Reviewed by Melanie Wilson


Last week I received this two-DVD set along with Alissa Cohen's book Living on Live Food in the mail, and they couldn't have come at a more perfect time. After reading this fabulous book (actually, I hadn't even finished it yet), I made my 30-day commitment to raw foods. The first day I was heavily detoxing from caffeine (darn coffee), and I could do little more than lay in front of the TV, sleep, or bask in the sun all day. So I popped in the first of Alissa's DVDs.

This raw food preparation DVD is different from the other videos like this I've seen because Alissa includes on the set two women who are considering going raw and are genuinely interested in learning how. We learn that they are co-owners of a health food restaurant, and while one woman appears to have taken part in a live food demonstration and knows a little about it, the other is completely new to the concept. Throughout the filming they are free to ask questions, and you find them asking the exact things you were thinking and wanting to know!

Alissa is open to all their questions and appears full of energy and life, which shines through in both her uncooking demonstrations and her enthusiasm for raw foods. She provides totally impromptu answers during her conversation with these two women, often sharing thoughts about her own life and experience with going and staying raw. She is, as one of the women said, the picture of health. As an ambassador for the raw foods movement, she is a shining example of inner and outer beauty.

During the presentation she prepares a wide variety of dishes, including pudding, "fettucine" alfredo, blueberry pie, and banana cream crepes, just to name a few. And she makes it all look so easy! Having followed her recipes for a week, I can attest that it is as easy as it looks, and her recipes are to live for!