Thing: Raw food

Place: Caffe Dei

Includes: Veggies

Not: Animals

Nor: Sushi (darn)

Mainly: Vegan

Must try: Kale chips

Tasty: Yes

Healthy: Yes

Friendly: Yes

I am: One of those three things

Which one: You guess

Every once in a while this ol' liver of mine screams for a good detox, so I put down my beer and fulfill my body's requests. My favorite detox is an easy fruit/veggie cleanse, which leaves me full of energy and able to float back and forth on the great swing of life. I can easily add grains and beans after a good week-long cleanse without causing too much intestinal distress. 

About every six months, for one solid week, I have no meat, no oils, no dairy and ... wait for it ... no alcohol.

Stop laughing! I swear I'm not making this up.

What I've found is I can still dine out with friends at Caffe Dei during this profound "week of loose bowels" without coming off to the general public like a pretentious tree-hugger. By the way, my BBQ-loving Texan dad would have pulled out a shotgun had he ever heard me admit to any of this nonsense. (May he rest in peace.)

Leave it to Caffe Dei co-owners Shuanna Holt and Shane Siegfried to construct a delicious, multi-dimensional, nutritional and completely raw menu for all of Tacoma and myself to have a healthy nosh-mosh.

(Dang, I just made up the phrase "nosh-mosh." It's like a seriously fun mosh pit of food-noshing, get it? You may hate it now, but you'll be dreaming of a good nosh-mosh later.)

Holt has even designed a raw "un-cooking" class held in the kitchen of Caffe Dei. In order to abide by the laws of raw eating, food is not cooked, but instead dehydrated. Raw vegetables are manipulated via spiralizers and dehydrators to resemble many of this nation's favorite foods, like pasta, tortillas, burgers, chips and cheese spreads. The deliciousness is absolutely amazing, leaving most veggie naysayers stunned that something so yummy can be so good for you.

For $35 per person, per hour (plus the cost of food), you and your friends can take one of Holt's un-cooking classes right there in Caffe Dei's back kitchen.

Tell Shuanna I sent you. You won't get anything free out of it, but you should go ahead and say it anyway. Makes me look cool.

[Caffe Dei, 2607 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2550]