A few weeks ago Verve had the pleasure of attending a plant-based cooking workshop, run by the Two Raw Sisters, up from Christchurch to share their foodie wisdom, tips and tricks when it comes to prepping. On a mission to change your perception on plant-based food, they influence and educate on how easy, time efficient, cost effective and delicious plants can be.
After the session, we chatted about how they went from being just sisters to becoming Two Raw Sisters.
Early kitchen memories: Tell us your favourites?
Early childhood kitchen days were two-minute noodles to be honest. The ‘good’ ones are pretty recent which is quite ironic because now we don’t touch that type of food!
How did you both come into raw food cooking?
We studied at a raw plant-based culinary school in Los Angles in 2017. Whilst we were over there for cooking it was also a huge healing journey for us which is why we started Two Raw Sisters. Rosa was suffering from an ongoing running obsession – over training and under eating – and had parasites in her gut. Margo had had chronic fatigue cyndrome (CFS) for the past three years and our fit, healthy dad had a stroke at 50 years old and was told he could never drive again.
In LA we met this amazing lady at Rosa’s training base. She asked us if we had ever focused on our gut health, we looked at her blankly. She simply said, “The gut is the stem of every process that goes on within the body. If you have anything at all wrong with you whether it be severe illness or something as simple as stress or tiredness, start with the gut!” From that day on we focused on incorporating minimally processed food into our diet. Within three months Margo’s CFS symptoms had significantly improved, Rosa’s parasites had disappeared and our dad was back driving.
Where did you learn and perfect the necessary techniques?
Our culinary school in LA took the fine dining approach to food. We learnt a lot of ‘technical’ techniques which opened our eyes to what you can do with plants. However to us and most New Zealanders, you’re not going to come home from work and sous vide a mushroom for four hours or dehydrate falafels for 12 hours. It just wasn’t sustainable and realistic for the average person. I suppose we have taken the difficult techniques we learnt and simplified them down in a way that still gives you the same flavour and texture but in half the time.
Do you eat just raw vegan foods – or do you mix it up a bit?
No way! By Two ‘Raw’ Sisters, we mean another word for wholefoods, using as minimally processed foods as possible. Therefore we do a mixture of raw and cooked recipes in our workshops and cookbooks, especially in winter.
The term ‘plant-based’ doesn’t mean you have to cut out all forms of animal products and so on, it’s simply starting your meals with your plant-based foods and then adding those other foods on the side if you choose. For us eating just fruits and vegetables isn’t a sustainable way of living. We both struggle with low iron and B12 levels so eating meat once or twice a week enables us to be at our peak of wellness. Everybody’s body is different and a lot of people can get caught up on fad diets, in turn compromising on their quality of life. Quality over quantity.
Tell us about your new cookbook.
OUT AUGUST! This book is designed for your convenience. We have made a cautious effort of using cost effective everyday pantry staple ingredients that most of you have in your pantries. Minimising the use of expensive ingredients such as nuts and super foods. For us, it’s all about living a sustainable happy lifestyle and finding what works best for your body. In the cookbook all of our recipes are naturally DF, RSF, vegetarian and vegan. Some recipes have gluten-containing grains, however every recipe has substitutes to make it GF.
If you choose to eat animal products we also have suggestions for most recipes with what type of meat would suit the dish best. From sustaining breakfasts to fast dinners, and tasty work lunches to mouth-watering treats. We have healed ourselves through plants and now we want to help heal you!
