Sergei Boutenko, co-author of recently released Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook, is the founder of Harmony Hikes, an organization that coordinates hiking trips to forge for wild edibles. In his new video series entitled Stalking Wild Greens, Sergei helps to identify the most common wild edibles, explains their health benefits, and shows where they grow. He concludes each video by preparing a raw food recipe with the ingredients he has collected. The videos are short, lighthearted, and very informative.
I was fortunate enough to grow up with alternative parents who exposed me to nature at an early age. When I was nine, my family adopted a raw vegan diet to heal us from physical illness. This helped me to understand the value of good health and nature’s ability to providing it.
At the age of 13 I hiked from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail with my family. We initially underestimated how much food five hungry hikers could eat in a week and started running into food shortages. Because it was not very pleasant to hike on any empty stomach we had to find a way to improvise if we were to finish our cross-country adventure.
Our salvation was the realization that nature is full of food if you know where to look. Foraging for wild edibles became out daily ritual. At times we supplemented as much as 60 percent of our diet with plants we found on the trail. We successfully completed our walk in September of 1998, in full health and happiness!
Since then, I’ve hiked in nearly every state, and in 20 countries. I’ve guided and helped guide many expeditions of children, teens, and adults.
After graduating from Southern Oregon University in the summer of 2006 I decided to invest my energy into Harmony Hikes so that I could share my passion for foraging and the outdoors with others.
“Episode 1: Miner’s Lettuce”
“Episode 2: Dandelion”
“Episode 3: Fool’s Onion”
“Episode 4: Wild Strawberry”
“Episode 5: Wild Violet”
Sergei Boutenko began his live-food practice fifteen years ago, when he became seriously ill. Since then, he has seen dramatic improvements in his health and now travels worldwide sharing his gourmet raw cuisine and his inspiring story of change, faith, and determination. Sergei is the co-author of Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook, Raw Family and Eating Without Heating, and has lectured and presented around the world on the benefits and pleasures of the raw foods diet. Together with his father Igor, mother Victoria, and sister Valya, Sergei is a leader in the raw food movement and his works are recognized for their profound impact on the development of raw foods communities throughout the world.
CLICK HERE for more information about Harmony Hikes.
CLICK HERE to order a copy of Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook.
CLICK HERE for more information about the Boutenko Family aka the Raw Family.
June 5, 2008 at 11:43 pm |
I love that Sergei instructs us about ethical harvesting techniques, in the Miner’s Lettuce video. Also,nice applause track!
Thanks for posting this easily digestible set of videos!