Welcome to Raw Epicurean where a passion for raw vegan food + ideas + inspiration is shared through pixilated pages.
Raw food is for everyone! You don't have to be 100% raw to receive the benefits and enjoy it.
Recent Entries
- Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Hazelnut Pesto with Fresh Tomatoes
- Miranda Martinez :: An Interview + Giveaway
- The Carlotta
- Tribest Personal Blender
- Spiced Chocolate Mousse with Pear Puree
- Bite-Size Chocolate Brownies
- Shredded Mediterranean Carrots Wrapped in Collard Greens
- Dill :: Herb of the Month
- Appetizers + Snacks (10)
- Book + Ebook Reviews (7)
- Breakfast Recipes (3)
- Cacao Recipes (5)
- Condiments (9)
- Cookie Recipes (8)
- Creams + Sauces (5)
- Dessert Recipes (22)
- Dressings + Vinaigrette (2)
- Drink Recipes (23)
- Eco-Friendly Products (3)
- Equipment + Gadgets + Tools (16)
- Etcetera (27)
- Foodie News (1)
- Health and Wellness Articles (3)
- Herb of the Month (10)
- Holiday Recipes (6)
- Main - Entrée (15)
- Make Your Own (2)
- Movie Reviews (2)
- Opinion (3)
- Organic Vegan Wine (3)
- People (18)
- Plant Food (4)
- Raw Kitchen Pantry (4)
- Restaurant Reviews (1)
- Salad Recipes (13)
- Side Dish Recipes (8)
- Soup Recipes (9)
- Suggestions + Tips (14)
Raw Vegan Recipes + More
Ingredient Index
Lists
Nwenna Kai :: An Interview and Giveaway
October 23, 2009
It has been months in the making, and finally, I am happy to post this interview with Nwenna Kai. She is an eco-entrepreneur, lecturer, food activist, raw vegan chef and instructor who has authored her first book, The Goddess of Raw Foods, but her accomplishments don’t stop there.
In 2007, Nwenna was the recipient of the Elizabeth Dole Young Entrepreneurial Grant from the organization Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) for her work as a health and wellness eco-entrepreneur. She is the previous owner of Taste of the Goddess Cafe, a raw vegan restaurant that was based in Los Angeles.
Nwenna has been interviewed on numerous television and radio shows, such as, E-Entertainment, The Travel Channel’s Taste of America, KTLA Channel 5 News, Blog Talk Radio, and has appeared in various magazines like LA Magazine.
I extend a long awaited warm welcome to Nwenna, and in this interview, she shares with us how she adapted raw food into her diet and her thoughts on embracing a raw vegan lifestyle, some fun information about herself, and more.
Enjoy the Interview…
Ingrid Weithers-Barati: Tell us about your eating history before embracing a raw food diet?
Nwenna Kai: I have been vegetarian since I was 14 years old and vegan since I was eighteen. Of course I’ve changed my diet from time to time. I spent some time in France when I was in college and I completely went back to eating meat because I just didn’t know how to stay vegetarian in France. Then I got really really sick and came back to the States and did the master cleanse for 14 days and got better. Then I went back to being vegan again.
Overall, I always ate really healthy. My parents always had fresh fruit available for us and we always had something green and fresh on our plates for dinner. We never ate out of cans or boxes. When I went to college, I was astonished to see people put two or three starches on one plate at a time. Having a green vegetable in my household was the rule, not an option. So that stayed with me.
IWB: When did you discover raw food and what inspired you adapt it to you lifestyle?
NK: I discovered raw foods in the year 2000 while I was an art student in Chicago. I was sick all the time. I was eating a mostly cooked vegan diet and I suffered from horrible headaches, acne, constipation, a thyroid disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, anxiety, sciatica. You name it. I experienced it. So the constipation was the most debilitating so I said to myself if I ate salads and fresh juices for a week, then I’ve got to go to the bathroom and that’s what I did and I surely went to the bathroom. I just kept eating the salads until I was sick of salads and then I met someone on a yoga retreat who happened to be a raw foodist who introduced me to Karyn Calabrese’s restaurant in Chicago and I bought all the books and equipment and started experimenting with food.
What inspired to adapt it to my lifestyle was simply based on how I kept feeling. I just was feeling so good and the food was nourishing my body so I just kept educating myself about it.
IWB: What is the most amusing response or reaction that you’ve experienced when you told someone about the raw food diet?
NK: “Its dangerous to eat raw foods all the time because of all the bacteria.” Right? I had to laugh at that one. Or, “Are you going to make your kids eat that way too?” Like God forbid right? What’s interesting about these reactions is that people don’t even realize what they are saying. We are so programmed by other people’s programming which is programming by other people’s programming that we are on autopilot and we ourselves can’t see through our own stuff.
IWB: What people or events have most influenced your journey as a raw foodist?
NK: Karyn Calabrese’s restaurant was my first introduction to the world of raw foods, so she has been such an inspiration to me as a business woman, a raw foodist, and as a woman of color especially since the raw foods movement doesn’t really recognize people of color as much who are pioneers and leaders in this movement as well.
The events that influence me the most is when people reach out to me and tell me how much I’ve helped them. I also just love educating people about their health and well-being. Also being African American I am doing a lot of work in my own community with educating people. I grew up with a grandmother who grew collard greens in the middle of the ghetto in a community garden in West Philadelphia. Raw Foods is an interesting diet because some of the foods you can’t get them in the ghetto. You won’t find nori rolls, durian, or hemp seeds in the supermarkets in the ghetto but you can grow collard greens, tomatoes, and bell peppers anywhere so I love the simplicity of eating a raw foods diet. Some people think oh, I gotta have a lot of money to eat this way and you don’t. All those superfoods and stuff probably costs a lot of money and they taste really good but a ripe tomato just pulled out of the ground is like putting heaven on your tongue.
IWB: When did you decide to become a chef and how did you learn to “un” cook?
NK: Its funny because I never decided to become a chef. And I really don’t consider myself to be a chef. I love raw foods and I teach people about raw foods but I am self-taught and self-learned and I pretty much break all the rules around being a chef. But I learned how to “un” cook from eating this way and then from running my own restaurant.
IWB: Who inspires you as a chef?
NK: Definitely my own taste buds inspire me as well as my culture and background growing up in an African American family where food is like medicine. Simplicity also influences me since I’m such a simple person who likes ease and comfort at the same time so I create recipes based on what I would like to eat, what is functional in terms of what ingredients can I grab easily, are readily available, and simple and easy to make.
IWB: If we could have a peak into your kitchen pantry, what raw food staples would we find?
NK: I love seaweeds so I keep dulse flakes, nori rolls, wakame, and arame in my pantry. That’s as exotic as it gets.
IWB: What is/are your favorite kitchen gadget[s]?
NK: The Vitamix of course.
IWB: Tell us one [or more!] of your all-time favorite raw vegan recipes?
NK: Watermelon gazpacho soup. Its the best on a hot hot day.
IWB: What type of challenges, if any, have you faced with your family, friends and within your community since embracing a raw vegan lifestyle, and how have you overcome them?
NK: I still face challenges with friends and family who just don’t get it or understand. I still get asked questions like “you don’t eat fish or chicken” or “you eat like a bird” or “how can you get full from just eating vegetables and fruits all day”. But those challenges have dwindled over the years as my life is full of people who want to be healthy and eat better and so instead of critcizing, they are calling me asking me for advice and recipes.
IWB: What are you most proud of as a raw vegan?
NK: I am most proud that I healed a lot of my physical ailments with a raw foods diet and I also that I have a testimonial to use to teach and inspire others to do the same.
IWB: Tell us one of your most amusing behind-the-scenes kitchen stories.
NK: Too many to tell. There were a lot of fun times I had in my restaurant with my employees in preparing food, and experimenting with food, chatting it up with customers, seeing who would come in.
IWB: Where and what was your most memorable raw meal?
NK: When I first started eating raw food, I was introduced to it from an ex-boyfriend. That was my first raw foods meal at a raw foods restaurant and it was at Karyn’s Fresh Corner in Chicago. We had a chickpea salad with sprouts, some nori rolls stuffed with a almond pate I believe and then we finished it off with carrot cake. It was memorable because I remember feeling so nourished from the experience of eating live food and sharing it with someone who I really cared about. It was awesome.
IWB: If you could be or do anything else, what would you do or be?
NK: When I was in Australia in March of this year, I saw dolphins for the first time. I might want to be a dolphin but other than that I would like to get into this time travel thing.
IWB: What one word would you use to describe yourself?
NK: Sassy.
IWB: What’s the one thing about you few people know?
NK: That I’m a quantum physics, metaphysics, science freak. I love anything about the esoteric, the mythic, the ancient, the erotic, the 5th dimensional. I crave that stuff like I crave love and watermelon gazpacho soup on a hot summer day.
IWB: Is there a food you can’t bring yourself to like?
NK: Durian. Can’t find it in the ghetto.
IWB: What are some things you enjoy doing in your spare time?
NK: I watch a lot of films and I read a lot of books. I love hiking, sweating at the spa, and spending time with the ones I love the most.
IWB: As a previous restaurant owner, what was the most difficult situation you had to handle and what did you learn from the experience?
NK: Wow. There are too many to choose. Mostly the multi-tasking was just too difficult. And so what did I learn? That I was extremely creative and multi-talented.
IWB: Any plans on opening another raw restaurant?
NK: I’m doing consulting work with investors who want to open up a raw foods restaurant in downtown LA, but I don’t have any plans on opening up another restaurant anytime soon. I love the restaurant industry, but I love my freedom also.
IWB: What are some important things each of us can do to stay on the raw food tract?
NK: Surround yourself with people who adopt your diet and your lifestyle, and arm yourself with a lot of information, and learn how to eat intuitively instead of listening to everyone else tell you what to eat and how to eat, and don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Sometimes the raw foods community can be so extreme and its almost like we’ve become the raw foods police force. I think balance and moderation is the key to everything.
Giveaway
For the giveaway, Nwenna offers a copy of her book The Goddess of Raw Foods to one Raw Epicurean reader. To participate in the drawing, simply answer the question:
If we could have a peak into your kitchen pantry, what raw food staples would we find?
One entry per person, please.
The drawing for this giveaway will take place Monday, October 26th. I will use my favorite random number picker to choose the winning participants. The winning participants will be contacted via email and an announcement will be posted in the comment section of this post.
Thank you and best of luck!
More About Nwenna Kai
Visit her website nwennakai.com, her blog , and Nwenna Kai on My Space.
Shop on Amazon for her book The Goddess of Raw Foods.
Watch her on UTube Nwenna Kai on You Tube.
Stay connected with Nwenna via Facebook.
Related posts:
Tweet This: Send Page to Twitter
Comments
47 Comments so far
| Get The Raw Epicurean Report free monthly food news in your inbox |
Receive the latest raw vegan recipes and related posts via email alerts | RSS subscription
Let's connect via Twitter
Join our fabulous community
Herb of the Month
Rose is the featured herb for February. We'll highlight its benefits, showcase it in raw vegan recipes, and at the end of the month a reader's name will be drawn from the comments, and our sponsor
will send that person products featuring rose. Thank you for participating!
Books + Magazines
Get Your Copy
Get Your Copy
Get Your Copy
[…] Nwenna Kai :: An Interview and Giveaway […]
“Its dangerous to eat raw foods all the time because of all the bacteria?”
Never gotten that one before! Usually people ask about protein or how I can eat so much fruit in one sitting and still stay fit! ;)
Swayze
I’ve always got on hand tons of raw nuts, coconut oil, dates, and coconut water. All of these things, with the right herbs and vegetables, can be completely transformed into delicious raw soups, dressings, and desserts.
Contest Entry…The one raw food you could find in my pantry would be Nama Shoyu.
Raw Power!!!
Gerald
Great interview! My kitchen staples, a juicer and lots of veggies.
Im my pantry, you would find a pleathrea of nuts and seeds (pistachios, brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, soy nuts, sunflower seeds, toasted sesame seeds), coconut flakes, coconut oil, agave nectar. I like to keep fresh fruits and vegetables readily available as well.
Almonds, sunflower seeds, pecans, walnuts, coconuts, hemp seeds, sundried tomatoes, herbs (both fresh from our garden: cilantro, mint, rosemary, basil, & parsley as well as dried), greens, greens, and more greens (kale, swiss chard, romaine, spinach, and mesclun are faves), plums, peaches, bananas, figs, persimmons, maca, mesquite, cacao, carrots, nori, dulse, wakame, sugar snap peas, tomatoes (heirloom and on the vine), cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, onions, mushrooms, agave nectar, tahini, lemons, limes, oranges, berries, and melons.
You can always chia seeds, raw nut butters, kelp noodles, and oat groats in my pantry.
always find*
oops!
Nuts,dates,coconut butter,fruits and veggies of all kinds….the varieties are endless!!
BANANAS! Frozen for smoothies and dessert bases, fresh for mashes and just a perfect snack on the go. Or our favorite treat: almond butter and coco nibs sandwiched between two banana halves.
Lots of fresh fruit and almonds, flax seeds and dates!
ok, ready Ingrid?
Dulse, celtic salt, cacao nibs, buckwheaties, chia seed, coconut oil, raw honey, raw agave nectar, stevia drops, all sorts of spices, cinnamon sticks, lucuma powder, hemp seeds, maca powder, cacao paste, dates
and that is just the pantry, the frig is a much longer post:)
love you
deb
My pantry has raw dates, nuts, agave nectar, flax seed, cacao, maca, mesquite, Lucuma powder, chia seeds, hemp seeds, bee pollen, green superfood, gogi berries, raisins, flax crackers, fruit leather I made myself, pizza crusts I made myself also. Buckwheat, sesame seeds, almond butter, tahini, seaweed, dulse powder. Well that is all I can remember right now.
Staples in my very new raw kitchen are currently: almonds, groats, dried dates, almond butter, cacao butter, sea salt just to name a few.
Great interview, I’ll be checking Nwenna on youtube.
I stock up on blueberries in the summer to get me through the winter. I love cayenne to put some zing in my salads and I almost always have kale on hand for smoothies and salads. Other staples include pumpkin and sunflower seeds, walnuts and brazils, bananas, seaweeds (usually kelp powder and nori sheets),sprouts of some kind, garlic, salba, and virgin cold pressed olive oil, organic of course. Some other stuff as well but I’ve been transitioning to raw since the end of May (75% to 90%) so its still a work in progress. These are just the staples … beyond that I indulge in an ongoing variety of fruits and veggies to keep my mind, tummy and taste buds happy.
If you peaked in my pantry I would also have dulse and nori. I also keep my raw nuts and vitamix in there! Thanks!
ps. I it a good idea to keep fresh fruits and veggies in a pantry as many answered below? I always thought it was important to refrigerate those items. Please reply.
Thank you for an inspiring interview!
My frig has the bulk of my raw supplies, including a variety of nuts and seeds tucked in with greens, fruits and veggies. The pantry - let’s see: coconut oil, sea salt, raw apple cider vinegar, raw honey. Juggling those few things in recipes can make or break them. Other than that, I keep some raw nutbutters on hand, also raw tahini, fermented soya sauce, cocao, carob pwdr, unsweetened dried coconut, dates, herbs and spices. I know there’s lots more one could have, but these are the basic things that take me from appetizers through desserts!
What a great interview with such a beautiful person!
Raw staples for me in the pantry are raw almonds, raw honey, raw almond butter,lots of seeds and beans for sprouting, and ground wheat germ. Other kitchen staples are my blender, spinach, and bananas.
Other stuff varies but I always have those!
unfortunatelt, not that much raw stuff right now. im new to the idea of a mostly raw diet and need help thinking of recipes and meal ideas to get me on the way. right now, im a bit intimidated by all the juicing and dehydrating so the only raw foods i always have on hand are lots of vegetables and fruits.
In my transition to raw foods…kitchen I have Gogi Berries, Berry Green by New Chapter, Hemp Protein, Hemp Seeds, Coconut Oil, Raw Cacao Nibs, Raw Agave, Golden Berries, Coconut Water, Green Stevia Powder, Herb Pharm tinctures, Silver Sol, Variety of Teas & Herbs, Luo Han Guo-(sweetner), Raw Cashew Butter, Raw Nuts, Fresh Vegetable & Fruit.
I would love to find more information on raw foods & recipes for the African American culture. There is very little. I have been searching for at least a year. Nwenna Kai & Karyn Calabrese were the first original raw foodist I found on line. Thank you! God Bless!!
yeah I had that comment from my brother-in-law, in fact he warned my sister about eating my food because she might catch salmonella…sigh…
So my cupboard is filled with these raw staples;
Buckwheat (Love, love love buckwheat!)
Unsprouted pulses and seeds - mung, lentil etc
Nuts and seeds prepped and unprepped (Almonds, Walnuts, Hemp, Sunflower, Pecans etc
Cacao in its many forms
Coconut in all its forms - gotta love those young coconuts
Kombucha
Fermented veggies
and right now - Persimmons and Pomegranates
Great interview - psyched about the Quantum physics Metaphysics connection - definitely nourishment for me too!
What raw foods are in my pantry…not enough. I’m just starting on the raw vegan path…but all my veggies are raw, and eaten raw…agave…nuts…
oh wow, how I want this book so incredibly bad! so inspirational!
the raw staples you will find in my pantry include
-raw cacao powder, coconut butter,raw nuts (cashews and pecans, yum!) dates, raisins, oat groats, dulse, countless types and amounts of fruit, veggies galore, coconut milk, raw sprouting mix, wow the list is endless!
Enjoyed the interview. Started my journey here in IL around February 2004. I have been bouncing back and forth between cooked and uncooked (live) food over the years. I am trying to get back on track to a 100% rawfood diet and stay there.
In my cupboards I pretty much have some of the same staples as you. I love my Nori sheets . . lets see there is arame, wakame, Brewer’s (nutritional) Yeast, kelp, Carob Powder. . Supplements like spirulina, Blue Green Algae, Green Foods, Rice Protein. . Raw honey, coconut oil, Extra Vigin Olive oil … and of course all the raw fooders gadgets.
Great interview! I have so much stuff in my pantry, but half of which I am not quite sure what to do with! I am fairly new to this. Just got a dehydrator that terrifies me!! Still learning. Love making sprouts from Azuki and mung beans for my salads. Use Raw Nori sheets a lot with nut pate, have tons of nuts in my freezer, almond butter, tahini, cocoa and carob powders,Mesquite Pod Meal, Goji berries, Maca Root, wheat berries, always have lots of fresh fruits on hand, and green leaves for green smoothies and salads. My Vitamix was my best investment. Still haven’t put it to its fullest use but am getting there. Being raw has helped my Diabetes (Type I) so like Nwena Kai, I too have been helped a lot. I am not 100% raw yet, but getting there.
I LOVE the quote “We are so programmed by other people’s programming which is programming by other people’s programming that we are on autopilot and we ourselves can’t see through our own stuff.” That is absolutely fabulous!
Raw food staples? I’ve got sprouting seeds, sprouters, sprouting bags. I’ve got nuts, nutmilk bags. I’ve got a couple of different containers of lactofermenting veggies. I’ve got raw fudge in the freezer; surely that’s a staple when you’ve got kids!
I am new to raw foods so my staples are almonds, dates, raisins, sun-dried tomatoes, and buckwheat granola.
Thank you for interviewing Nwenna Kai.
Nori, coconut oil, shredded unsweetened coconut, coconut water (I love coconut…can you tell ;-D), dates, bananas, various nuts and seeds, and avocados are my pantry (and countertop) staples. Yum!
What an awesome giveaway! I didn’t know about Nwenna and her work until now, so thanks for the introduction.
You’d find:
Nama Shoyu
Braggs
Apple Cider Vinegar
Sesame oil
Nut butters
Sea Veggies
Quinoa, Millet, Buckwheat
Spices
Coconut Oil
Raw honey, agave, and maple syrup
Chocolate :-)
Well, I keep a lot of my raw items in the fridge; I currently have raw pumpkin seeds, raw hemp oil, fruits and veggies, raw apple cider vinegar, fresh herbs, nama shoyu. I have raw agave and raw honey in my pantry and also raw sea vegetables. I also keep many raw books in my cookbook pantry.
Thank you for this lovely post. Hope you are doing well. andra
If we could have a peak into your kitchen pantry, what raw food staples would we find?
raw nuts- almonds, cashews, walnuts
oat groats
buckwheat groats
nama shoyu
raw tahini
raw agave
cold-pressed olive oil
i really enjoyed the interview. thank you nwenna kai!
here are a few favorites in my pantry:
lentils and buckwheat groats for sprouting.
coconut oil, cold pressed olive oil, raw almonds and cashews, cocoa nibs and raw agave.
cacao • honey • nuts • chia seeds • seeds • wheatberries • nama shoyu • garlic • sea salt • agave • olive oil • dried fruits • coconut • cacao (um, did I already mention that??? tee-hee…my fav)
If you were to peek in my kitchen pantry,the raw food staples you would find is wakame,kombu, kelp, sundried tomatoes, raw agave, and pink mineral salt.
Raw olives, sundried tomato, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, all kinds of nuts, nori sheets, dulse flakes, chick peas, tahini, almond butter, cashew butter, lots of dried herbs and spices.
Sooo many, but some favorites would be fresh dates, raw nuts of all varieties, and coconut oil!
Walnuts in the pantry. Papaya, pineapple, kale, mustard greens, cilantro, pears, almond butter in the refridgerator :)
Great interview Ingrid! She is so beautiful!
I totally agree with her as far as the moderation goes. I remember Karyn talking in an interview about how myopic the Raw food community can be and I totally agreed. I just try to be who I am and eat what I eat and not let anyone around me get me down about it : )
My pantry staples, coconut oil, coconut, cacao and cashews. All c’s, how funny : )
Sometimes eating raw might cause you poisoned. Some fertilizers are poisonous. Even if you wash your vegetables already, they are still there. Transient bacteria most live in that place. Just to be sure, I wash gently the veggies and have it boiled for a minute.
Hello, great post! For the contest, you’ll find in my pantry raw almonds, walnuts, cashews, medjool dates, sunflower seeds, raw honey, dried basil and coconut oil just to name a few :-).
I usually keep a lot of raw almonds in stock. I also love to keep buckwheat handy for those days when I want something hearty for breakfast. Coconut, dates and flax seeds are usually present. Anything I can snack on easily like figs or macadamia nuts can come in handy.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Congratulations to Candy of Avocado, Meet Zuchinni, [cute name] a blog focused on raw vegan food and healthy recipes. She receive a copy of Nwenna Kai’s book The Goddess of Raw Foods!
Here’s her response when asked:
If we could have a peak into your kitchen pantry, what raw food staples would we find?
I loved reading all your responses. Thank you to everyone who participated in this drawing. :-)
I suffered from stomach pain and burning mostly, couldn’t sleep well and just hated those extra pounds I couldn’t get rid of no matter what I did. Now I stumbled upon this system that is easy and it doesn’t require expensive medication or difficult exercises.
Thank you for this post. I see I missed the giveaway, but I enjoyed the interview. Nwenna looks so incredibly beautiful. The top photograph is awesome. I appreciate her advice about trusting ourselves when it comes to food. People in the mainstream get aggravated about conflicting advice on nutrition, but often I think that is nothing compared to the conflicting and often contentious seeming “advice” coming from various “gurus” in the movement. I especially dislike being told that I simply must consume an ingredient for my health that can ONLY be found on the advisers personal website for a hefty fee. I hate to be cynical, but that really bugs me. Nwenna’s got it right, it’s the veggies and fruits themselves. I will be so interested to see what projects Nwenna becomes involved in in the future. Thanks again.
Coconuts, pine nuts and organic wines.
Thank You,
Samantha Cook