Daily Egyptian Summer05 Edition
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Laura Teegarden
Daily Egyptian
To most, Saturday Night Live is the late night TV comedy show on NBC; however, Carbondale has a different Saturday Night Live, in the form of a monthly raw or live food potluck dinner.
Treesong, the event's organizer who has adopted the strict raw food diet, decided on the name of the event because he thought the pun was amusing.
"I think it conveys some of the good humor," Treesong said. "A lot of people who explore new diets get very serious about it. Really it's better to come out and have fun and enjoy good food together."
A raw or live food diet is strictly eating uncooked and unprocessed foods, such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and juices. The terms raw and live can be used interchangeably.
"There are a lot of benefits in terms of raw foods [which] still have all the enzymes active in them and they don't have a lot of chemicals that are created when you cook foods," Treesong said.
The plates at Saturday Night Live teemed with various greens, fresh picked blueberries and other vegetables, like broccoli.
Ryan Campell, a senior from Batavia studying plant biology, who came to the event for the first time Saturday evening, said he enjoyed the food.
"I know it's good food," Campbell said. "It's healthy."
Though the dinner mostly consists of salad, there are various ways to spice it up, Treesong said.
"It's not just an iceberg lettuce with some carrots thrown in salad," he said. "It's more, usually a few different kinds of greens and a homemade dressing with olive oil and lemon juice and a few veggies on top."
For instance, Treesong added a unique ingredient to his salad at the potluck- hemp seeds.
"They have a lot good nutritional properties and good taste, but they're not widely understood because people associate hemp with marijuana," he said. "But I just think it's good food."
Saturday Night Live takes place one Saturday a month at 6 p.m. at the Interfaith Center in Carbondale.
"The whole idea is to promote and provide support for people interested in a raw foods or live foods diet," Treesong said.
He encourages those who aren't experienced with the diet but are interested to attend the potluck to learn more.
"Of course you don't have to be a raw foodist to come," he said. "Even if you've never talked to a raw foodist or tried a specifically raw dish, you can come to meet the people or learn about these foods."
In fact, the other three people in attendance at the potluck did not consider themselves to be raw foodists.
John Arnold, a senior from Rock Island studying plant and soil science, is not on the raw food diet but is making steps to eat more raw foods.
"I don't think I have the will power to do the full diet," he said. "I'm really interested in learning more about it."
Aur Beck, a resident of Pomona, said that the food served at the potluck is pretty much what he eats daily, but he comes for the lively people.
"I know if I don't eat what I call roughage every three days, I get sick," Beck said.
Treesong adopted the raw food diet four years ago, inspired by his friend who tried it and experienced various health benefits.
"I had a friend who had tried it and he got more energy, he lost some of his allergies and he lost a lot of weight in a healthy way," he said. "Sort of seeing his example got me curious, and then I looked into it myself."
Treesong said the diet has helped him with immune system problems, blood sugar issues, low energy and the depression that he suffered from before the diet.
"I feel a lot more energetic now, and a lot more happy," Treesong said.
He admits that adopting the diet fully was hard, but he doesn't miss the foods he used to eat as much as he thought he would.
"I think the hardest part for me has been just finding the foods that I can eat and finding what my new favorite foods are," Treesong said.
Another initial difficulty of the diet was learning how to prepare the food and finding replacement foods, Treesong said. He makes his own version of pizza with nuts and seeds for the crust, sun-dried tomatoes for the sauce and vegetables on top.
"I used to eat pizza a lot, so having something with a similar tomato sauce and bread really helped."
An interesting aspect of the diet has been discovering new foods, Treesong said.
"Growing up I ate the standard American diet, but since then, I've learned about all sorts of exotic foods," he said.
One such food that he has discovered recently is the locally grown paw paw.
"It tastes somewhere between maybe a mango and a banana," Treesong said. "You would think it was a tropical fruit, but it grows in the Shawnee Forest."
He said following the raw food diet would be easier in cities like L.A. or New York, where there are hundreds of raw foodists and even restaurants specifically for those who follow a raw food diet.
"I like staying here in Southern Illinois though because I feel like it's more productive here," Treesong said. "Like holding a raw food center here, there may only be a few dozen people with a strong interest in the community but this may be the only place in all of Southern Illinois where they can go to a raw foods dinner."
Reporter Laura Teegarden can be reached at laura_teegarden@dailyegyptian.com
The Daily Egyptian, the student-run newspaper of SIUC, is committed to being a trusted source of information, commentary and public discourse while helping readers understand the issues affecting their lives.
The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester. The Pulse, Carbondale Entertainment Guide, is published once a week on Thursday.Last update: Monday, August 1, 2005 at 6:56:42 PM
Copyright 2009 Daily Egyptian Summer05 Edition