To Live and Eat in L.A. – A Vegan Food Photo Blog

When the weather’s hot as hell like it’s been here in Los Angeles the past few days, I enjoy light, cool meals. The thought of eating something hot and heavy when the temperature is in the triple digits just doesn’t do it for me. This plate of raw goodness at Flore in Silverlake however, did.

Talk about light and cool… these raw jicama tacos are not only meat free and dairy free, but they’re also wheat free and gluten free. Did I leave anything out? Oh yes, the part about how very delicious they are!

Julianned seasoned jicama, kale, chopped cilantro, raw sunflower seeds, raw cashew cheese and pico de gallo wrapped in green leaf lettuce and served with lime wedges and dehydrated mango slices.

This was unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before, and I loved every last, somewhat sloppy, bite of it. The texture and the seasonings on the jicama mixture was delicious on it’s own, but then you’ve also got the nutty-sweet-creaminess of the cashew cheese underneath, and to add to the multitasking excitement of it all, you can also add a heaping spoonful of the salsa and a generous squirting of lime. The next part of the fun is figuring out how to pick it up and get it in your mouth without looking like a dork and getting food all over yourself, but after a few messy attempts I fell into a good rhythm (and I’m already pretty comfortable with being a dork).

Overall a very tasty raw meal without the pretentiousness and exorbitant prices that I’ve come to associate with raw food. This was raw food that didn’t really need to announce itself as such, instead it was just a refreshingly good plate of food on a ridiculously hot day. Cooked food would have felt like overkill.

As mentioned, another visit to Follow Your Heart presented itself, so for once I opted to have something other than the vegetarian Reuben.

I had the “Organic Tempeh Tacos: Two organically grown, stone ground corn tortilla shells, filled with seasoned, grilled organic tempeh, jack and cheddar cheese (substituted with their excellent vegan cheese), tomatoes and fresh cilantro. Served with Spanish rice, black beans guacamole and lime wedges.” It was good, they managed to give the tempeh a texture that was very similar to ground taco meat. The sides were all tasty too, and this serving like everything else there, was huge.