My salad was TOO green

[RawHeaven]

I'm fasting at the moment and decided to attend a potluck I was invited to with my family. Well it was a pretty large event hosted at my Mom's unitarian church. Nice people and all of that. I actually arrived fairly late, but in time to put my offering of food amongst the other salads.

Before I get to that, it was great not eating today I just have to tell you. Watching many SAD eaters consume tons of food (and I don't say this to be mean), was very eye opening. And it actually helped squelch my appetite.

I made a big green salad with kale, spinach, romaine, cucumbers, zuchninni, green, red, orange, yellow peppers, carrots, red & yellow tomatoes, avocado and a host of other goodies. It was beautiful and very colorful. I topped it with a light dressing I made with apple cider vinegar/avocado oil and some sea salt, ground pepper. Because I'm fasting, I didn't taste but it sure did smell amazing! I also sprinked some fresh lemon juice on it to preserve the freshness.

So I put my food on the table and went outside to enjoy the sun and sip some of my juice. A few minutes later it looked like maybe 2-3 people had scooped some of that salad onto their plates. However, the limp almost devoid of color, iceberg lettuce dishes drenched in thousand island dressing and absolutely looking lifeless were devoured. By the way there were at least 300 people there. How can you explain this? It's really sad and I hate wasting food. A few people took some of it home, but a lot of it was wasted. I think this will be the last time I bring anything to a large SAD eating event for this reason - wasted food and cluelessness. I asked my own sister why she didn't have any and she couldn't answer me. I say because it was too green and people don't know how to eat food that is fresh, wholesome and from the earth anymore.

All of the typical Thanskgiving treats were gone, serving platters bare and greasy. When I looked around at the bodies walking around stuffed to the gills, it reminded me of Dawn of the Living Dead and I kid you not.

We are so very blessed to understand what we're doing & why. I just hope more people wake up. Thanks for letting me share that. I'm really grateful for this day and having the awareness that I do. Yippee.

[RawSweetie]

I'm fasting at the moment and decided to attend a potluck I was invited to with my family. Well it was a pretty large event hosted at my Mom's unitarian church. Nice people and all of that. I actually arrived fairly late, but in time to put my offering of food amongst the other salads.

Before I get to that, it was great not eating today I just have to tell you. Watching many SAD eaters consume tons of food (and I don't say this to be mean), was very eye opening. And it actually helped squelch my appetite.

I made a big green salad with kale, spinach, romaine, cucumbers, zuchninni, green, red, orange, yellow peppers, carrots, red & yellow tomatoes, avocado and a host of other goodies. It was beautiful and very colorful. I topped it with a light dressing I made with apple cider vinegar/avocado oil and some sea salt, ground pepper. Because I'm fasting, I didn't taste but it sure did smell amazing! I also sprinked some fresh lemon juice on it to preserve the freshness.

So I put my food on the table and went outside to enjoy the sun and sip some of my juice. A few minutes later it looked like maybe 2-3 people had scooped some of that salad onto their plates. However, the limp almost devoid of color, iceberg lettuce dishes drenched in thousand island dressing and absolutely looking lifeless were devoured. By the way there were at least 300 people there. How can you explain this? It's really sad and I hate wasting food. A few people took some of it home, but a lot of it was wasted. I think this will be the last time I bring anything to a large SAD eating event for this reason - wasted food and cluelessness. I asked my own sister why she didn't have any and she couldn't answer me. I say because it was too green and people don't know how to eat food that is fresh, wholesome and from the earth anymore.

All of the typical Thanskgiving treats were gone, serving platters bare and greasy. When I looked around at the bodies walking around stuffed to the gills, it reminded me of Dawn of the Living Dead and I kid you not.

We are so very blessed to understand what we're doing & why. I just hope more people wake up. Thanks for letting me share that. I'm really grateful for this day and having the awareness that I do. Yippee.

Wow..that is so intriguing...I mean, your salad sounds like it was just gorgeous, colorful, alive. Hmm. Surreal...

[purdeychoo]

I'm not American so I have no experience of Thanksgiving but if it's anything like Christmas, then I'd assume the attitude of many people eating is that it's one of the few days a year where they can really indulge themselves without too much guilt- after all- if you don't take it, you can't be thankful for it!

I'm sorry your salad was overlooked for the greasier and more unhealthy offerings, it does sound a delicious salad indeed. It must feel very disheartening to put in the effort to produce something so tasty and healthy and see it go to waste.

One thing I would say is that generally people want the other person is enjoying eating so the fact you were fasting and unable to partake in your salad may have had an effect. That is not to say that you should have broken your fast at all but to maybe be aware that it may have an effect on those seeing you not eat and enjoy the food you brought.

Maybe enrol some support next time at such an event such as your sister beforehand?

But as I say, I really do think it's the 'spirit' of the season to indulge in foods people consider to be bad for them which might explain why they all went for the greasy SAD food.

Maybe just another reason to be thankful: that you aren't one of the living dead? :p

[EZ rider]

Thanksgiving for SAD eaters is about carving up a bird and eating it along with a lot of lifeless dead food sadly lacking in nutrition. For RAW food eaters Thanksgiving is a celebration of the natural foods grown in the earth full of life and good nutrition.

[justinesmith]

That bums me out to hear. I think sometimes we are so conditioned to what we are supposed to eat at holiday gatherings that something different is out of the question for people. Everytime I brought something raw to a holiday at the relatives house there were at least 3 of them that acted as though my food was poison ~ they were really rude about it. The people that took the time to try it loved it.... some people are just afraid to try something new which is a bummer ~ you can miss out on SO much! :)

[Riiiya]

i guess it's no surprise people preffered a bunch of cooked dead animal products, but it's truly said that they preferred ICEBERG LETTUCE WITH THOUSAND ISLAND DRESING to your wonderful dish..

[Shell]

Hmmmm.....can't be sure, but in my experience, some people are just happy in their comfort zones, and if something looks "different", they bypass that, and head for the old standbys. That goes for both sides of the fence. We're comfortable with our food choices, and SAD eaters are comfortable with theirs. Your salad sounds delightful, and it is a shame that it wasn't gobbled up. Like purdeychoo said, the holiday season is a great excuse for people (even rawbies!) to eat foods that they normally view as "bad" or "once in a while". I wouldn't say that people don't know HOW to eat fresh, wholesome, from the earth food (it's hard nowadays not to know that fruits and veg are healthier than a big hunk of pumpkin pie).....some just CHOOSE not to! Unfortunately. If I were you, I wouldn't stop bringing raw dishes to SAD events......how else are you going to keep exposing others to the benefits of raw?! Maybe just make smaller dishes, so that if there is leftover, you can take it home, and it won't go to waste.