One of the questions after today’s class was about the equipment I use to prepare raw food. To get started in raw food, the first kitchen appliance I bought was a high speed blender. I’ve had a vitamix for almost 20 years and recently bought a Blendtec Designer model. It’s the fastest way to add more greens to your diet. Throw some kale or chard (or just about anything green) in with some fruit, hemp milk and frozen bananas and you’ve got a tasty, healthy breakfast. The reason I love the Blendtec is because of it’s sleek design and digital panel. It turns off automatically too. A food processor will help you make pates for wraps and tasty desserts. A couple of my favorites are cashew ginger pate for nori rolls and flourless, dairy-free raw chocolate cake that takes less than 10 minutes to make with a food processor. Since I’m a minimalist I put off buying a dehydrator as long as possible. Once I went to culinary school at Living Light Culinary Arts Institute I learned the many savory chips, pizza crusts and wraps I could make, keeping the produce with as many nutrients and enzymes in tack as possible. If you keep the temperature to 118 or below you have an appliance that efficiently does what your oven can’t do. If you’ve heard people talking about the raw zucchini noodles they make, they’re talking about a spiralizer. The model I have is the Benriner Cook’s Helper. I like it because it sits right on top of the plate and isn’t as large as the horizontal models. It’s good quality and quickly makes noodles out of just about any root vegetable. You might want to think about buying a mandolin to make thin strips of vegetables for living lasagna and dehydrating vegetable chips. As far as knives, you really only need 2. A good chef’s knife and a paring knife. Go to a kitchen store where you can test them out. Try enough of them until you find one that feels good in your hand. A serrated knife is handy to have too, but not essential. To make nut milks, I have the Soyabella machine which eliminates all the boxes and keeps the milk fresh without any preservatives. It also serves as a grinder when I grind up flax seed into powder. It only takes a minute and I feel better knowing it’s completely fresh. Better than buying it as a powder that may go rancid before you use it or perhaps even before you bring it home from the store. Who knows how long it’s been in powder form before you purchase it. Getting the right kind of equipment will speed up your prep time and make raw food a pleasure instead of a pain. To see photos of the equipment go to www.PamelaZiemann.com under the store link.