kaybee
11-14-2008, 06:30 AM
HI all--
Ive finally found a place to run a series of raw foods classes, but I could use a ton of help in terms of figuring out structure and also because there are alot of restrictions.
First thing: I had wanted to run this course a few months ago, but I am living in a small town with little in terms of public spaces to use/rent, and I doing it at home was not an option as I live in a 3-room trailer. So I finally have a place to do it--my friends mom is going to let me rent out her art studio. BUT i feel like the timing is a bit bad because a few months ago I could have done alot with summer foods, whereas now people are going to be looking for warmer, heavier, hot (cooked...) foods, as it is cold and damp here already and will be for many months. So thats the first hurdle--How do I introduce people to the raw diet and make it attractive to people --when its something theyve never heard of before--when its going into winter and we cant get (because of both cost and availability) alot of the "heavier" winter foods like nuts and dates...??? (and, when people are used to eating alot of winter foods like potatoes turnips cabbage carrots, warm, cooked foods)? But this is the time when Ive finally been able to arrange for use of the studio, so if I want to do it, its got to be now, even if its not the ideal season. I just think its much easier to attract people to this lifestyle in the spring and summer, rather than going into the winter, especially in such a cold, damp climate...
heres a bit of background: im living in ireland, in a small far-west town. raw foods is not really recognized here yet. there are 1 or 2 people within about 15 miles of here that are into raw, and we have a decent hfs in town, but people in general dont really know what raw means, besides carrot sticks... SO, I want to introduce as many people as possible--partially for selfish reasons ;p because i want there to be more people here on my wavelength, and i want there to be enuff people to start potlucks :) I would like to make the course open to everyone, even if they cant afford to pay a fee, or the full fee, but I also need to cover the costs of materials and space rental. Im not intending to make any money on this; I want to do it more as a "spread the word" type thing, because I prefer that people not have to pay money in order to learn how to live healthier, and I really want to spread the world about healthier diet. SO, I have been thinking of doing a 4 night course, all in one week, for a couple hours each night. Does this sound reasonable? When most people do cooking classes around here, they do 4 or 5 nights worth. I dont want to do just one 2 hour class because i dont want this to be just an intro, I want it to be something that really enables people to go all out and try as much raw as they can. I would like it to be more of a full-course, that really gives alot of ideas, rather than just an intro. Im not sure about structure though... i was thinking maybe the first night as an intro night maybe with trying some random raw foods, really good stuff, giving some scientific stuff and the reasons for the raw diet. I want to do sprouting and smoothies one night too, and i dont know whether to include this in the first night or to do it a night all on its own. i figured i could do a night of salads, a night of entrees, and somewhere include soups and desserts and snacks and breakfasts. So yeah, i need help with structure. lotsa help :) Also, Im trying to come up with a reasonable fee to charge.... the studio costs me 20 euro a night to use, and then there are costs for food.... I want to make it affordable, but Im thinking Ill have to charge at least 40 euro per person..which sounds like a bit much, but in order to cover the costs... I still want to put on the flyer that everyone is welcome regardless of whether they can pay, but i dont want to end up with noone paying and then me ending up footing the bill for everything... suggestions...?
Heres what Im talking about in terms of "restrictions" :
-EQUIPMENT RESTRICTIONS: things like dehydrators and juicers arent generally available here. they are extremely expensive (like EVERYTHING in this country is) and not something that most people will be able to get or afford. So I want to include alot of non-dehydrator recipes so as to not make raw seem un-doable to people. I have an excalibur that Im willing to lend out for a few days at a time to people, but on the whole, most recipes need to be dehydrator-free--UNLESS does anyone have ideas for dehydrating without a dehydrator? i.e. ive seen things about using bulbs in ovens or whatever? also, its very damp here so just leaving things out to dry wont work.
-blenders and food processors are more affordable, but there are no ten-dollar blenders like there are at home. usually your talking about more like 50 bucks a pop. alot of people tend to have the "stick blenders" though, which would work in a pinch. coffee grinders for grinding nuts and seeds are out of the question at 50 euro a pop...(???!!!!!crazy. they cost 10 bucks in the states)...
FOOD RESTRICTIONS: this is a big one, which is why im going to have to really tailor my recipes to whats available locally, which is pretty limited compared to what we're used to being able to get in the states. (sometimes i feel like i would give my left arm for a Whole Foods, even if it is a.k.a. whole paycheck...) The biggest one is NUTS, which are super-expensive. walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts and pinenuts are out of the question as they tend to be rancid, no matter the source. Almonds are OK and hazelnuts are OK (although arent hazelnuts stabilized in some way and not really raw??) though still expensive. "Raw" cashews taste fermented, so i will use them in a pinch, but prefer not to...So my recipes need to make minimal use of nuts.
VEGGIES, especially greens, believe it or not, are also not available in huge variety or quantity, at least not organic, except cabbage, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, and some spinach and some kale. Even non-organic greens are pretty limited to lettuce, cabbage, and bagged spinach, bagged arugula, bagged baby greens, but they are expensive, non-organic, and i dont consider them super-fresh. Fresh herbs like parsley and cilantro can only be gotten in small amounts and not organic (no big bunches like at whole foods). So Im pretty limited in terms of variety of greens, which is pretty frustrating.
The other kicker is that non-dried dates are hard to get here unless you go to the wholefoods warehouse distributor, and buy in bulk and even there they are on the pricey side and only of mediocre quality. Dried fruits in general are pretty pricey, though dried currants are reasonable.
Anything "exotic" is a no-go. mangos, pineapple, avocados and other "seasonal" (as in seasonal in southern europe, etc) fruits are available and pretty reasonable. Any unusual herbs, veggies, or anything not in season is not usually available, even if you drive an hour to the nearest city. NO berries out of season, not even non-organic frozen ones, as far as I have seen. Superfoods are only minimally available--no raw chocolate, no maca, you can get gojis but i wont touch them because theyre sourced in china and non-organic. I dont use a lot of superfoods anyway because I cant afford them, so/but my recipes need to mostly steer clear of them. Basically, my dessert recipes are going to be heavily compromised as no chocolate, minimal nuts and dates, etc... so anyone got any great-tasting dessert recipes free of these ingredients?
So, What IS available? organic sproutable grains, legumes, and seeds are dirt cheap. sunflower seeds are cheap, and we have sproutable hemp in shell available. organic root veggies, lettuce, cabbage, mushrooms, some spinach, some kale, garlic, ginger, onions, hot peppers, celery, winter squash, dry goods like honey, tamari, cold pressed oils (dont know if theyre really raw but i use em cuz its all i can get) are available, and other things like fennel, peppers, zucchini, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, etc etc etc random veggies are available but for use in smaller amounts because they tend to be on the pricey side. fruits are available enough and affordable enough (at the moment, apples, pears, persimmons, pomegranite, melons, oranges, bananas, the occasionial papaya or mango, lemons, etc), as long as youre willing to buy them non-organic. The other thing that is in abundance--BUT Im having trouble finding out where it is safest to harvest it because noone knows, or really seems to care much--is SEAWEED. were on a peninsula, so there are beaches everywhere washing up seaweed, but there are also houses nearby everywhere, and there are some fishing boats, so its difficult to know where is safest/pollution free. There are also some wildfoods available, namely sorrel and nettles, though the nettles are dying off for the season. sorrel though is frost-tolerant, I think.
(I myself have access to a bit more variety of greens because I have a small garden, but most here do not, or at least not a garden or greenhouse with winter crops.)
(Im not going to steer these people towards all raw at the moment because its just not a viable possibility at this point in time, due to food availability, the winter season, difficulty of obtaining equipment, etc, but I'd love to get them started by encouraging them to include much more raw foods.) I have SOME pretty good ideas on recipes tailored to local availability, Im pretty set on salads, for example (lentil salad, root veggie salads, etc), but really could use more in the way of entrees, especially low-nut, dehydrator-free, heavier, "wintery" "SAD-approved ;p " entrees that people used to eating alot of bread, potatoes, meat, and dairy would still find delicious and satisfying... Tall order, huh? ;)
OK all, I better stop now as this post is HUGE. thanks MUCH for suggestions
kaybee
Ive finally found a place to run a series of raw foods classes, but I could use a ton of help in terms of figuring out structure and also because there are alot of restrictions.
First thing: I had wanted to run this course a few months ago, but I am living in a small town with little in terms of public spaces to use/rent, and I doing it at home was not an option as I live in a 3-room trailer. So I finally have a place to do it--my friends mom is going to let me rent out her art studio. BUT i feel like the timing is a bit bad because a few months ago I could have done alot with summer foods, whereas now people are going to be looking for warmer, heavier, hot (cooked...) foods, as it is cold and damp here already and will be for many months. So thats the first hurdle--How do I introduce people to the raw diet and make it attractive to people --when its something theyve never heard of before--when its going into winter and we cant get (because of both cost and availability) alot of the "heavier" winter foods like nuts and dates...??? (and, when people are used to eating alot of winter foods like potatoes turnips cabbage carrots, warm, cooked foods)? But this is the time when Ive finally been able to arrange for use of the studio, so if I want to do it, its got to be now, even if its not the ideal season. I just think its much easier to attract people to this lifestyle in the spring and summer, rather than going into the winter, especially in such a cold, damp climate...
heres a bit of background: im living in ireland, in a small far-west town. raw foods is not really recognized here yet. there are 1 or 2 people within about 15 miles of here that are into raw, and we have a decent hfs in town, but people in general dont really know what raw means, besides carrot sticks... SO, I want to introduce as many people as possible--partially for selfish reasons ;p because i want there to be more people here on my wavelength, and i want there to be enuff people to start potlucks :) I would like to make the course open to everyone, even if they cant afford to pay a fee, or the full fee, but I also need to cover the costs of materials and space rental. Im not intending to make any money on this; I want to do it more as a "spread the word" type thing, because I prefer that people not have to pay money in order to learn how to live healthier, and I really want to spread the world about healthier diet. SO, I have been thinking of doing a 4 night course, all in one week, for a couple hours each night. Does this sound reasonable? When most people do cooking classes around here, they do 4 or 5 nights worth. I dont want to do just one 2 hour class because i dont want this to be just an intro, I want it to be something that really enables people to go all out and try as much raw as they can. I would like it to be more of a full-course, that really gives alot of ideas, rather than just an intro. Im not sure about structure though... i was thinking maybe the first night as an intro night maybe with trying some random raw foods, really good stuff, giving some scientific stuff and the reasons for the raw diet. I want to do sprouting and smoothies one night too, and i dont know whether to include this in the first night or to do it a night all on its own. i figured i could do a night of salads, a night of entrees, and somewhere include soups and desserts and snacks and breakfasts. So yeah, i need help with structure. lotsa help :) Also, Im trying to come up with a reasonable fee to charge.... the studio costs me 20 euro a night to use, and then there are costs for food.... I want to make it affordable, but Im thinking Ill have to charge at least 40 euro per person..which sounds like a bit much, but in order to cover the costs... I still want to put on the flyer that everyone is welcome regardless of whether they can pay, but i dont want to end up with noone paying and then me ending up footing the bill for everything... suggestions...?
Heres what Im talking about in terms of "restrictions" :
-EQUIPMENT RESTRICTIONS: things like dehydrators and juicers arent generally available here. they are extremely expensive (like EVERYTHING in this country is) and not something that most people will be able to get or afford. So I want to include alot of non-dehydrator recipes so as to not make raw seem un-doable to people. I have an excalibur that Im willing to lend out for a few days at a time to people, but on the whole, most recipes need to be dehydrator-free--UNLESS does anyone have ideas for dehydrating without a dehydrator? i.e. ive seen things about using bulbs in ovens or whatever? also, its very damp here so just leaving things out to dry wont work.
-blenders and food processors are more affordable, but there are no ten-dollar blenders like there are at home. usually your talking about more like 50 bucks a pop. alot of people tend to have the "stick blenders" though, which would work in a pinch. coffee grinders for grinding nuts and seeds are out of the question at 50 euro a pop...(???!!!!!crazy. they cost 10 bucks in the states)...
FOOD RESTRICTIONS: this is a big one, which is why im going to have to really tailor my recipes to whats available locally, which is pretty limited compared to what we're used to being able to get in the states. (sometimes i feel like i would give my left arm for a Whole Foods, even if it is a.k.a. whole paycheck...) The biggest one is NUTS, which are super-expensive. walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts and pinenuts are out of the question as they tend to be rancid, no matter the source. Almonds are OK and hazelnuts are OK (although arent hazelnuts stabilized in some way and not really raw??) though still expensive. "Raw" cashews taste fermented, so i will use them in a pinch, but prefer not to...So my recipes need to make minimal use of nuts.
VEGGIES, especially greens, believe it or not, are also not available in huge variety or quantity, at least not organic, except cabbage, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, and some spinach and some kale. Even non-organic greens are pretty limited to lettuce, cabbage, and bagged spinach, bagged arugula, bagged baby greens, but they are expensive, non-organic, and i dont consider them super-fresh. Fresh herbs like parsley and cilantro can only be gotten in small amounts and not organic (no big bunches like at whole foods). So Im pretty limited in terms of variety of greens, which is pretty frustrating.
The other kicker is that non-dried dates are hard to get here unless you go to the wholefoods warehouse distributor, and buy in bulk and even there they are on the pricey side and only of mediocre quality. Dried fruits in general are pretty pricey, though dried currants are reasonable.
Anything "exotic" is a no-go. mangos, pineapple, avocados and other "seasonal" (as in seasonal in southern europe, etc) fruits are available and pretty reasonable. Any unusual herbs, veggies, or anything not in season is not usually available, even if you drive an hour to the nearest city. NO berries out of season, not even non-organic frozen ones, as far as I have seen. Superfoods are only minimally available--no raw chocolate, no maca, you can get gojis but i wont touch them because theyre sourced in china and non-organic. I dont use a lot of superfoods anyway because I cant afford them, so/but my recipes need to mostly steer clear of them. Basically, my dessert recipes are going to be heavily compromised as no chocolate, minimal nuts and dates, etc... so anyone got any great-tasting dessert recipes free of these ingredients?
So, What IS available? organic sproutable grains, legumes, and seeds are dirt cheap. sunflower seeds are cheap, and we have sproutable hemp in shell available. organic root veggies, lettuce, cabbage, mushrooms, some spinach, some kale, garlic, ginger, onions, hot peppers, celery, winter squash, dry goods like honey, tamari, cold pressed oils (dont know if theyre really raw but i use em cuz its all i can get) are available, and other things like fennel, peppers, zucchini, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, etc etc etc random veggies are available but for use in smaller amounts because they tend to be on the pricey side. fruits are available enough and affordable enough (at the moment, apples, pears, persimmons, pomegranite, melons, oranges, bananas, the occasionial papaya or mango, lemons, etc), as long as youre willing to buy them non-organic. The other thing that is in abundance--BUT Im having trouble finding out where it is safest to harvest it because noone knows, or really seems to care much--is SEAWEED. were on a peninsula, so there are beaches everywhere washing up seaweed, but there are also houses nearby everywhere, and there are some fishing boats, so its difficult to know where is safest/pollution free. There are also some wildfoods available, namely sorrel and nettles, though the nettles are dying off for the season. sorrel though is frost-tolerant, I think.
(I myself have access to a bit more variety of greens because I have a small garden, but most here do not, or at least not a garden or greenhouse with winter crops.)
(Im not going to steer these people towards all raw at the moment because its just not a viable possibility at this point in time, due to food availability, the winter season, difficulty of obtaining equipment, etc, but I'd love to get them started by encouraging them to include much more raw foods.) I have SOME pretty good ideas on recipes tailored to local availability, Im pretty set on salads, for example (lentil salad, root veggie salads, etc), but really could use more in the way of entrees, especially low-nut, dehydrator-free, heavier, "wintery" "SAD-approved ;p " entrees that people used to eating alot of bread, potatoes, meat, and dairy would still find delicious and satisfying... Tall order, huh? ;)
OK all, I better stop now as this post is HUGE. thanks MUCH for suggestions
kaybee