In 1981, I visited a 300 acre organic farm in Southern Michigan which housed the Creative Health Institute.  It was there that I was exposed to the early years of Live Foods as directed by the late matriarch of the movement, Ann Wigmore.  The farm grew the grains which became the sprouts in the food; full of life-enhancing enzymes, it was both energizing and healing.  The Creative Health Institute was, and continues to be, a remarkable healing center where life-giving practices are embraced.

Raw or live foods are rooted in traditions which date back to our human origins.  Before refrigeration, fermentation and enzymatic growth in food was widespread in the cuisines of world, including Roman garum sauce, Chinese soy products, Japanese pickles, Korean kimtchie, Indian dosas, Thai fish sauces and Indonesian tempeh. Sometimes cooked, sometimes raw, these foods contributed significantly to the diets of the cultures they came from. The modern raw food diet originally drew inspiration from the proto-Christian Essenes most commonly known as the sect of John the Baptist, a desert-dwelling Judaic group who used the sun to dry their sprouted manna bread.

Raw living foods help stimulate the immune system and facilitate the flow of chi energy throughout the body.  There are countless people who claim it clears the mind, balances the body and heals many illnesses.

The most common endorsement I hear is that the raw foods increases energy in daily living.  Whether one embraces the diet entirely or includes a percentage of raw food, the benefits are real.

There are probably more raw-foodies per capita in Southern California than any other part of the country.  No doubt the weather and year round availability of local fresh foods plays a significant roll.  The sensual pleasures of the palate are plentiful with thoughtfully prepared raw cuisine.  I have seen many raw food chefs to be very good with presentation and flavor.

The farmer’s markets in San Diego feature a number of live food vendors.

Here are some of them:

GreenFix Smoothie Company

Peace Pies

Koral’s Tropical Fruit Farm

Macadamia-Sunflower Hummus is a versatile recipe suitable to serve with any cuisine.  Serve it as a dip or use it as a spread in a sandwich or on a cracker.  The Basil Leaf Rolls are just one of many dishes I have used the hummus with.

Macadamia-Sunflower Hummus

1 cup raw macadamia nuts

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

2 cups water for soaking

1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup water

Place the nuts, seeds and soaking water in a container for 2 to 8 hours. Puree all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Serve cold or room temperature.

Basil Leaf Rolls

10 large lettuce-leaf basil leaves
5 tablespoons Macadamia-Sunflower Hummus
1 San Marzano Roma tomato sliced into thin 1/4 inch wide strips

Rinse basil leaves and spin-dry in a salad spinner or pat dry with a clean cloth.  Spread 1/2 tablespoon hummus evenly on each leaf.  Place a tomato slice on one end of the leaf and roll it “roulade-style.”  Repeat with each leaf. Slice into 1/2 inch wide rolls.  Serve right away.

Alu Methi Tikki

In Vegetarian Traditions: Favorite Recipes From My Years At The Legendary Inn Season Cafe, Chef George Vutetakis unveils some of the wildly popular recipes from his trail-blazing years at the award winning Inn Season Cafe in Royal Oak, Michigan. Over 150 innovative vegan dishes, feature quality ingredients, freshness and seasonality, brought rave reviews and appealed to all palates.

What people are saying about the book.

Photos courtesy of Leslie Goldman of the Curezone

Oh, be still my heart: Vegetable Almond Quesadilla, Portabella Romescu, Benares Rice Pudding and the cherry on top–Hazelnut Torte with Hot Fudge Sauce–and all recipes are dairy-free! If there is a heaven, it is inside the covers of this gorgeous, easy-to-follow cookbook of legendary recipes–Vegetarian Traditions. Or perhaps even more heavenly, a kitchen full of cooks preparing these delicious dishes for you and your guests, so that all you have to do is think dreamy thoughts and treat your palate to a party. Vegetarian Traditions makes a gorgeous present that will be enjoyed for a lifetime. I was mightily impressed and felt immediate food cravings!

~Ingrid Newkirk, PETA president and co-founder

Vegetarian Traditions Video

Quotes from Amazon.com reviews:

All “secrets” are shared in this book. I believe this based on the quality of his recipes and the thoroughness of his descriptions. Also, if you get to meet him in person, you’ll get a sense that George is down to earth and one of those sincere, full of integrity, and patient individuals we don’t get to meet often enough. He poured everything he has in this book and it shows.

~CM

He’s holding up a beautiful fresh vegetable for you to admire, inspiring you to make the most of it in the recipe. He’s sharing memories, history, and wonderful photographs, all so engaging that you’ll read through it like a novel!  The layout of one recipe per page with the ingredients listed on the side, makes it user-friendly. The recipes are cleary written and simple to follow. The seasonings perfect. Move over Moosewood!

~JB

This has become one of my favorite cookbooks and I’m not even vegetarian. The recipes are written in such a way that they are very easy to follow, and the author has included a brief description of each recipe that is both interesting and informative.

~JG

It is a crowd pleaser for sure and i have even turned some self defined die hard meat eaters onto it at dinner parties. Highly recommended!!!

~NB

As Detroit natives, my family and I had been Inn Season Cafe fans for years. Needless to say, we were ecstatic when a friend informed us that the cookbook had just come out. This is not just a book for Inn Season fans, it’s a great cookbook for anyone who is vegan or looking to eat healthier — or just looking to expand their culinary horizons, for that matter (many of the recipes feature international cuisines and flavors). I am also gluten-free and many of the recipes are gluten-free or easily adaptable. The brown rice salad (p. 73) was a huge hit with the whole fam (veg and non-veg alike). This is a wonderful all-around cookbook, and one that I’m sure I will cherish for years to come.

~Beth

My current favorite market in San Diego is the Sunday Hillcrest Farmers Market.  Each week it is a new adventure where I explore the bounty of San Diego produce.  In addition, there are the many farmers, vendors and market goers who share a similar vision of food, the makings for beautiful friendships.

One minute I will be waxing poetic with Barry Koral about his avocados, passion fruit and loquats; the next, I am discussing 10,000 year old farming practices with Barry Logan of La Milpa Organica.

This day I also spend time with Phil Noble of Sage Mountain Farm and Colin Archipley of Archi’s Acres VSAT program.  These friends teach me a lot about the produce as they handle it, use it and eat it every day themselves.  This helps to remove degrees of separation between the land and me.

This week, the early summer harvest is in full force.  Before the hot, arid and rainless summer reduces quantities, it is a phantasmagoria of greens, reds, oranges, yellows and blues–as in blueberries.

With my bags overflowing, I return home to prepare a lunch with the day’s haul. The meal is simple, just a vegetable plate served with whole grain bread. Overall I spend about 30 minutes preparing.

I start by grilling citrus-herb marinate asparagus (with lemons from Koral Tropical Fruit Farm) and Eight Ball globe zucchini from Sage Mountain Farm with tomatoes from JR Rodriguez farm.

In a heated skillet, I flash a little extra virgin olive oil with fresh Sage Mountain crooked neck garlic and crushed red pepper.  I quickly added red amaranth and Magenta Spreen lamb’s quarters from La Milpa Organica, then cover and simmer until tender.   In a smaller covered skillet I slowly cook slivered sweet spring torpedo onions from Sage Mountain with squash blossoms from La Milpa Organica and a small amount of aged balsamic vinegar and Celtic sea salt.   Finally, I make a roasted tomato salsa with fresh basil from Archi’s Acres.

It all comes together into a colorful vegetable plate highlighting the regenerative energy of the food in combination with the vibrant natural colors inherent in vegetables straight from the field.   A fitting culmination to another rewarding journey to the farmers market.

La Milpa Organica Farm in Escondido, CA is modeled after ancient Meso-American agricultural practices and is a shining example of modern sustainability.  Farmer Barry Logan speaks about life-giving microbes in the soil and how they create health.  Music by Santiago Orozco and Todo Mundo.

Every day I enter the kitchen, my temple of food, and prepare meals for the family.  I prepare dishes from scratch inspired by fresh produce from the local farmers market. It is a daily meditation which I find energizes me and stimulates my creativity. I am often reminded of the samsara wheel in Eastern philosophies, which signifies the endless cycles of life and death, birth and rebirth that are at the core of living on the planet. The small part I play at the farmers market, in my garden and at the helm of my stove are all part of an earthly process of regeneration which helps me experience vitality and growth.

How to Shop at the Farmers Market

Locavores Do It Fresher

Topsoil Tales …or Nourishing From the Ground Up

A New Victory Garden

Food and music have always been intertwined, both reflecting vibrations of life.  Our quality of life, health and longevity are determined to a great extent by the food we choose as well as the music we listen to.  I am reminded of this every time I enter the Hillcrest Farmers Market.  Markets like this have been around since man first began living in communities–a social setting where people congregate to swap wares, stories and ideas. Indeed, democracy was founded in the marketplaces (agoras) of ancient Greece; they were the center of every village, town or city.

The sounds of the market contribute to the atmosphere that makes it so appealing.  People talking and farmers hawking their wares are a melodic background to procuring the fresh produce of the day. Often, markets will invite musicians to play, adding a festive tone.

In Hillcrest, one musician stands out among the many talented people I have seen perform.  He is Santiago Orozco, a native of Columbia who resides in San Diego and brings his thoughtful music to the markets of San Diego each week.  The positive message of his music intertwines with the market sounds in beautiful harmony, uplifting spirits and enticing people to return.  It is not uncommon to see people spontaneously break into a dance upon hearing his well-crafted Latin inspired rhythms.

Santiago’s views of music, life, food and community are full of compassion and generosity which are felt each time he strums his guitar and sings his songs.  His music complements my cuisine as it is full of flavor and vitality, at the same time re-assuring and comforting.

In his own words, Santiago talks about his life and music:

Santiago Todo Mundo…

“Life is music. The World is music. This story started in Colombian when I was 13 years old.  I started jamming with a old guitar that was in my home, without any expectations or intentions. Since that time life began to take me down the music path. One day I just woke up and realised my whole life was about walking, swimming and flying into the deep of the music ocean. With music, a passion  for travel started to light my heart. Learning about cultures, people, places, colors, flavors, and views, I started to find myself, and build music from the roots of my travels and experiences.

My music talks about life, the social situation,the people, the experiences, the feelings, love, moments, dreams, in fact, talks about the huge life of every person. It talks about the big World that every human carries inside himself. The beautiful song that everyone is in this short life. I am a singer, guitar player and songwriter. Drawing from reggae and Bossa nova, to Rumba, flamenco, Colombian Styles, ballads and a little bit of rock. Singing songs in French, Spanish, English and Portuguese. My music is a mix of styles from all around the world, soft and calm or full of energy.

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I have worked many years in the music world, solo and with many bands. I am always mixing with the different rhythms of the world. I was born in Colombia, studied in Argentina, and have traveled in Brazil and the USA. I take music from every place and mix it to make a beautiful combination of flavors.

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The most important reason I make music is to give a message, a positive message for the crazy and hard moments of this life . I express many ideas and feelings in songs.  I find it wonderful to share music with travelers and people from different countries, to change the moment for them in their journey, but also for the locals too, for sure! Anyway, every person is a traveler and a walker in some way.  It doesn’t matter if  they go to other places or not.  I think it’s beautiful to share with people from other cultures. I am a traveler also, so I decided to make music with this spirit.  I feel that when you travel, your music get richer, full of colors and flavors. Always learning about the places where you are walking. I make music like a little trip, like a voyage.

My project its called “Todo Mundo” which means all the World, and that is just how I feel about the music, like it is all the World together, a mix, one heart beating, one air, one wave.  Playing from the organic street to stages, acoustic or electric, solo or with a band, my music invites the listeners to travel, dance, feel and think. We are Todo Mundo. We are music, our life is the best song play ever, the radio is the World……”

Upon entering the gates of La Milpa Organica Farm, a beautiful vista unfolded before my eyes–rows of lush, green vegetables in neatly organized plots framed by the rocky hillsides of Escondido, California. I have been to many organic farms and each one reflects the philosophy and personality of the owner.

At La Milpa Organica, the absence of fertilizer tanks and mechanized equipment are only a part of what makes this farm different. Barry Logan, the owner, has modeled his farm practices after Meso-American La Milpa, farming based on crop rotation and preservation of life in the soil. He has created an atmosphere which is meditative, healing and regenerative.

I was at Barry’s farm for his monthly open house. Approximately 150 people gather every month for food, music and movies. This evening, Mel Lions of San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project was stoking up the wood-fired pizza oven and getting his ingredients organized for an evening of pizza-crafting. Barry explained that his clay-brick oven took eighteen months to build and each brick had to be bevelled in just the right way for it all to come together. Various musicians performed while Mel turned out delicious, vegetarian pizza after pizza. As the sun set, we settled down to watch Fresh, a film which celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. It was delightful event and refreshing to see so many like-minded people taking such a keen interest in organic and sustainable foods.

Phil Noble of Sage Mountain farm feeds my inspiration with new items every week.