Raw Dilemmas for 100%ers...

[Sooboopa]

Have you ever gone to someone's place for dinner and they said they would make a special salad for you, knowing you are 100% raw, and they added a cooked ingredient like olives or a dressing?

Have you ever made a raw dish for people to share as part of a special celebration and people dug in with their 'cooked cutlery', making you not want to eat it?

What did you do?

[Ireland]

I'm a little confused about the cooked cutlery thing...

[rawpriestess]

Yes, I've certainly eaten many big garden salads, with bottled, dressing, craisins, raisins, roasted nuts, cheese!!! YIKES!, pepperccinis, canned things, ugh!!!


these people are trying so very hard to be kind, I sit down and do my best to eat without too obviously picking out the offending item, however, it has been very bad for me rawness wise, as it was just such a salad, that started my last downward spiral into cooked ****.

It had some cheese in the otherwise fresh raw olive oil and lemon juice dressing. UGH!!!
I'm still struggling with this, every day I wake up going to be 100% raw, and something --actually it's ME, stops me, then I go back and eat something cooked, and then there I am again.

I'll get through this, or not, it's all up to me,

but the answer to your question is YES.

WOW, I think the cooked utensils, is they use the utensils in a cooked dish, then use them in the raw dish afterwards.

UGH!!!, yes, I've had this happen too. At least they were both vegetarian, although not vegan.

I did bring pesto stuffed mushrooms to a party, and my dehydrator, and placed them in there to warm, and the hostess, was kind enough to pop them in the microwave to heat them up for me, ARGH!!!, they exploded, totally ruined, you couldn't even eat them, anyway, THAT was fun!! LOL

[Sooboopa]

Walkin'OnWater. What I mean is, just say you made a lovely dish, and people kind of dropped bits of fetta cheese into it accidentally as they passed over your salad or whatever, or used utensils that had previously been used in a cooked dish, rendering your raw dish unacceptably raw. Now I think about it, this is a pretty obscure reference.

Raw Priestess. For the sake of politeness, you accept the dish they've so thoughtfully prepared for you, but then that little bit of cooked adornment can send you into a downward cooked spiral for months. But you don't want to appear rude or seem obsessive, so you casually eat it. It is hard to impress upon someone the gravity of eating that one little piece of cooked olive or whatever.

By the way, you are a great inspiration Raw Priestess. You are raw so much of the time. I love reading your journal. You have the philosophy of 100% raw without deviation. That is what works for you. I have to take the more transitional approach. One day I hope to be 100% raw. For me I need to follow this elaborate transition plan I've worked out. Each step on it takes me a little further out of my comfort zone. This also makes the emotional and physical detox reasonably steady. I love the purity of the 100% raw approach though. One day that may fully resonate with me and it will be easy and fun. Have you checked out Elnatural's post at www.living-foods.com? He is coming up to ten years 100%. He radiates such joy and childlike radiance.

[juliebove]

Although I am not 100%, I do have food allergies. So cheese dropped into a salad is a salad I will not eat. Now certain things like craisins, I would just pick out. I am not allergic to them and they are solid enough on the outside that I doubt that they would contaminate my greens much if at all.

I hate dressing. Raw, cooked or whatever, I don't like having it on my salad and I won't eat it. People who know me, know how I eat and most are not offended if I bring my own food. I will often bring enough to share with the others.

The only time I had real trouble was at a dinner my husband put on. He seems totally clueless when it comes to my diet. This was a few years ago. I wasn't on a raw diet and didn't know of my food allergies, but I did believe at the time that I had lactose intolerance. There was milk or cream in every dish there except for the salad. It was not dressed. But they had used raw beets in it and they must have been the biggest, woodiest beets they could find! They had cut them into little splinters. And I do mean splinters. I cut my tongue several times on them. Honestly I haven't a clue how they did that. I eat raw beets regularly and have never had any that did that when I prepared them.

The only thing there was for me to eat was the salad and I didn't even want to eat that after tangling with the evil beet splinters in it. The greens weren't the freshest either. To make matters worse, I couldn't get a drink. The only water they had was Evian. I don't much like that but I settled for it. The bartender gave me only a tiny glass and then they shut down the bar!

So there I was, hungry and thirsty and waiting for hours. It was an event put on by his work. He's in the military. The wives who attended were mostly in agreeance with me that we did not have a good time and did not enjoy the food at all or lack of drinks. Nor did we understand what all was going on. It was some sort of ceremony that must have made sense to the military people, but not to us. We all declined the following year when we were invited again. Heh!

Most of the time, I will have my own vehicle with me and I will keep some spare food and drinks there, just in case. But at this particular party it was at a fancy private club downtown and they'd rented busses to get us there. It was a formal event and I'd taken a teensy evening bag with no extra room in it for food or drink. I sure learned my lesson there!

At any rate, now that I know of my food allergies, all I have to do is explain this to people. Most people do not understand what food allergies are or what it means for me not to have dairy, for example. And since I am allergic to more than one thing as is my daughter, it just makes it easier on everyone for me to bring my own foods.

You probably don't want to lie and say that you have a food allergy if you don't, but you could say that you have a mulitple food sensitivities. This isn't exactly a lie and it's confusing enough to the other person to where they are not likely to want to prepare food for you. Then you could offer to bring a dish to share.

[DavidZaneMason]

I guess I'm just simplistic:

I just DON'T expect others to understand or accommodate my eating. I eat well before I leave the house, and drop a snack bag in my car. And/or I bring a fresh fruit plate to parties. If I'm at a restaurant, I just eat what's in my pocket! LOL. If asked, I just say I'm on a special diet of eating fresh fruits and vegetables. I don't elaborate or explain or defend. I let my friends and family know that I am there to spend quality time with THEM and support THEM! I can spend quality time with food on my own time! Ha! ha!

-So: You can debate with restaurant employees indefinitely, or just pull a Sun-Tzu and don't BE where the battle is! LOL.

-Just my experiences / opinions.

-David Z. Mason

[trinity082482]

Well cheating once and a while to not hurt someones feelings is not going to hurt your system. If you always do it your body might get confused and say hey wait a minute.. this food is not pure like you have been putting into me! I'm still not 100% raw because I dont have all the tools I need, but Im trying. If I end up in a situation where food is cooked, I will either pick out the cooked items or I will eat it. ;)

[PixieLed]

I absolutely hate when this happens! I went to a fancy dinner with my boyfriend for a fundraiser and when all the meals were being served I told the waitress I just wanted greens and tomatos, all raw and nothing else. Well she brought me a plate with greens covered in some sort of icky dressing, 1 baby tomato and a slew of cooked vegetables like peppers, olives, mushrooms etc.

I simply picked these icky things off (they really did look icky! how can people eat stuff like that?!) and put them on the side plate. Then when she came to pick up my plate I told her "I only want RAW vegetables." and she said "I know, I said that to the chef but you know how chefs are..." and the next plate she brought me was only greens. I ate the salad dressing (I think it was oil and vinegar) because I was starving and I had about 2 more plates of greens.

Then when they brought everyone ice cream I pulled out my tupperwear box with Raw priestess' brownies and ate them with a spoon. It was DELISH! And one of the girls sitting beside me said "you're AWESOME!". It was funny. She was saying how my salad looked better than all the plates they were given. I explained I was vegan. (I didn't mention raw.) She said her vegan friend also made brownies just like mine. I smiled and I was wondering if her friend was also raw hehe.

But in general I try to bring my own food. :) :rolleyes:

[Ireland]

Hey! I had a wondeful idea! How about making your own raw utensils and then telling everybody to get their own and stop sticking theirs into your food!

Trust me, if you do this, EVERYONE will want raw utensils. What's not to like?

Um...yah. I have a little too much time on my hands. So what. :D http://bp0.blogger.com/_HRy-z9wAwls/RXme1APZMtI/AAAAAAAAAAk/4HB9G4rgXb4/s1600-h/carrot+utensils.JPG

[Ireland]

Hey! What about making your own raw utensils and then telling people to get their own and stop sticking theirs into your food!

Yah so....I have too much time on my hands...but I'm only trying to help ya know. :D

PS - If you're bored, just get out a carrot peeler and a good knife. You'll be amazed at what you can do.

[Raw Mom]

Hey Walkin' on Water, Thanks so much for the laugh today. I needed it.
And David.....You are always an affirmation......
I explain the best I can about my lifestyle to my bestest friends. ;)
Don't ever expect, (attach to) what I may find at a restaurant. It's certainly cured by addiction to always wanting to go out to dinner!!!!LOL :o

[Morn]

Wow this just happened to me today and it was a little frustrating. I went to a chrismas party and someone brought a salad with strawberries on top. I thought that looks good I will have some of that then she proceeded to add blue cheese, mozzaralla cheese, craisens, etc. So I avoided that. Then there was another salad with parmesean cheese and the owner mixed ceaser dressing into that one. So needless to say all I could scronge up to eat was 3 baby carrots and 1 celery stick. It looked a little weird eating practically nothing while everyone else around me had their plates overflowing. I was ok though cause I had eaten a salad 3 hours before. However, when it got around to dessert I was hungry.

So I saw some blueberries by the desserts (for the top of cheesecake) and asked the owner if they minded if I just ate blueberries alone. Then she said that would be fine but she had sprinkled sugar all over them. So another disappointment.

Finally I asked the hotess if I could eat one of her bananas that was sitting out on the counter. It still had the peel on so that was safe. Owell that is why we need to eat before we go places.

Just thought this was humourous since I saw this thread earlier but didn't respond.

[sport]

I'm a little confused about the cooked cutlery thing...
I fully understand this one but from the point of view of non vegan cutlery