RAW Russell James

My friend Mair, who loaded me up with books to begin my research, introduced me to THE RAW CHEF Russell James by way of his three ring binder "Academy" cookbook. It was complete with pages of recipes, instruction and 10 DVD discs. (!) Honestly, I put it to the side. I wasn't that committed, yet. And it sat on my counter for a couple weeks until Mair returned from her travels and wanted the binder. So I sat down and viewed all ten discs - one after another - throughout the course of a day - and found myself taking notes and being more intrigued than I would ever have dreamed.

Russell James comes across as a trained, experienced chef who happened to migrate into RAW food but in actuality, he was a supermarket manager, driving instructor and fast food worker who discovered RAW food in Thailand at 28 in 2004. It so excited him - he dove right in and has been building his brand in the category through his blog, teaching all over the world and at 105degrees, the Raw Cooking School in Oklahoma City. (It always amazes and delights me how we find our path and how seemingly circuitous routes all comes together at some point.) On his DVD instruction discs, he comes across with an ease, grace and polish and makes RAW cooking look enticing, delicious and not hard. When I first perused the binder, I rolled my eyes at the IRISH MOSS. I mean really, what use would I have for that at this early stage? But by the time he finished showing how to make IRISH MOSS and all it's uses, I was looking forward to trying it.

As a true devotee, his website - www.therawchef.com - is filled with gorgeous shots of RAW FOOD including LASAGNA, CAKES, TARTS, TORTES and yummy looking WRAPS. Delving into the DVD discs, I became inspired to make a lot of those things. I think it's his easy-going manner and English charm. Mair's mother commented how clean and fresh he looked - as if he'd just come from the showers. He probably had but never-the-less the result was so pleasing and soothing it opened up my willingness to have an open mind to the experience.

After viewing them all, I decided to give one recipe a shot and chose the one I thought the most far out - Cheese Cake made from Cashews - and the result was - well, I'll tell you all about in the next post!