Today's video is with my friend John Fielder of Australia. John has been a raw foodist for over 40 years and is no longer a vegan. This interview was done over skype and is not great quality in the picture but wonderful information so hang in there and enjoy.
John's position to eating meat is as follows: "It has been my experience that many people require to include some form of animal product – in its raw state – in their diet to be entirely healthy, and for their bodies to function optimally. The form the animal product can take is as cottage cheese, yoghurt, or Kefir, made from raw unpasteurised milk. Or raw eggs from free range chickens not fed with hormones etc. And although I do not advocate or recommend the eating of meat, for those that choose to eat meat, it should be in minute amounts, and raw. For in this way it will cause minimal harm."
"The full story of why I am an advocate of animal products in the diet of most, if not all, is to be found on my website, "
Question of the day: Were you once a raw vegan and you went back to eating cooked food or animal products? Post your reply below.
Okinawans are the top pork producers in all of Japan. In fact they are also the top consumers of pork also. Research shows that healthy cells also require some fat, and Okinawans prepare their pork in such a way that it enhances health, rather than diminishing it. They boil the fresh pork for about a half-hour to remove much of the fat before using it to prepare a traditional Okinawan pork dish.
Rafute, or glazed pork, is a popular Okinawan pork dish that is made with sugar, shoyu and liquor. The preparation actually allows the rafute could keep for several days without spoiling, which was extremely useful to the Okinawans in the days before the invention of refrigeration. Its ability to keep made it was an ideal dish for Okinawa’s subtropical climate.
Traditional Shuri court cooking grew out of Okinawa’s trade and diplomatic relations with China. In order to entertain the Chinese investment in trade, the Ryukyu government sent professional court chefs to China to master the art of Chinese cooking so that they could prepare a more palatable cuisine for their honored guests. China’s influence on Okinawan cooking is evident through the Okinawans use of beef and fowl as well as some rich sauces.
Okinawan cookery is distinguished by three unique forms: The foods of the farmers or common people of Okinawa, Naha cooking and Shuri court cooking. To Naha people cooking was considered to be an art and their cuisine was just a notch below the Royal court cuisine of Shuri, the ancient capital of Okinawa.
Okinawa’s reputation for having the longest life spans of any people in Japan is attributed to many things, including the temperate climate here in the southernmost prefecture. More to the center, though, are the combination of Okinawan mindset and diet. An almost stoic acceptance of what life brings, blended with a belief that food is ‘kusiumun’, medicine, leads to the belief that food is ‘nuchigusui’, healthy for life.
Okinawan food is not Japanese food. Aside from embracing rice as a staple, local food is totally different. The Ryukyu Kingdom, the fore-bearer to Okinawa the Japanese prefecture, picked up much of its culinary styles and techniques from China, as well as other Asian trading nations that included Thailand and Korea.
Pork is the cornerstone in Okinawa cuisine, much as beef is with Americans. It has been so since the Chinese introduced it in the 14th century, and Okinawan’s use every single part of the animal in their cooking. Porks abundance of vitamin B1, which purges the body of proteins and cholesterol, is attributed to the long life syndrome achieved by Okinawans.
A couple other traditional pork dishes loved by Okinawans, are tebichi and mimiga. Mimiga is pig ear, sliced into slender strips and eaten as a snack or a salad. The true delicacy is tebichi, a unique dish with pig’s feet being boiled for a long, long time; then slow cooked over a low heat.
Vegetables are a staple in Okinawa cooking. There are some which are not part of western cooking styles, such as mugwort, a medicinal herb, and goya, a bitter melon. Goya is chock filled with vitamin C, and is terribly bitter when eaten raw. Youll find it cooked and served here with scrambled eggs or tuna, giving it a more refined taste.
Fish ranks alongside pork as one of the most popular dishes, w/ chicken coming in third. Okinawa’s fishing fleets bring a vast variety of fish to islands dinner tables. A visit to the Makishi Kousetsu Market, in the Heiwa Dori area of downtown Naha, is an eye opening experience. Its an odds-on bet youve never before seen so many different fish, not to mention other foods.
There’s more to Okinawa cuisine than the everyday dishes. The royal court of yesteryear is preserved by the Okinawan people, and many of the traditional royal dishes are served today. Some, such as boiled salted pork, suchikaa, sea grapes, tofuyo, a cultured tofu, sukugarasu, tofu with salted fish, and kuubu-irichii, a fried kelp. Nakami soup, made from cow entrails, yagijiru, goat stew, and irabu-jiru, sea snake soup, are a little different for the western palate.
Ryukyu Cuisine mixes Japanese and Chinese style cooking w/ tropical nutrients, meat (especially pork) and seafood. Unlike typical Japanese soba with buckwheat noodles, Okinawa soba is made from wheat w/ a soup full of pork nuggets. Other striking local eats to seek are yagijiru (goat stew), irabu-jiru (sea snake stew), irabucha (parrot fish), ika (squid) and its black ink.
Ichouba (fennel, effective as an antitussive and a perspirant in colds, and as a stomachic) is used to take away the smell from fish soup. Choumigusa (long-life grass, effective against paralysis and hypertension and as an antipyretic in colds) is eaten as an accompaniment to sashimi (raw fish) and there are many more examples. The main aim is to build up physical strength to prevent illness, keep ones health, and further longevity through the maintenance and promotion of a healthy lifestyle.
In Okinawa, they have sayings such as, “Eat the entire pig and leave nothing”, and “You can eat every part of a pig apart from its oink”. In other words, a feature of pork cuisine is the clever use of the entire beast, including the pig’s legs and feet, ears, the skin of the face, heart, kidneys, lungs and other organs.
When Sasamori Gisuke, who was born in Aomori Prefecture, visited Okinawa in the twenty-sixth year of the Meiji era, he was full of praise, saying, ‘They say one sort of pig is enough to produce dozens of different marvelous dishes. The delicacy of the pork cuisine here would be enough to shame into silence Westerners who also eat meat as a main dish.’
For anyone interested click ‘view all comments’ to read from the beginning.
@DrSeptember
Thanks for your response. Could you please cite the sources for the quotes you just referenced. I am aware of the modern day studies involving the Okinawan peoples. I am also aware of their many incongruencies and limited conclusions. I will counter if you are able to provide references.
Question: What does John mean by “not experiencing the health level that we feel we should be” ? Is he talking about 1) listening to a single blood test (which has many interpretations too complex to enter into here) by an Nd or MD, or 2) experiencing certain physical ailments or performance decreases, or 3) the way that modern people who are usually carrying more excess fat on their bodies view him?
I have to say I am bemused by the 4 “thumbs down” merely for stating simple scientific fact. Science is science. Humans have a distinct meat-eating history – not some arbitrary opinion!
Ancient human diets are a specialized field of paleoanthropology, and are fairly well understood. Numerous finds of million year old animal bones with toolmarks from hominid habitation sites. Lots of books available out there.
However, I wasn’t saying “We should eat meat because our ancestors clearly did.”
seems he has closed his mind to veganism
personally speaking I am not 100% raw vegan but the more raw vegan I am over a period of days the better i feel.
humans have a meat eating history, but history is not evolution and a few insects in our diet does not make us meat eaters