Fit Fare

When the weather outside is desiccating, only a truly obsessed foodie can be found slaving over a hot stove. The rest of us either escape to a favorite restaurant or graze on easily gathered and minimally prepared foods. The bounty of a summer’s garden becomes a luxury — offering an assortment of fresh menu options.

There are many benefits to eating fruits and vegetables raw. So the raw food diet sparked my curiosity. After all, many vitamins are destroyed in foods when we cook them, so it seems natural to assume a raw food diet would be most advantageous. Often times I wonder if eating vegetarian offers enough of the recommended fruits and vegetables for optimum nutrition, since the majority of the plant-based foods that I eat have been cooked. While the 5-a-day website claims that those five servings of fruits and vegetables need not be fresh, I have heard from other sources that foods plucked freshly from your own garden offer the highest nutritional value. Raw foodists further claim that the enzymes (which are easily destroyed by cooking) of raw foods help us avoid degenerative diseases. However, following anything strictly can get you into trouble. Some vitamins are actually more bio-available upon cooking, particularly beta-carotene. The raw food diet also does not provide sufficient Vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is a funny sort of vitamin, in that it is only produced by microbial life. Plants do not produce it and animal products only contain it because of animal associations with microscopic life forms. Good sources of Vitamin B12 are animal products and foods that have been fermented or cultured, such as yogurt and cheeses. So it seems that in order to benefit most from raw foods, we should eat them in moderation or eat them in association with other foods.

The following recipe is quick and easy to chop up, contains vibrant, mostly raw ingredients (the majority of which are easily grown in a modest kitchen garden), and contains feta cheese – a good source of vitamin B12. Whether you want to refer to it as a salad, salsa, relish or chutney is your call, but the classic Grecian flavors are unmistakable. I prefer to pair this with pita bread and hummus for an easy and healthy lunch.

Grecian Relish

1 clove of garlic, minced finely
4 fresh roma tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and thinly sliced
2-3 Tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled

Combine all ingredients in a suitably sized bowl. Serves 2 or more.

Please note that this recipe is a rough guideline, as I usually just throw it together without measuring. Feel free to proportion it to your own tastes.

*Nearly Raw because of the feta and the olives. The milk in store-bought feta is pasteurized and most store-bought olives are canned. Both unpasteurized feta and uncanned olives are available.