweed and that kind of special stuff would, so I was prepared.
I had reserved two boxes with my name on it and put it far away on top of a closet in the general kitchen, so people wouldn't use it. One to store my equipment and nuts, the other to store fresh fruit. And I kept a drawer in the general fridge for my vegetables.
I made smoothies or fruit meals with almonds and honey for breakfast, fruit meals or a salad for lunch and a salad, sushi or soup for dinner. In between, I ate fruit that I stored in my room.
It was melon/peaches/nectarines/plums/apricots season in France, so I mostly had those, in a million varieties. It was cheap and easy to get (so I didn't feel guilty to ask the shopping people to get them for me) and you could get crates full of them, so the shopping people wouldn't even have to go shopping for me every day (I just asked for quantities that would last me a couple of days, like 4 melons, a crate of peaches, 1 kilo tomatoes etc). My god, I never had so many peaches etc. in my life, it was fantastic!!! And sometimes I had some fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables directly from the land too (because the owner of that place had a large piece of land with some produce on it), it was so divine!
What about the small problems?
It was only in the beginning that I felt akward and guilty, you know, like a princess that's very picky and needs to eat very luxuriously, thinking by myself: 'Why do I always have to be different and make it harder for myself and have others getting special orders for me while I could just eat along?', but eventually that subdued.
I also had to make sure I'd pick out my groceries when the shopping team came back, because it happened one or two times that my produce went in the meal that was meant for the whole group and I had to be creative to find and fix something else to eat for myself. And also one time, someone had cleaned out the general fridge and had apparently thrown away my bag of produce by accident or something. I was mad and even cried in silence those times, because if there weren't any raw vegetables, what the hell was I supposed to eat?!? Or so I thought, but by being creative, I could solve those problems and later it wasn't even an issue anymore. I think I was a bit uptied in the beginning with the whole thing. I eventually came to the conclusion that in such large groups, things like that can happen, when the cooks have to cut up like 10 kilos of tomatoes, they don't know that one of that kilo is supposed to be for you. It wasn't that they didn't care, they just didn't know. So I just learned to pay more attention to my stuff and the second week was a lot happier and relaxter for me.
And how did people react?
People thought I was a bit excentric and every day there would be someone asking questions about my way of eating, but I was really relaxed about it all and the answers came naturally. People in general were really interested and supportive, thinking it all was very healthy and I didn't have any problems and didn't have to defend myself. They were just curious! And I like to make jokes sometimes and take it lightly, so that really helps.
The funny part is, that some people actually had acquaintances who were raw too. Also one of the people in the group started to eat more healthy, just because I did so. Some people were even kind of jeaulous, which was funny, because for example at breakfast, the tables were laden with French bread, all kinds of meat, French cheeses, confiture, chocolate paste, honey and what not, you know, it looked rich and good if you know what I mean, and there I came with my simple plate of cut up peaches, almonds and dark organic honey, and people would like drool over my plate, because it apparently looked so scrumptuous, not only in my own eyes. I actually really felt sorry other people had to eat the way they did...!
I even learned a trick or two. Because I had (and preferred) to make my own meals (the others didn't, they just got dinner served), I kept it easy, because sometimes I didn't feel like using my equipment and having to clean it up and stuff, while the others already sat at the table waiting for their dinner to be served. I also had to be creative with what I had, and learned how to make the most simple stuff look and taste great, because I just didn't want my plate to look pathetic besides the cooked plates of others. And I wanted it to look great for my own eyes!
So France didn't turned out to be a socially akward challenge at all (except for those small problems)! It was luxurious! I'm so happy, knowing that every other social event will be even easier after this...! It was a bit of a pity that I had to make my own meals, because everyone else was being provided for, and the day was full of activities like dancing and making music so sometimes I wanted my meal to be just ready too, so I could sit and eat... But that was the only thing.
And I'm really proud of one thing: the second week, there were other people than in the first. Some people in the first week made a remark how they missed fruit, they got fruit served sometimes before or after a meal, and there were some apples to munch on sometimes, but that was that. So I said to the organizers there had to be a fruit bowl from now on, because some people were complaining about the lack of fruit. I also said that the second week, a very intensive flamenco dance course was given and there would be a lot of dancers and thus lots of grazing and need for extra food. Well, first thing I know, the shopping team came with like kilos fruit, good for three large, I mean, really large bowls of fruit. Man, I really was afraid people wouldn't eat from it, because when the dancers came the first day, most of them didn't appear to be that healthy, they were smoking a lot, drinking a lot of coffee, etcera. But the fruit bowls were a great success and kilos of fruits have been bought extra ever since. One of the organizers thought it was a great idea. He said he never thought of fruit bowls, because he never ate fruit in between meals, but he was glad I did, and all the other people were happy with the fruit too!
A long story... I know... Just wanted to share! I hope other newbies can see that social events don't have to be difficult at all, as long as you are relaxed about it.
Below, me in France, eating outside with some of the people. I'm to the left, look at my plate: salad with avocado and paté and what not... Hmmm! (O yes, and I love to act like a clown when people take pictures... I've always been like that, but it seems to be getting worse -or do I have to say better- now I'm raw :))
I just came back from a two and a half week holiday in France. I've been raw for about three months now and was a bit concerned about going, because it would be my first really big social challenge: imagine you have to eat with (a lot of) other people constantly for two and a half weeks and breakfast, lunch and dinner is being provided for... And you've just started this whole raw food journey so aren't really a secure expert yet!
I hardly had any problems! I knew the organizers personally and just said I ate fruits and vegetables mostly and some seed and nuts and wanted to prepare my own meals. I asked if I could just special order some fruits and vegetables every other day or so and if the shopping team could get them for me when they went out for groceries. It was no problem.
I had my own small mix equipment with me and some seeds, nuts, seaweed etc, to make sure I could make nice things for myself all the time. Fruits and vegetables wouldn't be hard to get in France, but seaweed and that kind of special stuff would, so I was prepared.
I had reserved two boxes with my name on it and put it far away on top of a closet in the general kitchen, so people wouldn't use it. One to store my equipment and nuts, the other to store fresh fruit. And I kept a drawer in the general fridge for my vegetables.
I made smoothies or fruit meals with almonds and honey for breakfast, fruit meals or a salad for lunch and a salad, sushi or soup for dinner. In between, I ate fruit that I stored in my room.
It was melon/peaches/nectarines/plums/apricots season in France, so I mostly had those, in a million varieties. It was cheap and easy to get (so I didn't feel guilty to ask the shopping people to get them for me) and you could get crates full of them, so the shopping people wouldn't even have to go shopping for me every day (I just asked for quantities that would last me a couple of days, like 4 melons, a crate of peaches, 1 kilo tomatoes etc). My god, I never had so many peaches etc. in my life, it was fantastic!!! And sometimes I had some fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables directly from the land too (because the owner of that place had a large piece of land with some produce on it), it was so divine!
What about the small problems?
It was only in the beginning that I felt akward and guilty, you know, like a princess that's very picky and needs to eat very luxuriously, thinking by myself: 'Why do I always have to be different and make it harder for myself and have others getting special orders for me while I could just eat along?', but eventually that subdued.
I also had to make sure I'd pick out my groceries when the shopping team came back, because it happened one or two times that my produce went in the meal that was meant for the whole group and I had to be creative to find and fix something else to eat for myself. And also one time, someone had cleaned out the general fridge and had apparently thrown away my bag of produce by accident or something. I was mad and even cried in silence those times, because if there weren't any raw vegetables, what the hell was I supposed to eat?!? Or so I thought, but by being creative, I could solve those problems and later it wasn't even an issue anymore. I think I was a bit uptied in the beginning with the whole thing. I eventually came to the conclusion that in such large groups, things like that can happen, when the cooks have to cut up like 10 kilos of tomatoes, they don't know that one of that kilo is supposed to be for you. It wasn't that they didn't care, they just didn't know. So I just learned to pay more attention to my stuff and the second week was a lot happier and relaxter for me.
And how did people react?
People thought I was a bit excentric and every day there would be someone asking questions about my way of eating, but I was really relaxed about it all and the answers came naturally. People in general were really interested and supportive, thinking it all was very healthy and I didn't have any problems and didn't have to defend myself. They were just curious! And I like to make jokes sometimes and take it lightly, so that really helps.
The funny part is, that some people actually had acquaintances who were raw too. Also one of the people in the group started to eat more healthy, just because I did so. Some people were even kind of jeaulous, which was funny, because for example at breakfast, the tables were laden with French bread, all kinds of meat, French cheeses, confiture, chocolate paste, honey and what not, you know, it looked rich and good if you know what I mean, and there I came with my simple plate of cut up peaches, almonds and dark organic honey, and people would like drool over my plate, because it apparently looked so scrumptuous, not only in my own eyes. I actually really felt sorry other people had to eat the way they did...!
I even learned a trick or two. Because I had (and preferred) to make my own meals (the others didn't, they just got dinner served), I kept it easy, because sometimes I didn't feel like using my equipment and having to clean it up and stuff, while the others already sat at the table waiting for their dinner to be served. I also had to be creative with what I had, and learned how to make the most simple stuff look and taste great, because I just didn't want my plate to look pathetic besides the cooked plates of others. And I wanted it to look great for my own eyes!
So France didn't turned out to be a socially akward challenge at all (except for those small problems)! It was luxurious! I'm so happy, knowing that every other social event will be even easier after this...! It was a bit of a pity that I had to make my own meals, because everyone else was being provided for, and the day was full of activities like dancing and making music so sometimes I wanted my meal to be just ready too, so I could sit and eat... But that was the only thing.
And I'm really proud of one thing: the second week, there were other people than in the first. Some people in the first week made a remark how they missed fruit, they got fruit served sometimes before or after a meal, and there were some apples to munch on sometimes, but that was that. So I said to the organizers there had to be a fruit bowl from now on, because some people were complaining about the lack of fruit. I also said that the second week, a very intensive flamenco dance course was given and there would be a lot of dancers and thus lots of grazing and need for extra food. Well, first thing I know, the shopping team came with like kilos fruit, good for three large, I mean, really large bowls of fruit. Man, I really was afraid people wouldn't eat from it, because when the dancers came the first day, most of them didn't appear to be that healthy, they were smoking a lot, drinking a lot of coffee, etcera. But the fruit bowls were a great success and kilos of fruits have been bought extra ever since. One of the organizers thought it was a great idea. He said he never thought of fruit bowls, because he never ate fruit in between meals, but he was glad I did, and all the other people were happy with the fruit too!
A long story... I know... Just wanted to share! I hope other newbies can see that social events don't have to be difficult at all, as long as you are relaxed about it.
Below, me in France, eating outside with some of the people. I'm to the left, look at my plate: salad with avocado and paté and what not... Hmmm! (O yes, and I love to act like a clown when people take pictures... I've always been like that, but it seems to be getting worse -or do I have to say better- now I'm raw :))