maker of Rawnola Bars and Cereal. “This suggests that some things
are better left undone. Many subtle qualities are lost during the refining and processing of foods.”
The New Raw Food Consumer: Mainstream, Not Extreme
Today, most of those who buy raw packaged foods are not converts
to the raw food movement committed to a lifetime of eating 100 percent raw food. They are everyday people who are looking for healthier
options. Justin Baumgartner, founder of The Laughing Giraffe Organ-
“B“Boiled peanuts contain, on average, 3. 8 grams of protein…while raw jungle peanuts contain 8. 9 grams of protein along with
higher iron and potassium levels.”
ics, makers of Laughing Giraffe Granola and Snakaroons, sees “more
growth in raw food snacks and superfoods as a supplement to a
cleaner overall diet.”
The Hartman Group recently conducted a study on consumers
who said they had tried a raw foods diet in the past six months and
found that few are strict raw foodists, but many people are increasing
the raw foods in their diet. “Consumers are participating in the raw
foods diet in many different ways. Sometimes it’s a few days of detox-
ing or one meal out of the day to balance out other not so healthy
choices,” says Melissa Abbott, director of culinary insights at Hartman,
the editor of Hartman Salt, a new on-
line food portal, and natural foods
chef. “We also saw many people who
had chronic health problems that
doctors could not figure out coming
to raw foods in an effort to gain con-
trol of their health.”
The Hartman Group developed
the raw foods “language map” below,
which was derived from hours of in-
terviews with consumers around the
subject of “raw.” In this, the dialogue
about raw ranged from “fresh” and
“unprocessed” to food being “spiri-
tual” or part of a “life force”—once
again illustrating the range of ways
people engage in raw foods.
This language map of the word “raw,”developed by the Hartman Group, was derived from
hours of in-depth ethnographic interviews with roughly 50 respondents who participated in
a raw food diet in the past six months.
The First Rule of Raw Foods:
Keep it Simple
One thing you will notice about
on-the-go raw foods is how few ingre-
dients they have. “We provide people
with a simplistic and naturalistic ap-
proach to packaged foods” says Hop-
kins. “Our embrace of simplicity
allows the ingredients to speak for
themselves.”
Food simplicity is becoming a
mainstream idea. Michael Pollan, in
Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, writes,
“Avoid food products that contain
