Raw Party 7/31/09

Last Friday we hosted our first Raw Party! Not a potluck or meetup… a party!

After the Raw Spirit Fest 2008 in Sedona, I realized that what we were missing in our lifestyle was entertaining our friends.

When Denis and I fist moved in together, we used to have parties every weekend. I would cook all sorts of dishes (beef kabobs Russian style was a favorite), and friends would bring beer and such. It was lots of fun to entertain our friends and enjoy their company. As we got older, the parties stopped. Not because we didn’t want to or because our eating habits changed. Life just got busier with all of us graduating, moving away, working full time, getting married, and having kids.

Last year, Anthony Anderson of Rawmodel.com wrote a touching blog post that has stayed with me everyday. It was about friendships and judging others that are different from us. People believe we judge them by what they eat because we eat raw vegan food. We didn’t have any friends that were raw vegans when we started and all of my friends were not even vegetarian. I feel that most friends thought that any socializing that revolved around food was out of the question. Even now most of my friends think that we can only eat in “special” restaurants.

In fact, a few weeks ago one of my coworkers confessed that for months she thought that she could not go out to eat with one of her friends who has been a raw foodist for over 15 years. I was astounded! And I don’t know why because after years of being vegetarian/vegan/raw foodist I still get emails from friends and family members asking me what we can do that doesn’t involve food. Or if there is a party (and recently a wedding), they always call and ask what can they make us so that we can eat. We love all our friends and food is not going to change that.

I also noticed that people feel like they cannot eat their regular food in front of us. I have a “don’t ask don’t tell policy.” I don’t ask or tell anyone anything about their food or my food because everyone is different and only one knows what is good for oneself. We are all different and being a raw vegan is good for me but I won’t tell anyone is good for them because I strongly believe that everyone is entitled to live their life the way they want to. I won’t judge anyone for what they eat. My brother sits in front on me and eats a steak and I don’t judge him.

So I wanted to have a party to entertain all my friends… beef eaters and fruit eaters, babies and adults, single and married, black, brown, white, yellow, small and big, they all were welcomed! It was not about the food and it was not about converting anyone, simply to have a good time with great people. And that’s what we did! The energy was amazing and the live music was awesome! Kids were running around and adults were enjoying a night of much needed fun. Drinks and food were provided and many friends brought other delicious dishes to share. There was no plan agenda but to have fun all night and get to know each other and enjoy the company of everyone.

Thanks to all my friends that came out to our first raw party!

For the recipes see the party menu.