I'm a true lover of soups, salads, crackers and just about anything with lots of texture. In the wintertime, everyone always asks me "What do you do to stay raw? Don't you crave hot foods?" I love a good warm soup and during the winter I enjoy them several nights a week. I have collected several favorites here.

In raw cuisine we play with texture, flavor, and appearance. Over-processed foods can easily become soft and mushy. By thoughtfully staging carefully prepared ingredients, the original nature of the raw living food is preserved, and the soup is more exciting.

To make your soups warm, heat them on the stovetop using a thermometer or your finger. I figure if it's not too hot for my finger, it's not over 115°.

When making soup, even traditional recipes, you seldom need to boil the soup. How many times have you done this and then waited for it to cool enough to be eaten? Raw foodists point out that all that heat wipes out valuable nutrients and wastes energy! If you remember to heat soup only to a warm temperature, you can enjoy all the great taste without burning your tongue, while preserving the nutrients, enzymes, anti-oxidants, phytochemicals, and reducing your carbon footprint! High-speed blenders can blend soup until it's too hot. Mind the temperature while blending, as these blenders can have your ingredients steaming before you know it.