After I have a raw meal I don’t have the same feeling of fullness, but I also don’t get hungry right away either. Things like cold pressed olive oil, avocado, and raw nuts goes help. And a lot of raw meals incorporate nut “cheeses” which help a lot too. It seems like the more fibrous greens like kale and chard are more filling than plain lettuce. And depending if you go raw vegan or not there are some great raw cheeses out there.

Russ — I too have had some good raw food — I especially like the “sushi rolls” and yummy chocolate mousse at Juliano’s Raw. I didn’t mean to imply that raw food’s always inferior — I just meant that they are inevitably different!

For ex, a “pizza” at Juliano’s or a “burger” at Rawvolution doesn’t even look like a regular pizza or a burger, much less taste like one. That’s why I specifically pointed out the items I did — Greek Pizza, Spinach & Cheese Quiche, and Homemade Apple Crumble — because those are all things people generally associate with bready toasty warmness, among other characteristics, that’s just not gonna translate well into a raw dish.

Sometimes, I think the raw restaurants would do well to call their products something else altogether, so as to avoid the disappointment of newbies who order pizza and are given what’s essentially a salad instead :P

Taste aside, I’m wondering — Do you have the same feeling hungry a few minutes after eating raw food issue that I do?

I’ve never tried any of these as I’m not in LA (and probably would opt to enjoy a night out at a restaurant or just stay in and make food rather than get delivery), but I wanted to add my two cents about raw foods. I’m not fully raw, but I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting lately, and I have to say, contrary to your experience at Rawvolution, I’ve had some raw meals that not only match their traditional counterparts, but exceed them. Especially deserts, some raw deserts are absolutely amazing, not only are they filling and satisfy a sweet tooth, but are totally guilt free. I will say that some raw foods take an acquired taste, but there are some that I would take any day over their cooked counterparts!

I noticed in your LA times review you were skeptical about the packaging Vegin’ Out uses. It’s all cornstarch-based plastic that is recyclable – but it’s still plastic. And I find their containers a bit flimsy. Seedling has a $35 refundable container deposit and your meals come in nice tupperware-like containers with snap-on lids. Our delivery guy told us that if we order again, we can just switch them out. If we don’t, I assume we can drop them off or something and get our refund. They even dropped the food off in reusable, insulated Whole Foods bags. :-)

The other thing I’ve noticed is that Vegin’ Out is totally mix and match. Just choose a main, two sides, and maybe a serving of soup or a fresh salad. Kristina’s meals are labeled to all go together. For example, one meal I got this week is brown rice sushi, which comes with a daikon salad (labeled: For sushi) and some other kind of side. I also have lentil croquettes with a homemade salsa, again, labeled that it’s supposed to go with the croquettes. So meal prep is really easy. There’s a spaghetti squash pasta dish with seitan sausage sauce, and the sauce is packaged separately from the noodles, which is also nice. Vegin’ Out puts the rice or pasta in with everything else. I wish I had more control over that (like making my own fresh-cooked rice). So again, Vegin’ Out is super convenient, but Seedling seems a little… classier.

I’ve also heard of something called Susan’s Healthy Gourmet, but it looks pretty pricey, and I wasn’t overly impressed with the vegetarian options. You can get delivery for 3-4 meals a week or all 7, breakfast or not, and 1200, 1500, or 1800 calories. She does twice-weekly delivery.

Glad I can help, Quin :)

Glad I found you on Twitter.

Cheers!
Q’