Nwenna Kai, the goddess of raw foods

[Guest guest]

Nwenna Kai is a woman of many labels – writer, talk show host, eco-entrepreneur

– but the title she prefers for herself is the same one she gave her upcoming

book: the Goddess of Raw Foods. She talks with us about constipation, why canned

foods make her nauseated, and smoothies with hemp.

 

Don't miss Nwenna Kai's stuffed Portabello mushroom recipe – thanks for sharing

it, Nwenna!.

 

 

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LA Cooking Examiner: Tell us about your food history. When did you start

cooking? What were your favorite foods as a kid? When did you turn veggie?

 

Nwenna Kai: I turned vegetarian when I was 14 years old. My favorite foods as a

kid were oatmeal, spinach, watermelon, oranges, pineapples and salads. I loved

fresh food. I was a bit of a food snob then because I never liked eating

leftovers. I always craved fresh food. I lived in the south of France for a

while during college and loved that French people ate fresh food every day. Even

today seeing food in boxes and cans makes me a bit nauseated.

 

LA Cooking Examiner: When and why did you pursue the raw foods angle? Did any

particular person influence you in that direction?

 

Kai: I started uncooking my food in the year 2000 while I was a grad student at

the Art Institute of Chicago. I was in my mid-20's and had everything:

constipation, vertigo, migraines, acne, depression, anxiety, frequent colds,

sciatica. The constipation was the most debilitating. I was already a vegan, but

I figured if I ate salads and fresh juices all day for a week, I would surely go

to the bathroom more frequently. Well, that's just what happened.

 

I started experimenting. I went to a raw foods restaurant in Chicago called

Karyn's Fresh Corner, I bought a Vita-mix blender, some books, and a dehydrator,

and I turned my kitchen into a laboratory.

 

I despise the " vegan " label. I want to make being vegan sexy and hot and trendy,

something that people think is cool and good for your health. I figure if people

thought drinking 40's and smoking blunts was cool at one time, they can think

eating raw veggies is cool now. They've just got to be sold on it.

 

Raw foods just make sense to me. You have so much more energy. I haven't been

sick in a long, long time. Emotionally I feel better and more connected. And

honey, I go to the bathroom every day twice a day, same time like clockwork.

That's the greatest benefit of all.

 

LA Cooking Examiner: Sorry, but as an unenlightened omnivore, I need convincing

that there's more to this raw vegan stuff than salad. Make the case (I promise

to listen).

 

Kai: Raw food is a big world. You have to understand that there are more fruits,

vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains on this planet than there are animals to

eat. So you have an abundance of dishes to make. Besides the fabulous exotic

salads, you can take nuts and make cheeses and spreads out of them, you can take

grains and make beautiful sprouted breads and crackers. You can be so creative

and you can't really mess up on raw foods when you are experimenting. I mean,

you can make something that doesn't taste as flavorful, but then you can add

more spice or make it into something else. It's such an abundant world!

 

LA Cooking Examiner: You owned an organic raw vegan cafe for a while. What was

the best thing about running your own restaurant? The hardest?

 

Kai: I love the restaurant industry, but I got burned out. I was 28 years old

when I opened up my restaurant, and that was the first restaurant I ever worked

at. When I moved to L.A., I was producing for cable TV. I was working crazy

hours during the day and making my raw food for myself at night. Sometimes I

brought leftovers to work for my co-workers. They loved it, and then I started

catering small parties.

 

Then I started making raw foods for health food stores. Erewhon had some raw

food packaged items, but not a lot. My partners and I would make food at night

in our kitchen, package it in the morning, and then take the food to the stores

to sell. Now if you go to Erewhon, the raw foods section has aisles and aisles

of packaged foods. That's how quickly the industry has grown.

 

When my producing gig ended, I was looking for a catering kitchen and I happened

to find this coffee shop in West Hollywood. That restaurant became my

springboard for everything that I'm doing now.

 

The best thing about running a restaurant is the fact that anyone can come in. I

had Andy Dick, Sanaa Lathan, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett. The hardest part

is all the responsibility. I was the owner, chef, manager, payroll person, I

shopped for the food, I did the marketing, everything. I was the investor also.

It drove me nuts to juggle so many hats, but it also taught me how

multi-talented I was.

 

LA Cooking Examiner: You sell raw vegan products through Whole Foods. Tell us

about how you got there - developing the recipes, approaching their buyers,

making the deal. It's hard, right? Did you have help? How long did it take?

 

Kai: I already had a relationship with the president of the company Foodology,

which manufacturers and distributes our food. I took some of my recipes down to

her to try. They distribute vegetarian, vegan, and raw items in Whole Foods and

other stores as well, so all I had to do was lend them the recipe and they did

the rest. It was a much better deal for me – I just cash their check every

month. It's a beautiful life.

 

LA Cooking Examiner: What's your signature dish?

 

Kai: In the restaurant we had our coconut enchilada wrap. The wrap was made from

coconut meat and sundried tomatoes, and we stuffed it with avocados, tomatoes,

spinach, corn, zucchini, a macadamia nut cheese, and a chipotle cheese made from

pine nuts. It was our number one seller.

 

My signature dish at home is my stuffed Portobello mushroom. I love mushrooms

and I love guacamole, so I put them together in this recipe.

 

LA Cooking Examiner: It's morning and you're in your own kitchen at home. What's

for breakfast?

 

Kai: Sometimes I have raw oatmeal, but usually it's a fruit smoothie with

berries, bananas, agave nectar, coconut water or a nut milk like almond milk.

And I add my hemp protein to it to get my day started.