In a recent post, Martha Seagoe <[log in to unmask]>, raises
some interesting questions concerning my post on raw fermented foods:

>>>> Thomas E. Billings <[log in to unmask]> 06/21/95 05:08pm >>>

>>...as a result of short culture growth time, yogurt is very similar
>>  in nature to base food - sprout milk. Indeed, the base food may still
>>  be "alive" after only 6-10 hours of culture growth. For other FF, base
>>  food is clearly dead.

>What's the distinction here between alive and dead, since earlier in this
>post you were using ability to grow as the criterion?  Is it simply that the
>original enzymes in the sprout milk are still active?

You have hit upon a philosophical point directly related to my question:
what exactly is a "living" food?  I don't think there is one precise,
universally accepted answer to that question, as I have heard raw fooders
give sharply different definitions. I am considering writing a post on the
topic, but want to do some more work on it to see if anyone has developed
a good (as in comprehensive) definition. I hope to post more on this in the
future.

Some brief comments on what is a living food:

* clearly fresh, raw sprouts are alive and growing/active; hence they are
living
* cooked food is dead so it is *not* living food
* unsprouted  raw seeds, nuts are alive in the sense that one can activate
them by soaking/sprouting. In the unsoaked form they are in suspended
animation, or "asleep". As sleep can be considered philosophically a form of
"death", and they are not biologically active, they are clearly alive
but probably not "living" food in the sense most use the term.
* vegetables and fruits present some dilemmas. Most raw root vegetables, if
planted in the ground, will grow hence are alive until they spoil in
storage. If alive="living" they could qualify as living, though many
raw fooders exclude them from the term. Things like lettuce, greens,
were alive at picking time, and if eaten very soon thereafter might be
considered living; however if they are refrigerated, shipped long distances,
and eaten 2 weeks after picking (while still green, before turning
yellow or brown), it is unclear how much life energy is still in them.
The situation with most fruit is similar to lettuce, but with the additional
complication that some fruits must be picked and ripened off the tree,
an example of which is certain types of avocadoes.

Some people include raw fruits and veggies in the term "living foods", others
specifically exclude them and refer to them only as raw foods.

* when one comes to liquids, such as honey, sprout milk, fruit and
vegetable juices, the situation is very unclear. Probably the best
guidance here is freshness of the materials used in making the liquid,
and also how long the liquid is stored. That is why in my original
article I put the word alive in quotes ("alive"), to indicate the
uncertainty. You mention enzymes; so long as one talks about original
enzymes present in the food, not enzymes added as a supplement, or
enzymes produced solely by decomposition bacteria, they are a good
measure of freshness. Some raw fooders think enzymes = life force;
that is clearly *not* true; enzymes are an agent of the life force but
not the life force. I will try to elaborate some on that in the proposed
future post.

* fermented foods present more definitional problems, as the base food
clearly decomposes in time, such that eventually only the bacteria
of fermentation is alive (and in some fermented foods they produce so
much acid that they literally die in their own acid "waste").

* one more complication - pollen. Is it alive??  I would vote that it is as
one can remove pollen from plants, refrigerate it, then brush it on
living flowers and it works. (Talking about fresh pollen, not freeze-dried).

Anyway, this post has gotten too long. Let me look into this, think about it
some more, and try to post a summary/review on it in the future. Thanks for
asking the question!


>> I am working to develop a recipe for sprout milk yogurt that  is "sattvic",
>When you perfect your recipe, would you mind sharing it :-) ?

Yes, I will post it when I am satisfied with it. I haven't been working on it
actively lately, so should get busy and see if I can improve it. The problem
so far is that it is too thin; I notice that soy yogurts in the health food
store often have thickeners and gelling agents added, so getting it thick
might be difficult. I can thicken it by adding tukmari, an incredibly
gelatinous seed (available in Indian stores), but others can't get tukmari,
and I want something practical. Flaxseeds thicken it, but too much and it
is highly laxative. Anyway, will try some more and post the results.

Tom Billings
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