Rah, Rah, Raw! How Raw Food Connects With the Sustainable Food Movement

I like cooked food. I like its steamy goodness, and that fact that it's warm. Did I mention that it is warm? It's winter here, and I like warm. However, as a former vegetarian and now an omnivore who appreciates vegetables, I also understand the attraction of the raw food diet.

Like so much of the world of food, the world of eating raw food has its environmental pros and cons. What are they? Well, for one, raw food is often unprocessed or less processed than a standard off-the-shelf diet, and those foods that sit on the shelf are often highly packaged. This is not always the case, as it is possible to buy raw confections and processed raw food that is packaged. However, one of the reasons that people eat raw is to eat food that is closer to the source - spinach leaves instead of spinach that is frozen into a baked lasagna, for example.

Raw food also does not involve the use of an oven, so it is lighter in terms of its energy impact. Sometimes people may process the food in other ways, like blending or slow dehydrating. So raw may still use energy, but it is not generally coming from the oven or the microwave.
Since many people are leery of eating raw meat, raw food diets can be lighter on the planet because they tend to be heavier on raw vegetables and fruit. There's always raw milk, cheese and eggs, however. Overall, though, the focus of raw is often to eat more fruit and vegetables, particularly more fresh vegetables.

Where can raw fall down in the environmental department? Well, it doesn't have to fall down on the food miles, but raw diets can be more challenging in the winter time. The foods available in northern winters tend to be root vegetables. While some raw foodies eat frozen food, others swear by fresh and raw. Importing raw spinach and kiwi fruit from across the planet is a source of carbon emissions. Raw diets can also bring packaging, depending on the choices that you make. If you decide to buy sprouts, they often come in a package that weighs as much as the sprouts themselves. But how to get around this - home-grown sprouts, raw grated beets and a winter garden, perhaps?

It's all about decisions, and like any diet, raw can pose environmental challenges. However, it is an excellent reminder to put more unprocessed fruit and vegetables into our diet, whether that diet involves meat and processed and packaged foods or is completely raw, vegan, and unprocessed.