Interview with Jeremy Safron

Question #1: What are some rawfood staples in your current diet? B) Are you 100% raw? C) How did you start?

The primary staple foods that I consume on a regular basis are: Wheatgrass, Coconuts, Sprouted Buckwheat and Sprouted Sunflower seeds, Avocados, Macadamia nuts and Papayas. I also consume a large variety of fruits in season throughout the year mostly mangos, lychee,melons and berries in the summer, prickly pear cacti, figs, persimmons and plums in the autumn, oranges, and cherimoyas in the winter, and sapodilla, carob and loquats in the spring.

I am 100% Intentionally Raw. These days my diet is made up of 75% fresh foods, 10% sprouted foods, 10% dried foods, and 5% cultured foods.

I started slowly by adding and accentuating the positive things in my diet (as well as my life). I went vegetarian then 6 months later went vegan and a year after that began to go raw. At first I was about 50% but that quickly became 80% and after 2 years i was 95% until finally in 1995, I moved to Maui and became 100% raw. My start into raw food was based partially around my quest for cultivation of internal energy (chi kung) and partially my intellectual understanding of health for humans and for the planet. A great number of people influenced my path and helped lead me quickly to key concepts and
ways of living that helped me define my raw food austerity and also deepen my connection with nature.

Question #2: How was it like studying with Dr. Ann Wigmore?

Ann Wigmore was a spry and vibrant lady who was more sharp and focused at 85 than many people ever are in their whole lives. Dr. Ann loved to teach, share and help people and that model of goodness and charity is something to look up to. Dr. Ann gave all she could to those who came to her seeking help. She gave her help and time to people because they needed it and she was a very encouraging person to be around. Dr. Ann had some great goals and quests and I am
honored to be one of the people helping carry on the light.

Question #3: What can we expect in the new edition of your book, Raw Living?

The new version of "Raw Living" now known as the "Raw Food Resource Guide" contains 300 new entries for products, restaurants, healing/ educational centers and more. There are are also some new sections such as -raw warnings and -raw survival foods and updates to the rest of the book. The new updated version of "Dinning from an Empty Bowl" is now available also from 10 speed press and is now titled " The Fasting Handbook" this book includes a variety of different fasts and practices to help cleanse and heal the body and allow the transition to raw living food and a healthy lifestyle much easier and smoother.

Question #4: How do you come up with a recipe?

90% inspiration and 10% perspiration. Most recipes are either inspired by ethnic cuisines from around the globe or are dynamic expressions of flavors found in exotic foods, spices and herbs. When creating a recipe sometimes I just think back to my days in NYC (where i ate 100's of varieties of ethnic foods) and reverse engineer a traditional cooked recipe until i understand its essence and what its foundation and flavors are. Then I find raw food components that will work in substitute and re-create the meal using raw ingredients and healthy forms of processing. When there is very little food in the house or I am at someone elses home where raw ingredients are in short supply I use what I have at hand and some of the best recipes are created out from what we have to work with rather than what we are working to create. Some recipes are accidents that become blessings or experiments that blossom into perfection. Some recipes are borne from a strange new ingredient or spice that demands a meal be created around it. Mostly recipes are a creation of the moment and continually evolve and sometimes the simplest things become the greatest recipes of all.

Question #5: Can you share a favorite raw food recipe?

Jamacian Spice Cubes

This recipe is in the style of Jamacian jerk baked tofu using avocado instead of tofu. This recipe requires a firm yet ripe avocado and a special cutting style that i learned from a japanese sushi chef long ago.

Ingredients:
3 Avocados

1 cup tahini
1 tablespoon ginger juice
1/4 cup tamarind
1 habenjero pepper
1 teaspoon Allspice powder
1 soaked date
3 sprigs of cilantro
Bottom 3 inches of a scallion
1 tablespoon tangerine juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of Salt
*add water only if needed*

Put the avocados aside while preparing the sauce Place all ingredients (except avocados) in a strong blender or blender cup (nut butter jar screwed onto an oster or other generic blender base)

Blend until smooth (making sure the pepper blended well) adding water slowly as needed

Now take an avocado and cut it in half, remove the pit, and place it open face down -shell side up
Next cut two small incisions in the back of the avocado shell. Peel back the shell of the avocado leaving the fruit exposed on the cutting board. Gently slice the avocado into cubes. Place the cubes in a bowl and pour the sauce over them while softly moving them around in order to coat every one. Put the coated avocado cubes on a dehydrator screen sheet If there is extra sauce pour it over the top (it may drip thru so use a tray below with a teflex) or you can save the sauce for afterwards. Now dry the cubes at 108º for 1-4 hours. They are ready to eat or serve them with a jamacian stew or slaw or jambalaya.

Question #6: What are some quick tips or hints for raw newbies?

Take time to transition -However far from nature you have strayed there is always a way back it just might take some time. The further you strayed the longer the transition. Be Patient. Anything broken can be mended, Healing is ALWAYS possible- believe in yourself and your quest for health and self mastery thru self discipline. Be Faithful. Add and Accentuate the positive- Celebrate the good things you do for your body and do them more and more often, let the negative things fade away. Be Positive. Read labels and packages, ask questions of farmers and produce managers, seek wise counsil, read and educate yourself, know about raw food nutrition- Be Diligent Experiment for yourself-Experience is the greatest teacher, test things out, validate or discredit theories, your body is your labratory -Be Wise Diversity is the spice of life -Eat new and exotic foods and spices, Travel and eat rare varieties of fruits, Learn about local wildcrafting and herbology, learn new ways of living-Be Open Eat from the earth the closer the better, Eat foods from your local area that are in season, Love your food and your body -Be-live

Question #7: Do you have any dental problems on the raw diet?

My teeth have been solid all my life. I have never had any dental work, fillings, cavities, braces or otherwise. My teeth function very well and are very strong. I havent noticed any changes in that since I became raw. I find dental health is partly hygiene and diet yet mostly dental health is created by usage. The more we maximize our oral control and the more diverse the textures we require our teeth to chew the more functional they become. I often use my teeth to hold things such as fruits or my knife while climbing in trees or to tear open fruits.

Question #8: What is Dragon Yoga?

Dragon Yoga is a fusion of the essential training techniques and internal arts of shaolin kung fu and the eight limbs of the ashtanga with a strong focus on the asana and pranayama limbs. Dragon Yoga bridges the gaps in eastern asian philosophy and integrates aruvedic and chinese physical rejuvination practices by uniting the core concepts of both yoga and martial arts such as the 5 element theory or the chakra system. Dragon Yoga focuses on helping people learn from objects and nature and especially from themselves. Dragon Yoga is a system that works to train the individual using the practices and techniques gathered from many diverse arts. Each person is often taught differently similar to the tradition of many martial arts where each persons path to self mastery is unique and so are the practices and process required. There are some basic practices that everyone does as warm ups and such but the advanced training is always personalized. Chi kung the internal art is used to cultivate circulate and focus energy while using movements and flow from kung fu in combination with yogic postures. The foundational 5 elemental dragons act as both a basic level practice and as a key to higher levels of martial and yogic arts. The many animals styles of Shaolin help add flare and finesse to the traditional poses of yoga. For more information visit http://dragonyoga.com

Question #9: Where do you see the raw food movement heading?

I would love to see the raw food movement headed back to the land more. I would enjoy knowing that people were interacting with their food as it grew and helping support each other in growing the best food possible. I believe in true sustainability through community organized agriculture and I think that the most healing thing is a personal connection with nature. Sadly many of the people in the current raw food movement support the capitalistic model of selling sprouts rather than teaching people how to sprout on their own. I think that only when the power is in each persons hands can they truly unite to make a better world and future. So I think for some time the mad marketeers and hucksters will spin their wares but after a time the people will evolve and cut out the middle man and deal directly with the source by either growing their own or obtaining them from the person growing them. Currently 70% of the transportation in the world is for moving food. That means that millions of dollars in fuels, roads, trains, planes, boats and cars plus tons of time and energy. Imagine how many resources would be freed up for other good uses if we grew our own food or at least lived close to where it grew.

Question #10: Can you please tell us about some of your current projects you're working on and/or developing?

Currently I have been developing health oriented software and some fruit/jungle conscious games such as monkey nut (http:// monkeynutgame.com), creating new recipes (and even working on another recipe book), patenting and always enjoying a super fun game/training tool I invented currently called praktisac (http://praktisac.com coming soon), producing an album of music (http://binghi.com) planting trees and setting up a piece of land for a healing center/ mystery school. I may also offer a workshop adventure camp this January-email for more info. I am also deepening my studies of taoist chinese medicine and studying music, magic and martial arts and learning as much from nature as I can.