Roxanne Klein
Chef, Restaurateur, Cookbook Author
Roxanne Klein has taken a slightly different road to become one of America’s most influential chefs. While the definition of a chef in the dictionary describes a person who prepares food by the action of heat, circumstances that began when she was a young child have led Klein to become a chef who prepares food in it’s raw or living, heat-free and natural state.
A fifth generation Californian, with the first four generations having all been Central Valley farmers, Roxanne Klein spent a good part of her childhood on her grandparents’ farm. It was there that she first learned about raising and eating organic crops, and the wonder of produce the way mother nature intended. She also learned to use her sense of smell to identify which fruits and vegetables were at their peak and would be the most delicious to eat, a technique she continues to use to select the ingredients for all of her recipes.
An encounter with actor/activist Woody Harrelson during a trip while researching the cuisine and culture of Thailand first introduced Roxanne and her husband Michael to a raw/living foods diet. Soon after, during a month’s vacation in Hawaii, the couple took advantage of the island’s bounty of fresh tropical fruits and other produce delights by eating only raw or living foods. The increased energy they felt convinced them that a raw and living foods diet was the way they would be eating from that point forward.
(It’s been determined that eating raw or living foods preserves the enzymes that help with digestion and metabolism. While some experts now believe that eating this type of diet is the key to good health and longevity, the Kleins love the way eating foods in their natural state make them feel.)
Roxanne and Michael Klein created Roxanne’s restaurant in Larkspur, California in order to share the incredible experience of eating raw and living foods. The restaurant has become a fine-dining destination and has earned Roxanne and her cuisine international recognition. Gourmet Magazine said that Roxanne’s is “simply the most innovative restaurant of our time”. Award-winning celebrity chef Charlie Trotter was so impressed with the innovative use of ingredients in their natural state that Roxanne has pioneered, they have since collaborated on a landmark book called Raw published by Ten-Speed Press in 2003.
The preparation and presentation of raw and living foods is not simple, but is a complex exercise in how foods handled in different ways, such as with soaking or dehydration, will produce different and exciting flavors and textures. Roxanne Klein has learned how to artfully balance each ingredients’ unique characteristics, resulting in a finished dish that pays tribute to each glorious, natural component. Whether a culinary revolution or simply a revelation about what is possible when you listen to your body tell you how what you eat makes you feel, Roxanne Klein’s raw and living foods cuisine has opened new, creative territory for those who are adventurous enough to explore it.
