Food Love – Gourmet Style by T.L. Epperson

Check out some of the fabulous raw vegan dishes from Living Light’s recent Gourmet Chef students.

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Living Light Chef Spotlight: Natalie Cottrell

After working in the music entertainment industry for 14 years coordinating volunteer security and site crew operations, Natalie Cottrell switched careers and began working at the Noyo Food Forest Learning Garden as the volunteer coordinator. The availability of farm fresh produce helped Natalie decide to get back into her original passion—creating amazing food.  Natalie is working to bridge the gap between the local schools’ meal programs and the Community Support Agriculture.

Get to know Natalie Cottrell in Living Light’s Chef Spotlight.

Chef Experience: How did you get interested in raw foods?
Natalie Cottrell: I have always loved eating the fruits & veggies that my family either gathered or grew! Now I work at the local community garden, the “Noyo Food Forest Learning Garden” as the volunteer coordinator. The enthusiasm of everyone involved and the amazing availability of farm fresh veggies and fruits have helped me re-recognize my original passion- creating amazing food.

CE: How long has raw food been a part of your diet?
NC: I have always recognized the importance of eating raw, and I have always known that the rawest ingredients usually are indicative of the freshest and tastiest, and I am big on fresh!

CE: How has raw foods changed your life?
NC: Learning that there are a whole lot more options for vegetarian, vegan and raw meals has totally blown the roof off of my previous belief that salad is the usual raw meal. There are so many variations and original ideas that are exciting and healthy to boot! I can’t wait to teach my community how to recreate their favorite foods and genuinely improve their diets, and overall health!

CE: How did you find out about Living Light Culinary Institute?
NC: I live here in Fort Bragg, so when anything new comes our way, I look into it. I recall the locals wondering if this new “hippy dippy raw place” was going to make it. It only took one time for me to try the un-tuna sandwich and the sea palm salad- I was HOOKED!!! I turned all my friends onto the newest place in town!

CE: When deciding on a school, what were the major factors that played a part in your decision? What were you looking for?
NC: First and foremost is the location. Second, the price- a totally affordable and amazing education! But, truth be told, I am attending the Institute on a grant as part of the Mendocino Private Industry Counsel’s back to work retraining program. I was actually looking at the CIA in Napa Valley, but the cost was way too much for me in my current financial situation.

CE: What was your first week at the Living Light Culinary Institute like?
NC: Mind Blowing!!!!

CE: What is your favorite dish that you have created so far?
NC: I really get excited about the recipes that are developed by us- the students, but I am loving the Mediterranean flavors that we are exploring…
Oh Goodness, and probably the lemon custard tarts…or the…

CE: What was so special about raw foods?
NC: Come on…food that tastes that awesome is not only raw but good for me too?

CE: Which Living Light courses are you most looking forward to taking? Why?
NC:  I am truly ready to take this (education) to the next level by attending the nutrition and the marketing courses. Perhaps some pastry arts…

CE: What is your typical day at school like?
NC: Challenging and exciting and yummy!!!

CE: What do you like most about attending Living Light?
NC:  A few things. The level of absolute professionalism is astounding. I am receiving an exciting education that will enable me to get into the fresh new world of eating raw! I am already being approached with job offers! The future looks very bright! The folks that run the place are great people, and not only to learn from and work around. I guess that the best thing I love about living Light is the way I feel from when I walk into the door, and later when I reflect on my day and what I learned- while I do my homework!

CE: What is the most challenging?
NC:  Recipe development- but I did not come here to do stuff I knew how to do; I came here to learn and work! I want my skills to be razor sharp and on the cutting edge- some of these job offers are from people that are pretty progressive…that makes it even more of a fun challenge! Gotta keep up with the rest of the world!

CE: Where do you see yourself after graduation from Living Light Culinary Institute?
NC:  I haven’t decided on any one thing- my true calling is feeding people and sharing with them what there is here in Fort Bragg, as far as fresh food sources in our community. I have no doubts about being absolutely prepared though!

CE: What advice do you have for anyone thinking about a career in the raw food nutrition?
NC:  Living Light is a solid approach to the world of raw cuisine. Do it!

CE: Where do you see yourself five years from now and what path will you take to get there?
NC: I will be an educator and chef, privately and with other chefs in assorted adventures. I will definitely be busy!

Natalie was born and raised in Fort Bragg, California.   She is a recent graduate of Living Light’s Gourmet Raw Food Chef Certification™.

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Food Love – Gourmet Style by T.L. Epperson

Check out some of the delectable raw vegan dishes from Living Light’s recent Gourmet Chef students.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Read Full Post »

Living Light Chef Spotlight: Sam Romano

Sam Romano is a 21-year old from  Bartlett, IL a small town an hour outside of Chicago.   He is a recent graduate of Living Light’s Raw Culinary Arts Associate Chef and Instructor Training™. Sam has been a vegetarian for four years before he discovered the raw food lifestyle. After high school Sam dove into researching nutrition.  He discovered raw foods when he was a student at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition and from there he decided he wanted a career as a Holistic Health Counselor.   He took a course at the Tree of Life and very quickly made the decision to take his culinary career to the next level by attending Living Light Culinary Institute. His goal is to open his own raw business selling high-quality raw food, super foods,   juices, smoothies and raw meals.

Get to know Sam Romano in Living Light’s Chef Spotlight.

Chef Experience: How did you get interested in raw foods at such a young age?
Sam Romano: It was really a long gradual process. In elementary school, my doctor said I had A.D.D. and gave me drugs to help me. After going through three different ones like Ritalin and Adderall, [they] made me dizzy and not talk. I never liked taking them and stopped very quickly. Then he said to stop eating Red dye 40, a food coloring, that I was consuming everyday, in High-C Fruit punch. After that I started reading all the labels on food I ate.

And in high school, my friend went to India, and came back a vegan, and showed me animal cruelty videos. and I was so shocked, and I became conscious that the meat on my plate was an animal that probably didn’t have a good life. So I was vegetarian for four years, and just this summer I started eating superfoods like hemp, spirulina, Goji, chlorella, cacao and that help me get off dairy and eggs and move towards becoming a nutritarian.

CE: What is a nutritarian?
SR: A nutritarian is someone who is on a nutrient dense diet, and only eats things that have beneficial vitamins and minerals.

CE: How long have you been eating raw food diet?
SR: I’ve been high raw for 10 months, since June 2011.  A lot of days 100%, sometimes I eat beans and good whole grains, sweet potato and acorn squash when they are in season.

CE: How has raw foods changed your life?
SR: It’s changed in so many ways. Everyday is so amazing, I feel so blessed and appreciate everything so much more, it really opened me up to spirituality, I can recall my memory so much better, mental clarity. I’m a lot stronger as an athlete and my endurance has gone up!!

CE: When did you know that you wanted to be a gourmet raw vegan chef?
SR: Well after high school, I just had to get out of my town, so me and my friend moved to California. Where I was a ski bum, I worked at Sierra at Tahoe Resort. Where I got over 120 days of snowboarding in. That’s when I realized how much money it cost to live the way I wanted to. So I moved back home and asked the universe what am I going to do for a career in my life. I asked for guidance, and I was on my computer everyday just looking up amazing facts on superfoods. When I found David Wolfe. He got me into raw foods and one day I was watching an interview with him and he mentioned the Tree of Life with Dr. Gabriel Cousens, and It looked so amazing I decided I wanted to go there. And that’s when it hit me that I should look into making raw foods and that I really wanted to spread the word as much as I possibly could.

CE: How did you find out about Living Light Culinary Institute?
SR: I just Google’d ‘raw culinary schools’ and searched through a couple and Living Light really stood out to me.

CE: When deciding on a school, what were the major factors that played a part in your decision? What were you looking for?
SR: The environment plays a big part. Fort Bragg looked like an amazing spot to me i love the out doors and Trees. and LL looked really professional. it looked legit. and at the same time relaxed, and chill. It was 100% organic. and they really are helpful to beginners.

CE:   What was your first week at the Living Light Culinary Institute like?
SR: They started you off slow but we got to see a lot of demos. and it was consistent. They really have the teaching schedule perfect and they know how to train people well.

CE: What is your favorite dish that you have created so far?
SR: I really loved the living lasagna.

CE: What was so special about this particular dish?
SR: It really had the cooked look, after putting the lasagna in the dehydrator the cheese started to turn golden.

CE: Which Living Light courses are you most looking forward to taking?
SR: Gourmet certification, and Pastry Unbaked.

CE: What is your typical day at school like?
SR:  Smoothies at 8:45.  Nine o’clock we discuss different topics then we go in and watch a demo, then we get to make what we just saw in the demo.

CE: What do you like most about attending Living Light?
SR:  I really enjoyed the instructors and the information and how you schedule the day. They’re jam-packed days.

CE: What is the most challenging?
SR: Talking in front of people.

CE: Where do you see yourself after graduation from Living Light Culinary Institute?
SR: I can see myself working at a raw restaurant in Chicago, making raw desserts for weddings and parties. Going to Korea to do demos, and eventually I want to open my own raw café.

CE: Where do you see yourself five years from now?
SR: Teaching people how to be raw. Doing demos and holding workshops, making some of the best raw foods.

CE: What advice do you have for anyone thinking about a career in the raw foods?
SR:  Keep it simple, get as much of your food local or start a garden and only support organic.

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Going Home by Solla

Sunday April 17.

Now, when I am heading home from the culinary paradise Living Light, I have to share one thing with you. I came here very well updated and I work with a lot of raw people that are always a step ahead with all the new things when it comes to raw material. So coming back to the school again, 6 years after my graduation, and joining a class, I honestly did not know what to expect. And I have to say: I am soooo amazed how well updated they are at the school. They have their “heels” where most of us have our “toes” when talking about raw materials in raw food. I enjoyed every minute of my stay, and I learned more than I could ever imagine.

 My return to the school was a 50 years birthday gift from friends and family and it was the best gift ever! I’m going home with my head filled with sooo many new ideas. And with some of them I could not wait and already tried out at the Living Light Inn kitchen where I stayed. To all you graduated students: I really encourage you to come back and update your knowledge and get new inspiration. It is every minute and penny’s worth. I am so grateful!  Thank you Cherie, you are the best. Martine and Vinnette, you take teaching to a new level, helping us to take our ideas out of our heads and plate them beautifully on the dish spiced with LOVE. And the biggest bonus is:  lots and lots of new lifelong friends. To all the staff and kitchen angels: TAKK¨*•.¸¸☼ (means “thank you” in Icelandic).

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Just Graduated, Already Motivated by amber west

Our Associate Chef and Instructor Training is finished  for this session, and I’ m sad to see it go.  It was a great time with a really fun group!  I know that they will put their training to good use –  some of them are already beginning!

Official Class Photo with Instructors Cherie Soria, Amber West and Martine Lussier

Chef and Instructor Graduate Stephanie Schlosser

Super ambitious Stephanie Schlosser not only completed all of her homework assignments and prepared for her demo, but also managed to post a culinary video in our Hot Raw Chef Sweet Valentine Video Recipe Contest.  I’ve posted her video below so that you can see what a great job she’s done.  She also teaches raw food classes to children. Check out her ideas and recipes!

Another impressive student is Ayana Medley, owner of 

Chef and Instructor Graduate Ayana

 Sassy Chef.  Ayana is already a classically trained vegan chef.  She specializes in healthy vegan versions of traditional comfort food.  Ayana came to Living Light in order to learn more about raw vegan foods so that she can incorporate them into her business!  Now that she’s a Certified Raw Food Associate Chef and Instructor, not only will she be making more great foods, she’s gained more experience and confidence to teach classes as well!

It was great to meet each of our students,  and I look forward to hearing about their continued journey and success stories as they travel the raw food road.

 

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Graduation Cake and the Future by amber west

I was so impressed with the student’s demos yesterday!  They all put a lot of effort into becoming great teachers and did an amazing job!  Today they have their big test and then it’s graduation, complete with graduation cake – Chocolate Mousse Tart with Strawberry Coulis.  Yum!

Demo Coordinator Barbaraw excited about her slice of Chocolate Mousse Tart!

Some of our students are staying on for Gourmet Chef Certification for the next three weeks, and some are leaving us to go out into the world and spread the joy of raw foods.  One of our  students,  Alan White, is  doing both.

Chef and Instructor Graduate Alan White

He is dedicated to becoming a teacher, and he’s planning to go home and put his teacher training to use, then return for our Gourmet Raw Food Chef certification program. I’m inspired by his drive and ambition.  Alan has worked on several farms, including a coffee bean and macadamia nut farm in Hawaii.  He will spend some time honing the  chef skills he learned at Living Light while teaching his own classes, and then finish “gourmet” and the Dina’s Science of Raw Food Nutrition Series.  He was very inspired by Jennifer Cornbleet and plans to follow in her footsteps!  I wish him the best of luck in the future!

An After Graduation Group Photo

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