Not Tuna Pate

Vegan and Raw

We discovered a wonderful vegan, organic, "living foods" restaurant about an hour’s drive from where I live ."Living food" or "raw food" means that the food has not been heated higher than 200 degrees F. This preserves the enzymes that would otherwise be destroyed by heating to a higher temperature. Some people adopt a raw food diet because they believe it is healthier. The food is all vegan (except that some raw foodists use honey which some vegans won't use).


There are no ovens in this restaurant. They prepare the food by sprouting, soaking, and dehydrating. "Pasta", including lasagna, is made from thinly sliced zucchini with a raw and vegan "alfredo sauce or marinara sauce. It tastes great You would never guess that the pasta is made from zucchini. The "ice cream" is made from raw cashews. They have delicious pizza, tacos, "cheese cake", and more. If you are ever in New Oxford, Pennsylvania, visit the Loving Life Café. If there is a raw or living food restaurant near you, I think you would enjoy eating there. I don’t plan to adopt a raw food diet, but I think the food tastes very good. It's different and interesting, and best of all, the food is all vegan. You don’t have to be a raw foodist to enjoy "living" food.

Recipe-Raw, Vegan, and Easy to Make

Unfortunately, many raw food recipes, because they involve sprouting, soaking, dehydrating, etc., are complicated, take a long time to make, and may need special equipment. I found a wonderful little recipe book, Raw Food Made Easy, by Jennifer Cornbleet, published by Book Publishing Company, Summertown, Tennessee. These recipes are easy, and all you need is a blender, a coffee grinder, a food processor, and for some of the recipes, a juicer (I don’t yet have a juicer, so I won’t be making those particular recipes for now).

For supper tonight, I made a vegan "tuna" pate from a recipe in this book . It doesn’t actually taste like tuna, but it’s very good. I had it on toast, but you can use it to stuff tomatoes, as a dip for vegetables, and anything else your imagination comes up with. Since the almonds and sunflower seeds have to soak for 6 to 8 hours, you do need to plan head to make this.

Not Tuna Pate
From Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet, page 68
makes ½ cup, 2 servings

½ cup raw soaked sunflower seeds-soak for 6 to 8 hours in a mason jar filled with cold water, with the lid screwed on

½ cup raw soaked almonds-soak for 8 to 12 hours in a mason jar filled with cold water, with the lid screwed on

2 tablespoons water

1 ½ tablespoons minced celery

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Place the sunflower seeds, almonds, and water in a food processor fitted with an S blade and process into a paste (My food processor wouldn’t process it to a paste. I finally had to transfer the mixture to my blender. I think my processor bowl is too big for such small amounts). Stop occasionally to scrape the sides of the processor bowl with a rubber spatula. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl, stir in all the other ingredients. Store for up to 5 days in a covered container in the fridge.


For "Not Salmon Pate", add 1/4 cup grated carrot to the food processor along with the almonds and sunflower seeds. Instead of parsley, add 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill weed or 1 tablespoon dried dill weed. (I haven’t tried this, yet, but it sounds good.)


Tonight I’m going to make the vegan Key lime mousse using mashed avocados. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it turns out.