Matt Holzman’s Raw Meal

KCRW’s Matt Holzman shares his recent exploration of raw food:

So I came home last night and my awesome neighbor Mike Chipko greets me with this amazing platter of culinary delights. Incredibly good, incredibly beautiful (would have taken more pics but I horked it all down so fast)…and it’s all raw food! My surprise meal included:

• Spicy Kale Chips (yum!)

• Sesame Dumplings (wraps made out of coconut meat dyed with beets or spinach and tied with a chive)

• Eggplant “Rumaki” (I made that name up – the eggplant looks like bacon and there’s macadamia “cheese” inside)

• Jicama “Mashed Potatoes”

• Lavender “Chocolate Cake”

• Vanilla Bean “Ice Cream” (made from cashews and coconut meat – to die for)

Let me just say that I am a serious meat eater but everything was just so good…like not “healthy” good – but good good. And Mike really has an eye for making food look stunning. Well, he’s a building contractor so I guess that makes some kind of strange sense…and he’s taken classes from raw food guru Matthew Kenney. I have to tell you that if Mike opens up a restaurant I want reservations now! Thanks Mike!