Yes, there ARE Jewish rawtarians

Whenever I would hear that someone is a rawtarian, I assumed they were limited to eating carrots and celery sticks or other fruits and vegetables. I love the flavors of fruits and vegetables, but all day?

And only raw?

It’s not as if I ever considered becoming a rawtarian, nor will I be converting to it now. But I now understand what it actually means. And I will make a good, conscious effort to incorporate more of that raw produce goodness into my life.

Why? Because I had the enriching experience of hearing and learning from Julie Auerbach, originally of Denver; today, Chana Auerbach of Israel, where she is founding executive chef of Briah Living Foods. I joined a raw food demo hosted by Chana at the East Denver Orthodox Synagogue last week.

I came in curious about expanding my wellness repertoire. Certainly, by the time I left that was actualized. I understood that raw food is about eating food that is alive, but it is so much more than that. Between the raw almond milk, vanilla shake, jicama fries, peach cobbler — and my favorite, the spiralized zucchini, corn and tomato pasta salad — I left inspired.

Here’s the story. Of all people, Chana or anyone from the Auerbach family are the last people on earth you would imagine becoming a vegetarian, let alone a rawtarian. I mean, we’re talking about The Auerbachs. For generations, meat distributors in Colorado. If they don’t qualify as the definition of carnivores, who does?

With her constant smile and between the whizzing of a blender and tossing of salads, Chana, in her tall strong and charming personality, graciously, openly, tackles an emotional and vulnerable topic and shares how she arrived at this food journey.

Chana is bald. She has alopecia.

In her early twenties, she was coping with feeling very ill, weak, and losing her hair. After trying everything, it seemed, to no avail, someone suggested raw vitamin supplements. It did the trick, and Chana had found her calling.

Nuggets of wisdom flow from Chana’s soul and leave her mouth as easily as her delicious recipes.

“Eating dead food makes you feel dead, whereas eating live food creates life,” or, “we’re built to heal ourselves.”