This is the only high-risk part,"
said Matthew Kenney, as he swung an oversize kitchen knife against
the hard, ivory shell of a Thai coconut. "There’s no other
way to do this, unless you have a chainsaw."
Kenney, 41, a raw foods chef, restaurateur and owner of three
Blue/Green Organic Juice Cafes in New York City, demonstrated
the laborious process involved in opening a young Thai coconut,
whose juice he uses as a base for his signature Blue/Green smoothies.
On Jan. 25, his class of a dozen aspiring raw foodists watched
eagerly as the action unfolded before them.
The "Blue/Green Essentials" class, one in a series
of raw foods demonstrations led by Kenney, took place at the
newest Blue/ Green Organic Juice Cafe location, which opened
in November in DUMBO. (The other two juice cafes are in Manhattan
at 203 E. 74th St. and 248 Mott St.)
The Blue/ Green cafes are part of Kenney’s Organic Umbrella,
a lifestyle company which he founded as a vehicle to advocate
organic living. The Brooklyn addition to the Blue/Green mini
chain – a 20-seat, warehouse-like space decorated in a minimalist
industrial style – is located within Organic Umbrella’s headquarters,
also known as The Plant.
A raw food factory of sorts, The Plant is where everything on
the Blue/Green menu, except for the juices, is assembled, prepared
and then delivered to the organic cafes.
After about six unsuccessful trials, the resistant coconut shell
caved under the repeated swings of the sharp blade, splitting
along the top and allowing the chef to extract its clear juice
and white flesh.
"Make sure to get a young Thai coconut and not a mature
one," Kenney warned his students, explaining that as the
coconut matures, its flesh becomes pink. "We don’t use those
because we think that they have gone bad."
Using coconut’s meat and juice, blue/green algae, coconut oil,
agave nectar and a heavy-duty Vita-mix blender, Kenney instructed
the class on how to make the Blue/Green smoothie.
"You can taste the algae a little bit," he said after
taking a sip of the freshly made, bluish-green potion. Kenney
even named his cafes after the blue-green algae he uses in his
smoothies. ("For whatever reason, blue is a good restaurant
name," he explained.)
The coconut gives the nutritious drink a "gelatinous"
texture, according to Kenney, and the smoothie’s flavor is neither
sweet nor salty, but healthy-tasting, like fresh vegetables.
You almost expect it to give you superpowers. If you’re not exactly
salivating at the thought of algae flavoring, try the black cherry,
banana and cacao or the raspberry, mango and almond milk versions.
Other raw dishes prepared and presented in the "Blue/Green
Essentials" class – such as tabbouleh, macadamia hummus,
Zaa’tar flatbread, and lasagna made with thinly sliced squash,
red pepper macadamia cheese, black olive pesto and herbed breadcrumbs
– were exquisitely complex and pleasing to the eye. And surprisingly,
the raw dishes were rich, spicy and flavorful.
You could barely tell that that the hummus was made with macadamia
nuts and not chickpeas, which, according to Kenney, do not taste
as good raw and are much heavier on your stomach. And even though
the raw lasagna didn’t quite resemble, in flavor or in texture,
the Italian dish it was trying to emulate, it was a treat in
its own right, though a bit too salty.
The chocolate hazelnut tart, however, served with vanilla and
cherry chip ice cream and raspberry and chocolate syrup, tasted
so mouthwateringly good, it was hard to believe it was actually
good for you.
"This is the most gourmet you’re going to get of raw cuisine
anywhere in New York," said Helene Seligman, 40, a participant
in the class. Seligman has been eating 100 percent raw for almost
a month.
"I think [Kenney] is a real genius, I really do," she
said. "He’s very creative, and I love what he does with
coconuts."
What’s raw food?
So, what’s this raw food mumbo jumbo we keep hearing about? Simply
put, take a hardcore vegan diet – a veggie-based diet that does
not involve any trace of animal products – turn it up a notch
and make it even more difficult to adhere to by requiring that
all the food be eaten raw, as in not heated over 118 degrees
Fahrenheit.
According to experienced raw food eaters, your body will thank
you for the effort.
"You’ll notice how great you feel and you’ll want to feel
that way over and over again," said Tracey Henry, a "Blue/Green
Essentials" class participant and a vegan who’s testing
the waters of "living food," another name for "raw."
The menu at Blue/Green offers a wide range of raw delicacies,
from corn tortilla chips, seaweed salad, portobello fajitas and
zucchini pasta to cheesecakes, puddings, 10 delicious flavors
of ice cream and, of course, smoothies and juices.
"People look at the diet as in ’you can’t eat this or that,’
but there are so many things you can eat on a raw foods diet,"
Kenney said. "Raw food is not so much about being extreme,
but being aware and in tune with your body."
Before going raw, Kenney, was an accomplished chef and restaurateur,
trained at the French Culinary Institute. Since the early ’90s,
Kenney has opened several Mediterranean restaurants throughout
Manhattan and was named one the 10 best "new chefs in America"
by "Food and Wine" magazine in 1994.
From 1999 on, he turned his attention to regional American cuisine,
followed by several restaurant openings in New York, Atlanta
and Portland, Maine. During this period, Kenney published two
cookbooks: "Matthew Kenney’s Mediterranean Cooking"
and "Matthew Kenney’s Big City Cooking."
Several professional setbacks later, Kenney’s culinary career
took a new turn in 2002, as a result of a revelation he had during
a meal with a friend at a raw vegan restaurant. A former omnivore,
Kenney has been eating almost 100 percent raw for the past two
years. He co-authored a raw-food cookbook, "Raw Food, Real
World" and opened a raw food restaurant, Pure Food and Wine,
in 2004, followed by Heirloom, an upscale vegetarian eatery in
November of last year. (Both restaurants are in Manhattan.)
One of the greatest adjustments of switching to raw is learning
how to prepare this type of food, said Kenney. You will need
a cutting board, cleaver, blender, juicer, food processor, spice
grinder and a dehydrator.
The other challenge of eating raw is the social implication of
not being able to go out with friends to restaurants of their
choice. But he said that he still goes out and opts for vegetarian
selections on the menu.
"It’s amazing how raw food changes your cravings, because
you can’t have things immediately," said Kristen Reyes,
Kenney’s pastry chef, who prepared the dessert for the class.
Reyes, 21, has been eating vegan for three years and 100 percent
raw for almost a year. She also teaches the dessert class, "Sweet,"
at The Plant.
"Eat raw for a week and then try a piece of white bread,"
she said, explaining that processed food starts tasting artificial.
The good thing about raw food, she said, is that you find out
what you do and do not like and what you can and cannot digest.
"The number one thing I learned from eating raw," Kenney
added, "is how to chew my food."
The main reason that he is sticking to the raw food diet, he
said, is because of how it makes him feel.
"I used to have a lot of off days," said Kenney. "Now
I never do."
The raw food movement has been on the rise over the years and
it’s going to get bigger and bigger, Kenney said. He plans on
sowing the Blue/Green seeds across the country, by opening a
plant in Los Angeles in the next year.
"If I didn’t believe in [raw food cuisine] as a business,"
he said, "I would have pursued it on a personal level only."
Blue/Green Organic Juice Cafe at The
Plant, is located at 25 Jay St. at John Street in DUMBO. Blue/Green
is open daily, from 10 am to 5 pm. Raw foods: $6-$11; juices:
$6; smoothies: $7; ice cream: $5-$9; dessert: $3-$8. Raw foods
classes are $65 each and are offered on Wednesdays, from 6 pm
to 9 pm, and Saturdays, from 1 pm to 4 pm, but the dates and
times may vary. For an exact schedule, and the type of class
offered, refer to the Organics Academics calendar at www.theplantindumbo.com
Web site or call (718) 722-7541.
