Monday, June 4, 2007

Ming and His Raw Food Diet

Chinatown vegetables like these are fairly common and relatively inexpensive. Many families come here to buy their weekly rations of meats and vegetables on weekends. I, however, come here for the restaurants and cafes. And while I'm here, I take a lot of photos.


Some of you may already know this about me -- I don't cook. In fact, I dislike cooking so much so that I have developed a taste for raw food like sushi, beef tartar, carpaccio, uncooked vegetatbles like broccoli, cauliflower, squash, carrot, pea pods and salads. I even like my burger cooked medium rare. But I'm not a member of the raw food movement.


What are your favorite vegetables and how do you like them cooked?

27 comments:

TCho said...

hmmm. favorite veggie? I like broccolini and broccoli rabe a lot. I like cauliflower too.

Medium rare is nothing. That's what most people like. I like my beef extremely rare and bloody. lol.

Olivier said...

j'aime tous les legumes,et je les aime à la vapeur (ou alors en pâté, un superbe pâté de legume c'est delicieux)

I like all vegetables, and I like them with the vapor (or then out of pâté, a superb vegetable pâté they is delicious)

alice said...

I like many vegetables and cook many recipes with them but there is a lot that I don't know on your photo...In France, a food campaign (is this expression understandable?) encourages everybody to eat "at least 5 fruits and vegetables by day", not so easy...

Beetle said...

well,i can't see any spinach...is there spinach on this photo...I like spinach

Anonymous said...

This is my kind of market. A beautiful picture too.

Abraham Lincoln's kidney stone attack...
I rolled on the floor, puked, screamed, and passed out. When I woke up the neighbor was gone.
Brookville Daily Photo

lv2scpbk said...

I like this photo. Someone just gave me not long ago a roasted veg.'s recipe with beets, beans, etc. I'd have to find it but it was really good.

Oh for the love of food! said...

I guess eating veggies raw is healthy because all the vitamins are intact. I don't even eat salads often because I like my veggies cooked but only just, so I stirfry them very quickly. As for meat I can't tolerate even a little redness, let alone raw.
When you eat out, do you have your veggies raw as well? Do you have a preference for raw veggies or are you just not bothered to cook them?

stilettoheights said...

Broccoli, peas, and peppers are my faves, and I will eat them anyway they come...but I am human so I prefer anything in a cheese sauce.

I don't cook either, in fact I used to keep shoes in my unplugged oven (as a place to store them)

Bel said...

Broccoli, spinach, corn, potatoes, pumpkin, sprouts, beans.....hmmmmm, seems there aren't many veggies I DON'T like! Fruit and veggie markets are great - always so lovely and colourful. Do you call these markets Farmer's Markets? I wish I could eat more raw food like you Ming - very healthy!

Craftymoose Crafts said...

Eggplant,corn, tomatoes, lettuce, & carrots are my favorites. I eat a mixed salad every night. I love fresh carrots just steamed & I'll take eggplant any way it comes!

Anonymous said...

I love legumes !!! It's so good

sonia a. mascaro said...

I like vegetables, legumes and fruits photos! It's very photogenic!

Unknown said...

Ming,

Do you know that for some veg, if you eat them raw, it's better off not eating them?

For some veg, you need to lightly cook them so that the vitamins and minerals and variety of nutrients that can be absorbed by our bodies.

But of course not all lah... Some veg and other food are better to be eaten raw :-)

Unknown said...

oops, I din answer your question.

My fav veg for this week is Bitter Gourd!

I think last week it was "xiao bai chai". hehe... :-p

Jilly said...

Oh Ming, this is a brilliant photograph of vegetables. I reminds me of the market in Cairns. There are many Chinese people living in Far North Queensland, in Australia and so we had the most amazing veggies available to us.

Like you I prefer to eat raw food. Have you read Leslie Kenton? - she is a raw food addict. So good for us to eat our food raw. I mostly do although I succumb to pasta (my downfall). I don't eat meat tho so wouldn't eat your carpaccio.

My favourite raw vegetable? We have baby feve here (broad beans) - they are to die for! But I love nearly all veggies, crisp fresh tangy roquette? Mange tout. Fresh peas.

Oh I'm hungry....

Ming the Merciless said...

Oh for the love of food - I actually prefer the taste of a lot of vegetables when they are raw like broccoli, squash, zuchini and cauliflower, tomatoes, pea pods, spinach, etc. I think this is because a lot of places tend to overcook the vegetables...until they are mushy.

But there is a bad side to eating raw veggies. I get gasy. :-)

Anonymous said...

*glup* You can eat broccoli and cauliflower raw?!? I like them too, but need to at least blanch them in hot water for 2-3 minutes to cook them somewhat. I prefer them on the crispy side.

Anonymous said...

I think it's healthy, in fact, to eat these food raw. Do you have this diet everyday in a week?

GMG said...

I agree with you as far as sushi, beef tartar, and carpaccio are concerned. With regard to the vegetables, I prefer them lightly cooked.
I took a photo of the vegetables supermarket at the Time Warner Centre; one day I 'll post it...

Dsole said...

hmmmm i'm more a "carnivoran" person, i'm sorry, is that the word?
I guess i could eat more vegetable, my mom would become happy then!

Annie said...

Are you sure you're not a raw food member?

Tonight we had beans and greens at our house. Traditionally these are served with cornbread but we had oatbran muffins instead.

teahouse said...

Mmm..veggies from Chinatown! I love going down there and visiting the fish markets as well.

Ming the Merciless said...

I try to eat a lot of salads when I go to the diners. But when I'm at the cafes and restaurants, I tend to gravitate towards burgers with steamed veggies.

But trust me, my diet is atrocious. I am overweight and I need to exercise more.

エスタ said...

nice photo! and that is so funny! i feel the same way about cooking, my favourite thing in the kitchen is my juicer, carrots apples and ginger mmmmm and in good ole japanese style, steam anything green, and top with katsuobushi and soy sauce, so easy even i can manage! did you try natto yet? that is a great breakfast for non cookers!

Fabrizio Zanelli said...

Ehm... er... I'm not that one. I eat very few kind of raw vegetables: tomatos, sparrow-grass (is it correct?), salade, artichoke... And fewer cooked (atichoke and spinach. Like Dsole I'm most carnivorous

Chris said...

...shuddering at the thought of all that raw meat & fish...not for me, thanks!
Right now I love roasted asparagus - my fave spring veg. I can even get my 3 year old to eat broccoli gremolata - roasted broccoli with lemon peel & breadcrumbs...delicious.

Anonymous said...

I try to go to chinatown twice a month to stock up on groceries. Besides the tofu, tv, and big bags of frozen dumplings, I like to get lots of bok choy and also lychees for snacking and for my at home lychee martinis. My favorite veggies, though, are summer squash and zucchini.