The Raw Chef Blog

It’s taken me over a week to write about it, for various reasons, but last Sunday (30th April) was my 30th Birthday!!!  So on a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning, Karen, Luke and I set off in my car for the coast.  The plan was to spend the day in Brighton and then go on to Bognor and then Chichester for some food with family and friends.  We had to change that plan slightly when we got to Brighton as it was just so busy.  Because of the Bank Holiday weekend, the car parks were all full - in all my years living in Sussex I’ve never known this to happen before!  There were even people waiting in queues 10+ cars deep at carparks with ‘FULL’ signs lit

So we drove through Brighton, admiring the sea, finally being able to positively answer Luke’s, "is that the seaside?" line of questioning, which had started about half an hour into the journey.  We were then left to try to explain why we weren’t stopping and had another 45 minutes to go before we could get out on the sand.

By the time we got to Felpham beach it was cold and wet but a good time was still had, running down to the water and then running back before it ‘got us’, Karen found that her heels weren’t best suited to running on the beach!  She didn’t fall over though, unlike Luke who seems to run faster than his little legs will carry him and fell face first into the wet sand in his only coat!

We arrived at Lel’s and I had a great time seeing everyone again.  We were actually early which is unusual for me so had time to relax with a glass of wine (well it is my birthday) and have a shower.  Everyone had made such an effort to sort us out with beds and make us feel comfortable.  These are all the people I used to live with, that moved to this house just after I moved to Cambs.  It’s a really nice house actually but they’ve got to move again when the tenancy ends, don’t you just hate renting?!!!

Just before we left I was given my brilliant presents that included a ‘Red Letter Day’ experience - I think I will go for the snowboarding, and an apron with my logo and ‘Russell Mania’ printed on.  The Russell Mania thing is something that Rachel came up with after watching Wrestle Mania on Matt’s TV and decided that it sounded like Russell Mania, so that was my nickname from then on!

Now, for my birthday I thought I was going to a pub with a few people for something to eat.  I was led around the back of the building and told we would be having a drink in ‘Woodies Wine Bar and Restaurant’ beforehand.  As we walked through, to my surprise, they had set up a load of tables with balloons and table decorations, and there was double the amount of people I thought were going to be there.

It was such a nice surprise.  My big surprise was supposed to be my mate Dean being there but as soon as I knew I was going ‘home’ for my B’Day I had texted him to ask if he and Liz wanted to go, so I had ruined their surprise without realising it.  They didn’t think I would honestly come back for my birthday without asking if Dean wanted to come did they?  Obviously they did.

So that brings us on to the food…I had to see the funny side.  This just shows how far we’ve got to go before people understand what it is to eat raw.  Lel and Mum had been in contact with Woodies to arrange a raw meal for Karen and I, giving them some ideas.  To my amusement they had made guacamole (fantastic) with crudites - the crudites were massive chunks of cauliflower and broccoli!!!  We did have julienned carrots and strips of pepper too but honestly, what were the chefs thinking?  I think my words were, "I’m not that hardcore!"  I think the only person more surprised than me was Dean, you should have seen his face!  Without saying a word to each other, using only facial expression (we have an understanding, I’ve known him since I was 5!) we had this conversation:

Dean, "Oh my God, is that what you eat now?"

Russell, "are you kidding?"

You’ve really got to have a sense of humour about this sort of thing.  It just makes me more determined to bring raw foods to the mainstream.  Do I think everyone will start to eat like this?  No I don’t, but I’d like to start by being able to get a decent meal in a restaurant!  It’s given me an idea for this blog actually.  I’m going to start listing restaurants that I’ve been able to get a good raw meal at, whether it’s a particularly impressive salad, or a more inventive attempt based on some ideas I’ve given to the chefs.  If you’ve been impressed by a restaurant that’s catered raw for you please email me  with the details of where it is and what you had.  That way people can check in here and see if there’s somewhere to eat out near them, brilliant!

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