The Bay area is far from a hotbed of vegetarian or vegan activity, with few restaurants dedicated to serving meatless diners. It's even worse down in Sarasota, except they have one thing going for them: the Gulf Coast's first raw restaurant — Veggie Magic (4428 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota, 941-377-6209 or veggiemagic.com) — newly opened last month.
There is only one rule governing raw diets: Nothing can be heated to more than 105 degrees. Although some raw adherents eat fish or dairy products, most are vegans as well. The largely unscientific theory is that heating is an unnatural process that erects a barrier between humans and nature, and destroys essential amino acids and nutrients.
Why Sarasota? Primarily because of the efforts of Jenna Norwood, a Sarasota resident who made a documentary about the raw lifestyle last year titled Supercharge Me: 30 Days Raw. She's a tireless promoter of eating raw who's built the second largest raw meet-up group in the country. In Sarasota. Huh?
Veggie Magic serves prepared foods meant for takeout, faux breads and pretend meats meant to mimic non-raw food, constructed in arcane ways using dehydraters and blenders. If you're a raw-gan, it might be tasty. For the non-raw, it can be a bit tough to stomach.
The one thing Veggie Magic's food teaches everyone is that raw food is at its best when it comes straight from nature: Nuts, seeds, veggies and fruit taste good and are good for you, too. —Brian Ries
This article appears in Dec 19-25, 2007.