Guest Contributor: Josh Kerr

Whole Foods is revamping the menu on the Raw Bar.  You know, the Raw Bar, its that section of Whole Foods that you avoid on your way to the fish counter.

I am a food lover, but to be honest, I’ve never bought anything from the Raw Bar, now called The Green.  Its great that they can make all of those veggie foods look just like the real thing, but it does nothing for me.   I’m a meat and potatoes guy.   Maggie got the invite for the event and bailed with some kind of a girl related headache.   I went to the Raw Bar tasting even though I don’t really eat the stuff..  I mean, its Whole Foods, so I figured I’d get an interesting story for Maggie’s Austin.  Maybe meet some cool people.

To see pictures of The Green:

I got there and saw one of my favorite bloggers  Kate Thornberry.  She was sipping a glass of wine waiting for the first course to come out.   We talk about how drunk we (I) got at the last event (read about it here) and how she gets paid for her stories by the Austin Chronicle and I don’t.   But to be fair, she is a better writer than I am and has way more experience.

Kate Thornberry from the Austin Chronicle sips on a glass of wine.

The first course to come out is tuna fish on a cucumber.  I mean, its not really tuna, but it surely looks like it.  I take a bite.  Wow, it really tastes like tuna.  They have to add tuna for flavor right?  Wrong says the Whole Foods Nutritionist who is mingling with the guests.   The tuna flavor is actually created by using a special blend of nuts and other spices and you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference.

Fake tuna.

Another Whole Foods employee comes over with a plate of wine.  The wine pairs nicely with the tuna.  I continue chatting with the Whole Foods Nutritionist who I will call Sarah (I think that was her name.)  She tells me that not all Whole Foods have a Raw Bar, in fact there are only a handful that actually have these kinds of stations.  You’d mainly see them in progressive cities like Austin, San Francisco, and New York.

Kate & Logan sample some of the delicious veggie treats.

Next to come out is some kind of bruschetta and Kate is the first to jump on it followed quickly by Logan from Boots in Oven.   Logan is my blogger arch nemesis because the photos from his point and shoot camera are far superior to my super expensive pro-camera.   I don’t know how he does it, but he makes it look really easy and I’m determined to sabotage him.   (Dr. Evil laugh.)

Logan shoots some food.  I try to sabotage him.

Okay, I got off on a tangent there.  Back to the Raw Bar story.  I used to be under the impression that vegetarian or even vegan diets were for people that had an outward disgust for consuming animal products, or some kind of dietary concerns.   But over the years I’ve been seeing a nutritionist and learning to really tune in to how my body feels after a meal.  If I eat a big steak, I feel sluggish, stuffed and tired.  If I eat a salad and some fruit I feel light and energized.

Iba from Whole Foods offers me a vegan pizza with a big smile.

So eating veggie isn’t about sacrificing meat, its about putting things in your body that make you feel good.  But its not just about feeling good.  “In Defense of Food” author Michael Pollan argues that “our health cannot be divorced from the food chains which we are a part of.”  Eating unprocessed plants is certainly better for us than eating processed foods.  But the big problem for people is that they are so used to walking into a grocery store and being bombarded with foods that aren’t really food.  If you take a look at the food labels on most of the products you’ll recognize ingredients that don’t sound very natural.   For years I’ve been used to eating all this processed stuff and eating veggie’s doesn’t really appeal to me.

“That’s always been a challenge for us” said Sarah the Whole Foods Nutritionist.  “How do we convince mainstream people to want to eat from the Raw Bar?”  Well, they hire a world renowned chef to tweak their menu and do the best they can to mimic the flavors that people are used to.  This is no easy challenge.  If you think Iron Chef is hard, try creating the flavor of fish without using fish.  You really have to have an amazing pallet, a great knowledge of foods and plenty of time to experiment.

Lyssa from thisislifeinaustin.com in my first of a series of embarrassing stuffing food in the mouth shots that I’ll start featuring.

Whole Foods is on the cutting edge of food creation.   They see that our society is on the decline in terms of health and much of that is caused by what we put in our mouth.   According to the CDC, only one state (Colorado) had an obesity prevalence of less than 20% so clearly we are fatter than ever before.   But how can you fix the problem?  Its definitely not easy, but Whole Foods believes that by introducing delicious foods that are healthy and good for you, people will be more inclined to eat them.   But there are still many significant obstacles.

Digging into a wonderful chocolate tasting desert.  We couldn’t keep our hands off this stuff.

Veggie food entrees take significantly more work to prepare.  There is a lot of hands on labor required to create these dishes.  This makes it hard for Whole Foods to setup tasting stations in their store to give out samples to customers.   Instead, Whole Foods provides free nutritionists in the store who help encourage people to eat right by pointing them in the right direction.  When you first walk into the store, head over the information booth and ask for a Nutritionist.    They can help you improve your diet without sacrificing great tasting meals.  But beyond knowing this tidbit of information, most people who aren’t vegan or vegetarians will just ignore it the Raw Bar.

Whole Foods has not implemented the Raw Bar in a lot of their stores because they don’t believe that people in general are open to eating veggie foods.   It’s more of an experiment in formulas to try and create something that is attractive to the mainstream.    I’m convinced that the US Government needs to get involved and provide massive incentives for people to eat right and stay healthy.  By offering subsidized health insurance, I’m pretty sure they can motivate people to eat better and start exercising.  I’m going to use the worst analogy in the history of analogies to prove my point:

In hockey, players often fight.  These fights last until either they stop throwing punches and or the players fall to the ice.   Players who fight get a penalty and have to sit in a box until the penalty is over.   This penalty does absolutely nothing to stop fighting in hockey.  In fact, it kind of encourages it by making the consequences so light.  If they really wanted to stop fighting in hockey, they would institute a $10,000 fine on the players involved.  Problem solved.

I think money is a big motivator and people need to be motivated.   Let’s worry about issues like cancer, an issue that we have no control over, and not issues stemming from obesity like hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.  I love the idea of the Raw Bar and now that I’ve sampled some of these wonderful treats, I’m going to be visiting it more regularly.    I really applaud Whole Foods for taking on what I consider to be a massive up hill battle and one that I’m not sure they can win alone.