New York Times Mag, 11/15/98: Status is... For Vegetarians, Eating It All Raw

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" Status is... For Vegetarians, Eating It All Raw "

 

By Sara Ivry

New York Times Magazine -- 11/15/98

 

Vegetarianism, long considered a hippie hallmark, is now mainstream.

But the traditional no-meat-no-fish menu is being upstaged by

competing practices that advocate a far greater rigidity. In crunchy

subcultures in which a " my diet is better than yours " attitude

quietly prevails, coolness is gauged by culinary austerity. And the

question abstemious eaters like to grill one another with nowadays

is this: How " raw " are you?

 

Raw foodism -- not, heaven forbid, as in sushi, with all its roiling

bacteria -- is an interestingly popular diet regime in which

adherents ingest only uncooked, unprocessed fruits, vegetables, and

seeds. Raw meat is out, as is dairy: both are considered poison in

disguise. Other big no-nos include coffee, tea, alcohol, and vitamin

supplements. Truly orthodox raw foodists even reject seemingly

innocuous products like vinegar, garlic, and herbs, those tasty

aditives the rest of us take for granted.

 

" The purer you are, the more status you have, " says Ronni Kolotkin,

a recent raw convert from New York City. " The goal is to be 100

percent raw. We pity meat-eaters because we know they're going to

die soon. They're killing themselves. " Like many other raw foodists,

Kolotkin has tested a litany of diets -- vegetarianism, macrobiotic,

the all-protein route -- but swears going raw is where it's at.

She's not at 100 percent yet (she still nibbles on some pasta every

now and then), but she's trying hard.

 

True raw foodists definitely see themselves as perched at the top of

the food chain. " Spiritually and mentally you become clearer, " says

Ed Lieb, who runs Planet Health, an alternative healing center in

Manhattan. " We're elite because we eat things as nature intended. "

 

Certainly raw foodism makes veganism look fairly mundane. That's the

diet, formerly on the outer fringe, that considers all animal

products and by products taboo. " People say they're vegans --

they're proud of that, " says Kolotkin. " But raw foodists think:

That's nothing! That's nowhere! We don't eat soy products. We don't

eat tofu. No grains. You can't even drink herbal tea. If you have to

cook it, you can't eat it. "