For an amusing take on raw eating as a hip, hot trend among cutting-edge
youth, Hollywood celebs, and mega-wealthy business tycoons, check out "The
Gastronauts" in the February issue of _Spin_.  The author, one Chris
Norris, dishes up an entertaining blend of snideness and grandfatherly
indulgence.

The movement, says Norris, includes "one group that considers cooked food
poison; another that considers eating whole plants akin to murder; another
that eats only sprouted food; another that eats only liquid food; another
that eats freshly killed animals; and still another, predictably smaller
group that claims to eat only air."  The participants "are mostly outsiders
-- post-hippies, ex-skinheads, cancer recoverers, Woody Harrelson -- and
the energy is classic subcult."

Raw Food List co-owner Dave Karas rates a photo, but Norris, in his
nastiest barb, finds Karas reminiscent of Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski.

Zephyr and Aajonus are both mentioned (mercifully, Z.'s semi-suicidal
mongoose flirtation is only vaguely hinted at), as are many of the other
luminaries we know so well.  Viktoras Kulvinskas's _Survival Into the 21st
Century_ is dubbed "the _Das Kapital_ of the modern raw-food movement."
Ann Wigmore is described, incorrectly, as "founder of the Natural Hygienics
movement."  Guy-Claude Burger is conspicuously unmentioned.

An interesting sidelight:  side-by-side mentions of author Arshavir T.
Hovannessian and _Nature's First Law_.  The plagiarism of the one by the
other goes unreported.  NFL's "Steve Arlin" is quoted, implausibly,
estimating sales of the book at 300,000.

The star of the piece is "the uni-named Juliano," erstwhile owner of the
Raw restaurant in San Francisco, whom I met several times before he moved
to Hollywood in an undisguised quest for personal celebrity.  The
photogenic 25-year-old ("striking in the manner of rock singers and indie
film stars") features in three photos, including the now-customary
nude-in-a-fruit-tree shot.

Styling himself a latter day messiah -- "Dude, I'm an instrument and
there's a higher power _working through me_!" -- Juliano claims to get by
on two hours' sleep a night; has anyone else had that experience on raw foods?

C.