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.