News from Common Ground Food Co-op

Q&A with Patrick Tanner
1. What does your product name mean to you? How did you choose this name? Patrick's Fresh Raw Vegan Creations! is a reflection of the way I eat, and in many ways the way I face life in general: vegan and in the raw. Everything I eat and prepare is as fresh as it can be with all of its nutrients and enzymes intact, containing no animal products.

2. Where are your products made? How many miles do you travel to reach Common Ground? My products are made in Champaign, so delivery to Common Ground is easy.

3. How long have you been making your products? For about nine years, since I started eating a raw-only diet. I began experimenting with things like spreads and pâtés and crackers and sweets, like many raw foodists do. About six years ago, when the Co-op sold to members only, management asked me if I would start making some raw-food products for sale because there was a growing raw-foods movement in this country. That's when I began developing recipes and trying them out on the staff and members of the Co-op. There weren't as many raw-food preparation books on the market then as there are now, so I didn't have much guidance. (I say "raw-food preparation" books, not "cookbooks," since eating a raw-only diet is more like the "joy of not cooking.")

4. How did you discover raw food? I think we all have a significant amount of raw food in our diets. But the idea of eating a raw-only diet was suggested, and even promoted, in a book by Dr. Edward Howell titled "Enzyme Nutrition," published sometime in the 1980s. His idea is that heating food above 118 degrees Fahrenheit for some time destroys the enzymes that are naturally present in the food.
When we eat something, say a cooked carrot, the pancreas must then produce the enzymes that break down the carbohydrates into simple sugars so that our bodies can assimilate them. When we eat the same food raw, some of the enzymes necessary to digest the food are in the food; we get them for free, so the pancreas doesn't have to produce as many enzymes during digestion. So what? So our bodies can devote energy to doing other things such as healing from an injury or a disease. My thinking about food has also been influenced by the writings of Francis Pottenger and Dr. Max Gerson. I had been a low-fat vegetarian, as promoted by Dr. Dean Ornish, for several years and had observed significant health benefits. It seemed that eating a raw-only vegan diet was the logical next step. I found the raw-food diet to be a fascinating concept and was eager to try it. I haven't looked back since. Everything I eat is bursting with color, flavor, and nutrition.

5. What is your signature product? My products have evolved over time. For a while, the most popular ones were the Save-the-Tuna and Save-the-Chicken Salads and Carrot Pâté. While these are still very popular, I started preparing sweets such as Walnut-Date Confection, Chocolate and Vanilla Macaroons, Walnut-Fudge Truffles, Banana Cream Pies, and Lemon Cheezecake, and these became popular items as well. Lately, it's been the three flavors of Energy Bars made with goji berries and maca root powder; the Green Kale Crispies, all three varieties: Pizza Time, Lemon-Tahini, and Tangy Cheeze. The Energy Bars stick with you for while, and the Green Kale Crispies are a great, delicious way to get more greens into your diet. And I've recently introduced some sprouted-flavored-dehydrated buckwheat groats called "Buckwheaties." There are five different flavors of these, some sweet, some savory. Based upon early results, I expect these to become very popular too.

6. What do you enjoy most about using raw food? I like eating food as close to its natural state as possible: unprocessed or minimally processed. For example, my Green Kale Crispies consist of flavored, dehydrated organic green kale. My Vanilla Macaroons contain raw, organic almonds, cashews, coconut that has been dried at a low temperature, and raw agave nectar. These raw, nutrient-dense ingredients are mixed together, shaped into macaroons, and dehydrated. I really enjoy the flavor of it all, especially knowing that it is the healthiest, most delicious way I can eat. I believe that I am healthier than I would otherwise have been had I not gone raw.

7. What do you find most challenging being your own boss? I've had several businesses over that past 25 years. One of the most challenging things is having the discipline to "turn it off": to be able to set aside time for other things. It's sometimes difficult to have a home office because you never get away from your work. That's why I'm glad to have the food production part of the business off-site in a certified kitchen.

8. What is your philosophy/perspective on farming and food consumption? I would like to see more small farms survive. Everything I make is hand-made with care, so I'm very close to the resulting products and to the customers I serve. I think small farmers are in a similar situation. They, too, are close to what they produce. I don't think you can say that about big farms. However, the smaller farmers in California that I've contacted in order to buy kale, spinach, and arugula simply don't have the delivery system to get it to me in a fresh state. So, I do buy many of my raw ingredients from big producers and distributive channels such as Earthbound Farms, Cal-Organic, and Tierra Farm.
I eat organic food whenever possible. I also eat locally whenever I can. But while people in, say, California have less difficulty eating locally, it's not so easy doing that in the Midwest all year round. And many things I really like (citrus fruit, bananas, tropical fruit in general), simply cannot be grown here. For food consumption, I believe that the best possible diet is one that contains no animal products, except when necessary. I also believe that Gandhi was correct when he said that the diet should be three things: "limited, spiceless, and unfired if possible." I'm definitely "unfired," and I'm working on the "limited" and "spiceless," because when I'm honest with myself, I know that spices and larger-than-necessary portions engender gluttony. Having said that, however, I do season my products as a means for more people to make healthier food choices.

9. Is there anything else you'd like Common Ground members to know about your business? I hope to have a web presence sometime in the next year. For now, my email address (fresh.raw.vegan@gmail.com) is on every package. So I would love to hear from members who have not tried my products and have questions about them, as well as those who buy my products and have suggestions for new products or comments and changes to existing ones. I am also working on a class about the raw diet, and I would like to know how much interest is out there and what topics the members would like me to address.