1. Where are you from originally?
~ Saigon, Vietnam I came to the USA at age 4 and love America so much I wanted to be the most positive, healing loving person possible. At first I became a Vegetarian Chef at age 12 then volunteered at Yoga Centers around the World as a Vegetarian Chef. This is where I got the most experience in the kitchen as
I meditated, did Yoga and learned about people, our planet and life. During my spiritual travels I encountered Raw Organic Food about 10 years ago and it changed my life and spiritual path forever in the best ways possible!
2. How were you brought up as far as food is concerned?
~ Vietnamese food is primarily vegetarian and little meat to begin with mostly noodles, herbs, lettuce, rice.
Also becoming Vegetarian in Asian Cultures is seen as a sign of progress in a spiritual way and is actually encouraged. My Mom also talked about the laws of Karma and not harming animals or living beings so becoming vegetarian made perfect sense to me and also improved my health a lot. I was getting very fat and a big gut at age 12! Becoming vegetarian, then vegan then raw organic vegan has made me so happy and healthy in wonderful ways. I am now 38 but I look and feel like 28 for example!
3. Are there fruit or veggies there that are not here in the United States?
~ Yes during my travels around the World I have discovered so many exotic fruits and veggies out there wow! Some of my favorites are rambutan, longan, lychee, jack fruit, durian, some of these are not becoming available and very popular in the USA but it is hard to get them fresh off the tree. There are also many exotic fruits and vegetables all around the World that I have not seen or tried yet but would love to someday. I read a story on a airplane once about a farmer on Oahu, Hawaii where his job was literally to travel the world and find the most rare, exotic fruits and vegetables and he would grow them organically on the East side of Oahu in Hawaii and sell them to tourists and local restaurants, I thought to myself WOW what an amazing story, job and lifestyle I would totally love to do that too!
4. What is your favorite food?
~ I am a real foodie and I think Chefs are very into food. So it is challenging to choose just one favorite foods or recipe. I can share that I really love anything that is Raw Organic Vegan, Gourmet, Fresh, Locally Grown, healthy, Eco and Green. I interviewed a Celebrity in Hollywood and he said "If it is green...you can never go wrong with Green!" I have to agree with that! (LAUGHS).
5. Was/is there a food you had to give up that really challenged you?
~ At first giving up cow meat was easy, giving up chicken and fish was very hard but then became easy. The health benefits, my energy and joy made it easy but we are used to certain foods that we grew up with or think we enjoy but the suffering, anti-eco and environmental disaster that it causes makes it unappetizing and not healthy for me and more people are realizing this as there are wonderful movements like http://www.MeatLessMonday.com and other organizations that are helping get the truth out there and I am joining forces with them too.
6. What/who sparked you to get interested in raw food lifestyle?
~ I would say it was during my travel and volunteering at Paradise Island in the Bahamas 10 years ago is when I first encountered and met RAW Foodists and that they first taught me everything. But then it seemed like my path and destiny because soon I kept meeting more and more raw foodists, chefs and heard more stories without even trying it was all coming into my life at that time. Then I also fell in love with my college sweet heart and she was really into RAW Food and got me into it even more as well. Then I met Alicia Silverstone through some friends and she also taught me even more about RAW Food, lifestyle and benefits of it. Then I worked for Gabriel Cousens MD who I look up and consider to be the #1 Raw Food Expert in the World all my recipes are based on his books, research and recommendations. So I have been very lucky to meet so many amazing people and teachers but again it seemed like it was meant to be for me. So many raw food stories and events happened to me that confirms this and RAW has saved my life, provided a great career, lifestyle, friendships, love, travel, and now success with my $2 Eco Chef App for the iPhone, iPod and iPad. Although my best selling RAW IN TEN MINUTES recipe books and DVDs available on Amazon.com were doing well I have to say that my Eco Chef App really opened up the doors for me in terms of reaching out to the masses, National and International Community. Which has been my goal all along was to make RAW ORGANIC CUISINE the next major diet, media food trend and eco green lifestyle and now it is finally happening and I am so happy because the effects and benefits will be so positive and amazing!
7. Give us some delicious details behind "Raw in Ten" and the classes you offer.
~ I would love to! Well RAW IN TEN MINUTES is my best selling raw organic recipe book that I self published in 2005, it is doing very well on Amazon.com still today and I have other editions in full color as well and instructional DVDs. People really enjoy the totally new raw organic recipes I invented and techniques because I made something that was difficult and challening into something very easy, quick, fun and delicious for everyone. The classes I teach and offer are very fun as well and I was lucky enough to be able to travel around the World to teach people in many different places. We all have a great time and my prices vary depending on location, amount of people and so on please e-mail me at rawbryan@hotmail.com for me to lecture, teach, do booksigngings and so on.
8. I really want to know more about your APP.
~ Thank you my Eco Chef App is amazing! I worked with The App Company which is the BEST app developers and company in the business. They were already into Raw Organic Food so it made it very fun and easy for me to work with them, they are very nice and they recognized that my recipes are truly fun and unique so we decided to make my Eco Chef App and it has been very successful here are the reviews and more info, everyone and the major media love it so I am so happy:
Most recently my Eco Chef App became available for the iPhone, iPod, iPad on June 22, 2010 and it instantly became #4 on iTunes APP Store with all 5 Star Ratings and Reviews and was in the TOP FIVE AND TOP TEN LIST Apple even chose to feature it in the presitigious WHAT'S HOT front page of iTunes APP STORE where it still is today. Soon they will add it to the exclusive APPS for Foodies section where only a handful of Chef Apps and recipe apps are chosen to be in:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/
"the recipes pictured on Au's website look seriously tasty."- Treehugger.com
"Celebrity Chef Bryan Au's widly popular $2 Eco Chef 10 Minute Meals app has become the king of the crop." - Ecorazzi.com
Handy and mobile, visually stunning and extremely helpful, Eco Chef 10 Minute Meals with Bryan Au is a great deal at $1.99. Much cheaper than the latest organic food recipe book and versatile too, this app will be on the must have list for many."- OrganicSoul.org
9. What are some ways to add more raw food to our eating regimen? Give us an example of creating a raw dinner that was a comfort food.
~ That is easy I have a RAW Organic Version for anything and everything so just pick what you would like to have from Lasagna, Pizza, Soup, Chocolate even Mango "Cheesecake" I have it all and I have it RAW! If you want something and I don't have a raw recipe for it I will even invent one for you!
10. I went to your website and saw the ceramic knives? What's so special about ceramic knives?
~ My RAW STAR Ceramic Knives are incredible and I consider them to be the BEST KNIVES in the World! The reason is they never rust, they actually keep your food fresher longer so it saves you money and mine are the only Eco Luxurious Bamboo handled ceramic knives available in the World so they are the most eco green saving the environment as well which is a very important topic these days and for good reason. My RAW STAR Ceramic Knives are also the best bargain priced they should really be $200 or $300 each just like Kyocera's Black Ceramic Knives with Wooden handles their 6" and 7" is $200 and $300 each but I wanted people to be able to afford them and have access to the benefits so I kept mine as low priced as possible starting at $25 for the 4" RAW STAR Ceramic Paring Knife and my 6" and 7" are $60 and $70 each and I have the World's ONLY 8" Black Ceramic Knife with Wooden Handle no other ceramic knife company even offers a 8" Ceramic Knife making mine special and unique. Again they should be a lot more but people recognize that I am trying to empower them and save their health, save them money and save the environment so they are very supportive of what I do and they are getting rewarded for it as well. For every product that I sell or that people buy from me a new tree is planted as well! People can make their purchase on my main website http://www.EcoChefApp.com the online store is at the very top I truly believe everyone should have at least one of my RAW STAR Ceramic Knives if not the entire set!
11. How did you get the title of "celebrity chef"?
~ This came about after having many Celebrity Hollywood Clients but also from being on TV, having a best selling recipe book, DVDs and now my own App I suppose qualifies me to be a "Celebrity Chef" I think being on TV and having my own Eco Chef TV Show made that came to be. I have been on the Tyra Banks TV Show, I had my own National RAW Infomercial and many other major TV Appearances as well as movies and music videos and I am now working on my new CD Album as well which will be available soon I am singing about being healthy, eco, green, raw and organic. Further proof that Raw Food really does tap you into abilties and hidden talents that you may not know you had!
12. We hear the "organic" thrown around. What is organic food so important or is it?
~ It really is and I have had people argue with me over this but I know better! Organic food is worth the extra cost but with some fruits and vegetables like bananas they are about the same price now anyway! BUT organic is so superior, all natural and healthy for you and the environment because it is certified to not have any chemical pesticides or fertilizers, the workers are protected the soil had to be very pure and clean for at least 3 years, the water is tested to be clean and pure and it is not GMO or genetically modified which is super important. By supporting Organic Farmers and Farming you are getting the most pure, fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables possible by people that actually care about your health and the environment and are actively protecting it too. It actually costs them more to grow organic and it is more difficult so you can see it is a labor of love for them to do this for us so they should be supported and should be paid more as it costs more and is harder than spraying everything with toxic chemicals! Besides that eating inorganic food will change your DNA since you are eating GMO foods which had dna spliced into it from fish or mosquitos or other things. A story to illustrate how important it really is: there was a starving nation in Africa some years ago and the USA offered to donate tons of inorganic GMO Corn to feed the hungry people but they knew it was GMO and that if they ate it it would alter their DNA and make them mutate and damage future generations of people so they chose to starve rather than accept tons of free inorganic GMO Corn. There are so many reasons to only buy and eat locally grown seasonal organic food. If you are really worried about cost or saving money you can also grow your own food in pots, in your yard, but the real savings is avoiding cancer, diabetes, disease, being sick, doctor and hospital bills people who eat $.99 burgers, drink coffee, inorganic food have to look forward to that and they think now that they are saving time and money but when they get sick they will wish they did not consume all these things over the years and the organic consumer will be healthy and vibrant, anti-age and will truly be saving money and their health as well as the environment so it is much better to choose organic food always. I have seen and talked to many people and seen what happens in the future other people do not get to see or realize this so they just go on their merry way and other people are not even aware they don't even know what they are eating or buying is bad they just think it is food and something to eat when they are hungry so education and awareness is VERY IMPORTANT TOO! So thank you Glenda for asking these important questions and for doing this!
~ RAW food is 100% Organic, Vegan, delicious, healthy, not cooked, amazing! Give it a try you will love it!
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