Peter:
>>Another trick question? ;-)  Like the plagiarized version it is a very
>>dogmatic and speculative work blaming all the evils of mankind on cooked
>>foods.  I have not read the whole book but have so far not found any hidden
>>ockets of substance in it. ;-) I know there are several copies of the book
>>circulating so maybe somebody else will want to at some point answer this
>>question in more depth.

Kirt:
>Depth, I haven't ;) but I agree that Raw Eating is pretty pretentious stuff
>with little actual content, lots of ranting, etc. But also that at least
>the fellow is writing from some experience. NFL seems to have not only
>plagiarized words but experience (though they are deaf and dumb when it
>comes to the experiences of most fruitarians and many raw vegans ;)).
>Another huge difference is that Hovanessian appears to be selflessly
>promoting his raw vegan message.

Good points - you are better than I at giving credit where credit is due.

>In direct contradiction to NFL who wants to be rich and famous of the same
stolen >message.

Unlike NFL, Hovannessian wanted to save the planet, not conquer it. ;-)

>While, like you Peter, I have not read Hovannessian's book page by page
>(something of a masachistic task), I can see that the books are not
>identical. Hovanessian's is longer.

Actually the two books are very close to being equal in length, the
appendixes in "NFL" aside. There are a more pages in "NFL" but the smaller
font size of "Raw Eating"
makes up for this difference.  Chapterwise, "Raw Eating" has two more.

>As far as I can tell there isn't an original idea in NFL.

If there is one, it sure is hidden well. ;-)

>NFL is a subset of Hovannessian's book--they stole what they thought was
"cool", added >some slogans (like "cooked food is poison" at the end of
every "chapter"), and >copyrighted Hovanessian's book as their own.

That sums it up very well.  Though, by thumbing through "Raw Eating" it is
easy to see that not even the idea of using slogans was NFL's own.  The
word "cooked" is one of the most used words in "Raw Eating" as well as
upper-casing of words and sentences to drive home points.

>One point to add: Hovanessian's book really _was_ a radical act given the
>repressive government he was living in in Iran.

This is very true.  It is also fair to mention that because of the
Hovannessian's obvious dedication to his cause, his book has for years been
regarded as classic in its genre.

> NFL trying to be "radical" in southern CA (or on Oprah, dream on) is
kinda like trying >to get attention by drooling at a big city bus stop ;)

Yeah, get back in the line.  As members of "Tarte", The Association of Raw
Testicle Eaters of Southern California we have long been trying to gain
public support for our cause and hell if we will let these
Johnny-come-lately's come along and try to run with all the glory. ;-)

>I guess their "upping the ante" means that they will redouble their
efforts to spam >their products on the only list that will have them--truly
American, eh?

Very American indeed.  The fact that they are still in business after they
have been exposed as greedy impostors could probably only happen in
America.  In many other parts of the world they would have been shut down
and have rotten fruit thrown at them every time they dared show their faces
in public. ;-)

Best, Peter
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