Main description:

Picking up where the bestselling Raw Food/Real World left off, Sarma Melngailis invites us inside her glamorous restaurant, Pure Food and Wine, with dozens more recipes for fresh and vibrant juices, shakes, soups, simple dishes, main courses, desserts, and cocktails.

• Whip up an antioxidant-rich Goji Tropic Shake or a sweet, cleansing Cilantro-Pineapple Shake for delicious nutrition on the go
• Cool down with a Cucumber-Mint Gazpacho Soup and an Heirloom Tomato, Fennel, and Avocado Pressed Salad with Caper Dressing, Pistachio, and Mint
• Find out what makes the Chanterelle and Kalamata Olive Ravioli the restaurant's most beloved entrée
• Celebrate with a raw Thanksgiving dinner, complete with "dark meat" portobello, "white meat" large oyster mushrooms, stuffing, mashed celeriac, cranberries, and brussels sprouts
• Satisfy your sweet tooth with a Classic Sundae and Caramel Bars

No juicer? No dehydrator? No problem! Sarma shows that raw food preparation doesn't have to be daunting, and she helps you work your way from the fastest, simplest, freshest recipes to immensely satisfying main dishes that you'll have a hard time believing are raw. A definitive list of ingredients, tools, techniques, and sources make raw food a snap, while information-packed sidebars introduce the world's most powerful super­foods, from kombucha tea to chia seeds. And Sarma is refreshingly honest and real as she describes her personal breakthroughs—and struggles—living on raw foods.

Whether you're snacking on the run, having a quiet dinner at home, or throwing a festive cocktail party, eating raw food makes you feel alive. Filled with sensuous, sexy, and energizing food, this book is sure to enrich your life, whether you're a carnivorous epicure or a raw-foods junkie.

Review quote:

“‘Raw’ and ‘vegetarian’ are not adjectives usually associated with haute cuisine, but at Pure Food and Wine, as if by magic, such ingredients are turned into exquisite and exotically delicious offerings.”

Review quote:

“At once sophisticated and rigorously raw, [Melngailis’ recipes] range from quick and easy milks, juices and items from Pure Food and Wine’s “family meal”…to intriguing dishes off the restaurant menu… And nonpreachy primers on ingredients and techniques used in raw preparations make the book accessible…for a wider audience…”

Review quote:

“My favorites are the Black Trumpet Mushroom Napoleon and the Classic Sundae!”

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Praise for New York City’s Premier Raw Restaurant, Pure Food and Wine“Whether you’re into raw food or not, Sarma’s restaurant is really great, and her One Lucky Duck Juice and Takeaway around the corner is my afternoon go-to spot when I’m in NYC. I always feel at home there!”