SADtoRAW

[Guest guest]

I have just revisited the STR website, and am trying to figure

out why we are criticizing the owner. There are a number of

free things offered there. Please forgive me for saying this,

but, I seem to remember the price of Juliano's cookbook being well

over " free " , but people pay for it anyway, and rave over it (me, I'm

waiting for someone who believes that everything should be free to

start posting those recipes for free, in violation of copyright law,

so that I can download them quickly before the site is taken down at

the behest of the creator of the recipes, who selfishlyl thinks he

should be paid for his work). STR has a massive collection of recipes

which are totally and completely free for the

downloading.

 

So what if she charges for her services. If she thinks she has a

service to offer, and someone thinks that service is worth the fee,

who suffers? If you, personally, do not feel like you want to pay for

someone else's expertise, experience, advice, guidance, then you

should not do so. You should also make certain to never offer any

service whatsoever for a fee. Should you feel that you have achieved

a certain level of expertise in raw food preparation, and decide to

offer classes, please let me know where those free classes will be

held -- I love free food! I know I could learn those things by myself

by reading books and looking on the Internet, but it is so much easier

to have someone tell me what to do, and free is the best price.

 

I have just finished a four week food preparation course which was

*not free*. I paid for it (dearly). For three weeks, my teacher told

me things that I already knew. Never mind... the opportunity to be in

a " gathering " of people interested in the same thing, and to be able

to ask questions of someone who has more experience than I do, and the

nice workbook this teacher had taken the time to put together all made

it worth my time and money. The grand finale, a session in which we

all, hands-on, had to make a big dinner, with the teacher looking on

and telling us what to chop or blend or process or dehydrate next,

without touching anything herself, even though the most expensive part

of the course, was worth the experience (I personally know that I will

never make anything that complicated ever, yet I have had the

experience of doing so once. It was sort of like being eight years

old and learning to cook in Mom's kitchen.)

 

You could probably find someone who already knows how to make what you

want to prepare and ask them to give of their time to show you exactly

how, but that would have to be a very generous and not very busy

person, wouldn't it. (Okay, if she is your best friend, you might

have a party of it)

 

What I am saying is that raw food lifestyle is *not* comparable to

your attitudes about allopaths (you will run to them if you have

health insurance and you find yourself terribly ill or seriously

injured, won't you?). Wouldn't you pay a naturopath for her or his

time? How about a chiropractor, if you were in pain?

 

If someone is *willing* to offer her or his services to others, and if

others deem those services worth the price, where is the wrong?

Why should we criticize, by extension, those people who feel the need

to avail themselves of such services?

 

too many times, I have seen, in other communities, people who are very

willing to criticize those who charge for their teaching or services,

only to get the cheapest or free training and turn around and charge

for their own cut-rate experience. Is it that we criticize someone

who has something that we want.... out of envy? Why else would we

want to trash an honest entrepreneur... an example of the way America

has grown into the wonderful place to live that it is?

 

Margaret

 

 

 

rawfood , chicwriter wrote:

>

> Since I started this thread, I feel impelled to say that

> I think you've missed my point. You're being almost as

> hypocritical as the cooked food community.

>

> Doesn't raw food criticize MDs for taking money for

> dietary advice when they're not trained in nutrition, they

> don't learn on their own, and they don't even take their

> own advice in most cases?

>

> Isn't that similar to recommending a raw food site to a

> newbie that is run by someone who is NOT raw, is obese,

> is a smoker, is on chronic medication, etc.? And who is asking

> for donations to " help continue the work " ?

>

> Take this for a moment out of the food context. I'm a writer and

> and artist. Wouldn't this be like me setting up a web site

> offering advice on how to build bridges because I read

> some books about it?

>

> I'm not saying free information is better than paid, or

> other people's experiences aren't helpful in moving one

> along the raw food path. My point is to choose your

> resources as carefully as you choose your food.

>

> Mary Ellen

>

>

>

>