a raw christmas with david wolfe

Christmas is just around the corner, and what better way to bring in the holiday season than attending a raw vegan event with special guest lecturer David Wolfe?! I attended the event, "A Raw Christmas with David Wolfe" this past Saturday, held in an incredibly intimate (I'll explain why) venue in Toronto. I convinced two school friends, Armando and Suze, to attend with me, and we embarked on an incredibly interesting evening, full of yummy raw vegan food, an informative lecture, as well as a myriad of raw vegan vendors, and even a marriage proposal between two young raw vegans!

David 'Avocado' Wolfe

I'm sure that many of you have heard of David 'Avocado' Wolfe, the esteemed raw food guru and raw cacao king ;-) For this lecture/talk, David rovided an overview of his areas of expertise, which focus on raw cacao, wild edibles, and the preservation of natural resources. Incredibly knowledgeable and well versed as a public speaker, Wolfe kept the crowd engaged through the use of a Powerpoint with key images to highlights his main points of discussion.

Overall, I found the lecture incredibly interesting, yet perhaps a bit too broad, as he tried to discuss multiple raw food topics in a short amount of time. Nevertheless, it was an incredibly informative lecture, and drew an incredible amount of people, which amounted to a sold-out, packed crowd in a small space. This became problematic at times, as there was little standing room or space to meet with other people in attendance (eeek!). Oh well, it just goes to show how raw foods are gaining much popularity, and that the community is definitely expanding in size!

one side of the lecture

During the talk, the audience were given samples of David's special raw cacao Christmas eggnog drink, which was amaaazing! A combination of raw cacao, young thai coconut meat and water, nutmeg, cinnamon and other ingredients that have since left my mindscape, this drink was both creamy and refreshing:

David Wolfe's special raw cacao Christmas drink: uhh, yum!

Armando and Suze enjoying the raw cacao goodness

The ticket for the event also included a delectable assortment of raw vegan goodies from such Toronto area raw restaurants as Raw Aura and Rawlicious. Maegan, who was the previous chef at Raw Aura and now works at Rawlicious, made the most delicious raw pizza and coconut macaroons ever! I also met with Doug, the new chef at Raw Aura (previously of Live restaurant), and he informed me that there will be a new menu for the restaurant in the new year. I am definitely looking forward to trying out some of the new raw dishes. I also really need to check out Rawlicious, soon!:

a compilation of raw foodstuffs c/o Raw Aura, Rawlicious and other raw food 'vendors': a mixed green salad, crudites with guacamole, sushi, assortment of kale chips, raw pizza, carrot cracker with some sort of raw dip, and coconut macaroon!

As I mentioned above, there were also some interesting raw related vendors. Living Libations, a company that uses only the purest essential oils and beeswax for their beauty products, had such an interesting booth that I had to peruse their offerings. I purchased two lip balms, Hot Lover Lips (!) which uses cinnamon, as well as a Lavendar lip balm. Both were equally sumptuous and great for the skin:

a shot of Living Libations' table

David Wolfe also had a table, which featured copies of his books and bars of his 'Sacred Chocolate'. he even had some agave for sale:

David Wolfe's table of goodies

Overall, it was a really interesting evening and I am glad I got to see David Wolfe in action ;-) I'd best get back to my 'sunny raw kitchen', as I'm whipping up some delectable goodies for Christmas. I will post them soon! :-)