By Becca Campbell and Ritzy Ryciak

Even within the natural food movement’s inner core, Raw foodists can’t get no love. Tell most folks you limit your diet to just fresh, uncooked fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds, and responses range from bewildered admiration (“Wow. You do that?!? I could never deal”) to bemused skepticism (“uh, whatever floats your boat, I guess”) to snark bordering on hostility (“what are you, a f’ing rabbit?”). Even the possibility of “increased energy and vitality” — the raw foodie’s beckoning promise — couldn’t persuade most of us to consign to a lifetime of carrots and celery. And so the “Raw Way” has largely remained a path for only the most disciplined zealot and/or narcissistic celebrity with the disposable funds to bankroll a personal chef.

But like any great idea whose time is nigh, raw food is maturing beyond its uncooked beginnings to a lifestyle choice that allows for flexibility, creativity, and above all — (dare we say?) great taste. Glossy cookbooks, fresh new restaurants, raw chocolate smoothies and healthy, happy raw enthusiasts — who are anything but cultish or militant — are moving Raw out of the fringe and into the mainstream.

What Percent Are You?

“The raw food movement is dynamically changing,” observes David Wolfe, author of raw food bibles Naked Chocolate, Eating For Beauty and The Sunfood Diet Success System. With his twinkling eyes, exuberant curls and fondness for embroidered hemp pajamas, Wolfe, a foremost living foods leader, has the Rico Suavocado countenance of a hippie rockstar and the enthusiasm of a five-year-old hopped up on Hawaiian Punch (or, in Wolfe’s case, raw cacao beans).

“It is becoming much more sophisticated in its appeal. Not only in the flavor and texture of the food itself, but also in its ability to appeal to different people. The barriers are falling away.”

One of the more insurmountable barriers has been the idea that to “do raw food” you have to go all the way, eating all raw — all the time.

“We have found that you have to eat 70 to 80 percent raw food to really reap the real health benefits,” offers Wolfe, who supports any raw percentage that people commit to — especially in the beginning. This loosening of the reins has opened the door for the raw-curious to commit to a certain percent of uncooked foods in their diet.

“People tap in the way that feels best to them,” he says, and cites raw chocolate, Spirulina and hemp seeds as great entry foods into the raw diet.

“They get into juices — celery and apple juice — then boom, the whole thing starts rolling. Before they know it they are eating seaweed and sprouting.”

Raw Momentum Builds

Recognizing the emerging raw trend, restaurants have started to offer more uncooked options on the menu, with everything from raw appetizers, smoothies and desserts to full tasting menus. After discovering the raw food movement, world-renowned chef Charlie Trotter co-authored the top-selling RAW cookbook with chef Roxanne Klein. He now offers regular raw tasting menus at his five star eponymously named Chicago restaurant and foresees big things for raw food’s fine dining future. “I think, in the future, all chefs will need to have an awareness of how to prepare raw food,” Trotter told online gourmet network Epicurious. “It will be just another component of a well-rounded culinary education, like learning about butchering or pastry.”

Chicago-based Lisa Persico, chief mixologist of The Amazing Starr Barr, a raw elixir bar-for-hire, has found her services increasingly requested to replace the usual alcohol cash bars at art galleries, fundraisers and weddings. Using exotic superfoods like maça, goji berries, spirulina, and raw cacao, she creates smoothies and cocktails that uplift the spirit without alcohol.

Persico recently spun her craft at a special preview party for the new eco-friendly Butterfly Social Club, the windy city’s first “raw bar” (as in saloon). Nightclub owner and raw enthusiast Mark Kleman opened Butterfly to showcase raw food creations, clean drinks and superfood elixirs, many of his own secret design (hint: he’s all about the maça).

Natalia Rose, author of The Raw Food Detox Diet and a nutritionist in New York, finds more clients interested in raw food from a cosmetic and physical point of view, but also witnesses added benefits. “Some people get into raw food to drop a few pounds or reverse aging, but they come out a better person. They become a more enlightened, conscious person.”

That certainly was the case for Chicago-based Kokopaulli, an energetic raw food activist, who says he experiences a deeper sense of spirituality on the raw food diet.

“When you eat raw food it’s like standing under the sun and getting everything you need,” he muses. “It is effortless.” Kokopaulli grew up Catholic and began altering his diet by giving up meat for Lent. He shifted from eating vegetarian to vegan and finally landed at living food because he wanted to feel “more vibrant.”

“The world can get more out of me if I eat something vital and alive.”