Raw food is a healthy option in moderation - especially in a hot climate.
Annabel Langbein prepares the meals, Yvonne Lorkin suggests the drink matches.
British primatologist Richard Wrangham, author of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, proposed the hypothesis that cooking food is an essential element in the physiological development of human beings. Wrangham points out that our digestive apparatus is poorly suited to raw meat and even more poorly suited to a diet of raw vegetables. If you are going to eat a lot of raw food of any kind you need big, strong teeth and a big gut system, both of which it seems our ancestors had lost at around the time they acquired bigger brains.
The body has to work really hard to process raw food; all those tough muscle fibres and sinews and cellulose have to get broken down before the small intestine can absorb the nutrients that are locked up in raw meats and plants. Cooking takes much of the work of digestion out of the equation, with the energy of fire or heat replacing the energy of our bodies. Also, Wrangham reckons, cooked food allowed us an extra four hours a day to pursue ennobling things like art and philosophy, time that otherwise we would have spent chewing to ingest enough calories and nutrients.
Raw foodism, which goes against Wrangham's premise, is one of the extreme diets that seems to be gaining traction right now. The idea of a diet that involves only raw foods has hit a chord with alternative-health types, a number of celebrities, spiritual seekers, the super trendy and the weight-loss brigade, all of whom have signed up to the idea that eating uncooked "living foods'' extends youth and staves off disease.
One of the key hypotheses of raw foodism is the idea that heat destroys a food's natural enzymes, which, supporters claim, facilitate digestion and that to absorb cooked food, the body has to use up its own limited supply of enzymes. Their assumption is that by helping the body retain its own enzymes, a "living foods'' diet will delay ageing, boost energy and prevent or cure virtually all life-threatening diseases.
Many studies have shown that we humans don't do well on a diet of solely raw food. Yes, everyone loses weight but usually to the point where they can't actually maintain their body weight and most people get chronic energy deficiency. Among women eating totally raw diets, 50 per cent stop menstruating. As Wrangham says: "Humans are adapted to eating cooked food in the same essential way that cows are adapted to eating grass, or fleas to sucking blood." Having, so many millennia ago, traded in a big gut for a big brain, we now can't go back.
You don't have to embrace raw foodism to enjoy some fabulous raw or almost raw meals, and as long as they aren't the whole focus of your diet you aren't likely to cause your body any health problems. At this time of year, when nature offers so many sweet, sun-kissed flavours and it's just too hot to cook, a raw meal feels like just the right choice ¬— fresh, light and cooling. No pots or pans needed.
Creamy Raw Sweetcorn and Basil Soup
Ready in 20 mins
Serves 6
Corn cobs are so sweet these days there's no need to cook them. To work out whether a cob is ripe, pierce it and check that the juice is milky. If it's clear, the corn is not quite ripe enough and if there's no juice then it's too ripe and will be tough and dry.
4–5 fresh young corn cobs
½ just-ripe avocado
3 Tbsp almond butter
½ tsp fresh thyme
Zest of ½ lemon, finely grated
A pinch of chilli flakes
2 cups chilled almond milk or dairy milk
1 cup ice-cold water
¾ tsp salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
½ cup basil leaves
To garnish
¼ cup tamari-roasted almonds, chopped (or raw almonds if preferred)
Use a sharp, heavy knife to cut the kernels from the corn cobs. You should have about 4 cups. Reserve ½ cup for garnish and place the rest in a liquidiser or high-speed blender with the avocado, almond butter, thyme, lemon zest, chilli flakes, milk, water, salt, pepper and most of the basil leaves, reserving some small leaves for garnish. Blitz mixture until very smooth. If not serving at once, chill for up to 24 hours until needed.
To serve, divide between 6 small bowls and garnish each with a scattering of chopped almonds, reserved corn kernels and basil leaves.
Yvonne's pick:
You know the saying "happy wife, happy life, no more strife, where's my cheese knife?" Okay, so I exercised some creative licence with that last bit — but when Jane Cooper makes her Alexia Happy Wife Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2018 ($30), I'm instantly in the mood for food. She's like New Zealand's own Mrs Char d'Onnay, delivering gifts of tropical, citrus-driven deliciousness in a bottle, whether you've been a saint or a sinner. So if you're feeling rawny and corny, then serve this wine and prepare to be popular.
alexia.co.nz
Cauliflower Couscous with Lemon Sumac Dressing
Ready in 15 mins
Serves 6
This is a brilliant, super-light salad meal or side dish. The cauliflower acts like couscous, soaking up the lemony thyme flavours of the dressing.
½ medium cauliflower
1 cucumber, skin on, halved, de-seeded and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red pepper, de-seeded and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
½ cup chopped mint leaves
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
½ tsp salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
Lemon Sumac Dressing
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
1 tsp runny honey
½ tsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
1 Tbsp sumac
2 fat cloves of garlic crushed to a paste with ½ tsp salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
To make the dressing, shake all ingredients together in a jar.
Trim cauliflower, discard hard core and cut florets into chunks. Place in a food processor and whizz to a rice-like crumb. Transfer to a large salad bowl with all the remaining ingredients, add the dressing and toss to combine. Serve within a couple of hours.
Yvonne's pick: Back in the day, rosé was perceived as a sweetish summer sip for the ladies, right? Thankfully, the global desire for drier, spicier, more sophisticated examples has meant that, year-round, we have access to unbelievably good unisex styles like the Alchemy Hawke's Bay Rose 2019 ($20). Merlot, malbec and cabernet franc have done the funky chicken under winemaker Ant Mackenzie's supervision and created a red fruit, peppercorn and creaming soda-edged style that shows solid tannin texture and elongated length of flavour. Taut and driven, it's delicious with this new take on couscous. For how to buy, see alchemywines.co.nz/enquiries
Zucchini Noodles and Broccoli with Green Sauce
Ready in 20 mins
Serves 6
If you prefer, you can serve the broccoli raw without blanching but I find a quick zap of boiling water turns it a rich, verdant green and makes for a milder flavour.
1 small head broccoli
4 medium zucchini
½ cup grated fresh parmesan
½ tsp salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
A pinch of chilli flakes
Green Sauce
1 fat clove garlic
½ packed cup basil leaves
2 Tbsp chopped mint leaves
1 small spring onion, coarsely chopped
Zest of ½ a lemon, finely grated
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
To make the sauce, whizz all ingredients together in a food processor until smooth. It can be made in advance and chilled for up to 24 hours until needed.
Trim broccoli and cut into large florets. Place in a food processor and whizz to a rice-like crumb (alternatively, you can coarsely grate the whole head.) Transfer to a sieve, run under boiling water, then rinse under cold water. Shake and press well to remove as much water as you can, then transfer to a large bowl. Spiralise or coarsely shred the zucchini (if spiralising use kitchen scissors to cut in several places so they are easier to eat). Place in the bowl with broccoli.
Just before serving, add green sauce, parmesan, salt, pepper and chilli flakes to the broccoli and zucchini. Toss to combine, transfer to a serving bowl and serve. Serve within an hour, as the liquid will start to leach out of the vegetables.
Yvonne's Pick: Hoist up your slacks and tighten your straps, because I have news. Deep breath. Sauvignon gris is a grape. It's not (as many people assume) a blend of sauvignon blanc and pinot gris, okay? It's a rare thing to find over here, with only around six brands in existence. And while its spiritual home is in Bordeaux, the Misty Cove Landmark Series Marlborough Sauvignon Gris 2019 ($24) is a bit of Marlborough-grown magic that's beyond brilliant with this herbaceously heavenly recipe. Rich, apple-like and lemongrass-a-licious, it's seriously satisfying and sexily textured. mistycovewines.com