A skeptical patron of The Raw Kitchen, I ponder where this new healthy food revolution has lead and what it means for flavour.
As l look down at the menu in front of me, I feel my face grimace – an involuntary response to reading “dehydrated chickpea falafels, quinoa goji tabouleh, arugula, mint sauce”. I’m not sure why you would want your falafels dehydrated or why they are calling rocket arugula. The words mushroom ‘bacon’ further down the menu did not help put me at ease. I dread to think what they did to those poor mushrooms to turn it into something that it’s not – meaty, crispy ‘bacon’. I shiver at the grotesque thought of such an atrocity. I look across the table at my friend who’s studying The Raw Kitchen Menu with great concentration. She would fit the description of these new up and coming, trendy ‘fit girls’ who are always in expensive sportswear with flawless makeup and is of course, obsessed with vegan, raw, sugar-free, preservative-free, carbohydrate-free and high-protein foods (is there any food in this...’food’?!). Skeptical that such food was even possible, she dragged me out to experience Perth’s latest food craze in hope of conversion.
But so far, not impressed.
It scares me that this trend of ‘clean eating’ and quinoa is becoming so popular – what’s worse is that it’s invading my home town. Beautfort street used to be a street of foodie heaven full of rich diversity and big eats, now the intimating Health Freak restaurant looms over the street, standing unapprovingly of the wholesome, tasty food full of everything it’s trying to destroy with its chia puddings and kale chips (ew). I’ll stick to beer battered wedges thank you.
I try and find something that wasn’t designed for rabbits on The Raw Kitchen menu, which as you can see, is a bit difficult. I chose the ‘live’ Pad Thai, saying a silent pray that the zucchini noodles don’t jump off my plate and attempt to strangle me for not being a raw believer. My friend orders the tofu and something called a ‘longevity kombucha’.
Which is how I found myself here, sitting in front of a bowl of zucchini Pad Thai, wishing I was eating meaty ribs.
She then starts gushing about her latest blogging hero Tales of A kitchen. I’m shocked to see that local Perthian Chris, the founder and writer of the clean eating blog, has nearly 20,000 followers on Facebook and 23,000 followers on Instagram! To her credit, the food does look beautiful. With bright colours and stylish photographs, you can see this girl has got talent. And her recipes even sound appealing – carrot coconut soup, choc caramel cheesecake (made with raw chocolate but hey better than no chocolate at all!).
I can see why this way of eating is gaining momentum, with such beautiful vegan food porn and charismatic bloggers it was inevitably going to gain popularity. Especially with the world becoming more nutrition focus and aware. The documentary Super Size Me by Morgan Spurlock exposed the horrifying facts of fast foods and more recently, the dangers of sugar was revealed in That Sugar Film by Damon Gameau, where Gameau trials a diet that aims to avoid the 80% of foods containing sugars, eventually creating a flavourless yet clean diet. I’m not saying that being health conscious is a bad thing, in Australia 2 out of 3 adults and 25% of children are overweight or obese which leads to life threatening diseases like type 2 diabetes, as according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Its indisputable that a lifestyle change is needed to improve the health of Australians. But as a dedicated foodie, I can’t help but be a bit dubious about the flavour of these meals and the realistic implementation of following such a diet. Which is how I found myself here, sitting in front of a bowl of zucchini Pad Thai, wishing I was eating meaty ribs.
In all honesty, I was quite surprised at the flavour in these "noodles". Crunchy, spicey with zesty lemon juice and crushed peanuts, I enjoyed this vegan meal out. I even enjoyed the zucchini substitute for pasta, it was refreshingly different. And very light. Although delicious, I don't think I am ready to swap out roast lamb for tofu patties, or cheese for cashew cream.
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