August 2, 2011
(last updated February 22, 2024) 
Have you heard of Julie Morris? If you haven’t yet, you should make a point of getting to know her. She’s one of the most talented, innovative, and charming personalities in the business, and by “business,” I mean the world of men and women who love to talk about—and to prepare—whole, plant-based, semi-raw food. Julie’s recipes epitomize everything I love about food: they’re healthy, flavorful, and simple. The flavors are vibrant, but light and bright. And they combine an intense interest in health science with an epicurean’s love of the sensual pleasures of eating.
I got to know Julie about a year ago, all via email, and we quickly established that, if we weren’t separated by the US mainland (she’s LA-based) we’d probably be spending a lot of our time together. As it is, she’s one of my funniest and most effusive penpals. When I learned that Julie was at work on a book about superfoods, I was both excited and conflicted. On the one hand, I’d read anything this woman wrote. On the other, I spend a lot of time debunking the idea of an elite and magical class of food labeled as “super.” (See this post for a summary of my thoughts on the idea of a “superfood.”)
Additionally, it’s hard to spend any time in raw circles without growing weary of the obsession with exotic South American berries and mysterious powdered blends of…stuff. Because the term “superfood” is unregulated, it’s hard to know which claims are bogus and which aren’t, how subjective the criteria of food manufacturers are, and whether these foods are really “super” at all. To me, it’s always seemed as though most superfoods are simply food that are on the healthier side, dressed up and priced as if they’re poised to perform miracles.
Julie Morris has singlehandedly changed my mind. Her new book, Superfood Cuisine, is probably the single best resource out there for anyone who’s curious about superfoods, but also allergic, as I am, to unscrupulous scientific claims. She’s researched the benefits of superfoods meticulously, and she writes about them with the enthusiasm of a nutrition nerd (which I’m guessing all of us here at CR are) and the rationality of an educated consumer. Her approach to superfoods, in the end, isn’t the typical raw foodist extremist’s position that, if we reduce our food intake to these foods and these foods only, we’ll live to be 219, but rather that adding superfoods in small quantities to our everyday cooking can only enhance the health benefits of what we make. That’s Superfood Cuisine in a nutshell: use superfoods not as a replacement for regular food, but rather as supplementary parts of an already sumptuous and flavorful diet.
To help you along, Julie has teamed up with Navitas Naturals—my own personal favorite source of cacao nibs, chia seeds, hemp seeds, lucuma, and cacao powder—to make an entire book’s worth of delicious soups, spreads, grain bowls, salads, desserts, and mouth-watering photos to match. And I’m giving a copy away to one of my readers.
Along with a bag of my favorite Navitas trail mix: goji berries, cacao, and raw cashews:
I’ll go ahead and call this an essential giveaway for anyone who’s curious about the health properties of such things as maca, mesquite, or mulberries, all of which I tried for the first time (and loved!) thanks to Julie:
Am I a little biased here? Sure. I helped to edit the book. But I wouldn’t have helped out with it had not read it and loved it. I don’t change my mind easily about things, and it says a lot about the power of Julie’s voice (and food!) that I have totally reconsidered how I feel about superfood.
In her acknowledgments, Julie says: “To Gena Hamshaw, for all the articulate feedback and premium supply of sass.”
Sass? Moi? Anytime, Julie. Anytime.
To win 1 free copy of Superfood Cuisine by Julie Morris, you can:
1) Comment on this post, telling me how you feel about the idea of “superfoods,” and why!
2) Tweet the following: @choosingraw is giving away a free snack & superfood cookbook by @greenjules! Enter to win: https://bit.ly/qbPyvT
3) Like Superfood Cuisine on Facebook.
4) Like Navitas Naturals on Facebook
5) Follow me on Twitter
Please leave a comment for each entry (so if you tweet, comment back to say you did; each of these four entries counts separately).
I’ll announce the winner on Friday, August 12th!
In light of this super giveaway, I’ll be posting my first ever self-entitled “superfood recipe” tomorrow!
xo
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i already follow you on twitter
tweeted about the giveaway
Hi Gena:) I LOVE your blog! I have been following you for a long time, but never commented before. But this time I just had to get my finger out, after reading about the Superfood Cuisine Cookbook. I need to get my hands on it asap, and hope I’ll be the lucky one since I can’t seem to find it through any Norwegian bookstores…
Anywhy, I like and use superfoods like spirulina, chlorella and maca as supplements. I think of the so called superfoods mostly as supplements to my diet because of the price, avilability and a little bit because of the lack of scientific studies/proof of how super they really are (especially when it comes to powders…) But I for example use a lot of chia and hemp seeds in my diet, and of course love raw chocolate:)
I think of superfoods the way I think of vitamins: if our soil weren’t depleted, if I only ate otherwise nutrient dense food, etc. then I wouldn’t need “superfoods.” But right now I’m willing to take all of the extra nutrition bump I can get!
I’ve always been a little suspicious of superfoods because the hype and I tend towards the “everything in moderation” approach. Additionally, most of the frequently hyped superfoods grow only in locations quite remote to where I live. I’m convinced that my own ecosystem also likely provides plenty of superfoods if one looks closely enough. However, one of the benefits of this modern age is that we can import variety from all over the world and I’m interested in the approach you describe presented in this book. Possibly superfoods are best if we do remember moderation in use and to combine them with what we find in our own environment?
I haven’t tried most of the superfoods because it seems like an oversell nowadays. I would give them a try in combination with my regular foods if I knew what to do with them and where to find them though.
I love superfoods, but at the same time I don’t look at what’s classified as superfoods, superfoods. They’ve been consumed over the world for years and are just coming to light the health benefits of eating them and becoming better sourced for getting them. And you can grow these things depending on your climate.
I think superfoods are a cool idea, but right now they don’t really fit into my university budget.
I liked navitas naturals!
I liked Superfood cuisine!
I “liked” Superfood Cuisine on FB!
Hi Gena! I am SUPER excited about the Superfood Cuisine Cookbook! Thank you for mentioning it – didn’t even know it was out there! I’m so excited about it that I don’t know if I can hold off buying it until you announce the winner! But I’ll definitely try! 🙂
I love the idea of incorporating a very WIDE variety of foods into one’s diet in order to get a full spectrum of nutrients. Like some of the other commenters, I have purchased superfood products in the past, like maca and goldenberries. But never really know how to incorporate them into something. So this is awesome!
I like Superfood Cuisine on Facebook. 🙂
I already follow you on Twitter!
I retweeted your contest!
To me, food is food. Some food make me feel good so I eat it. Whereas it’s chia seed, hemp protein powder or a simple tomato, if I like the taste and texture, I’m gonna eat it! I’ve recently discovered mesquite and mulberries at a raw food workshop and I think I’m in love… I hope I can find them in Australia because I’m moving there in two months!!
I followed you on twitter.
I already* liked Navitas on FB.
I retweeted your contest.
I liked Superfood Cuisine on FB.
I liked Choosing Raw on FB.
I likelove the idea of superfoods. A smaller pantry with richer nutritional benefits from providers with sustainable and fair trade ethics…. what is not to like?
I’ve always been a bit wary of the whole “superfood” concept – after seeing so many popup ads for acai berry drinks or whatever, I’m not really sure how much stake to put in that sort of thing. That said, I really appreciate the superfood craze simply for the reason that it introduces me to all sorts of new things that would previously have been inaccessible to me (chia seeds, I’m looking at you!). I’m definitely open to trying stuff like lucuma, mesquite, goji berries, etc – I just don’t want to go broke 😉
I like the idea of foods that are healthy and delicious. Yum!
I love the promises of superfoods, but I find the price too prohibitive to try many at once. I have started adding hemp protein powder to my smoothies, and I love chia seeds in my oatmeal! I try to get in as many as I can without going crazy or broke.
Eating superfoods makes me feel glorious!
It makes me feel great that I’m eating a “superfood,” but I don’t think they’re the cure-all for everything. I also think that the modifier “superfood” is becoming a little overused. I recently saw a banana called a “superfood.” Healthy? Yes. Superfood? Ummm…perhaps not.
I am relatively new to the vegan mostly raw lifestyle and Navitas Chia seeds soaked in organic almond milk and raw honey have a become a staple snack for me! I also add the Goji berries to me green smoothie in the morning, these 2 products are super products to me!
I admit to getting sucked in to buying various ‘superfoods’ but more for culinary experimentation than hoping for any particular gains in health. However they inevitably find their way into my everyday diet because of their nutritional benefits!
I think there definitely are foods which deserve to be called upon as “super” (if my daily dose of maca has anything to say about it) – foods which have unique properties or contain a higher than average concentration of a beneficial nutrient. What I don’t agree with is the fact that we *need* certain superfoods as some people may have us believe, as if we could not get these nutrients elsewhere.
By the way, the term “superfood” is supposed to get regulated so that marketers can’t use it for everything and that is a good thing.
Liked Navitas on FB
Liked superfoods on FB!
Love to eat superfoods and make them tasty for my daughter and husband!
Hi! That books looks awesome! I liked Superfood Cuisine on facebook. 🙂
I already follow you on Twitter
Woot woot! Hope I win!
I already like Navitas on FB!
I liked the Superfood Cuisine page on FB.
I tweeted about the giveaway!
Great giveaway! I love Navitas Naturals, but have not even seen this trail mix yet. I’d love to try it, and of course, I’d love the book, too!
Like you, Gena, I too am skeptical about “superfoods.” I have been curious about certain ones like maca, mesquite, spirulina, goji berries, etc., and I usually end up buying them in small quantities to try them & see how I feel. I LOVE spirulina & I find it gives me a wonderful energy boost when I add it to smoothies, and I like that a lot of its purported “benefits” can actually be measured: its high iron content, high (complete) protein content, and so on. I also love maca. Do I think maca boosts sex drive, regulates thyroid function, or enhances memory? I don’t really know – but I love the way it tastes! So I figure any extra health benefit it may have is just a bonus. I wouldn’t shell out tons of money for it, but when it fits in my grocery budget, I’ll spring for some & enjoy it.
I liked the second Facebook page!
I liked the first Facebook page!
Oh my! I obviously need to learn more about superfoods!
I am new to your website and to superfoods. I love your website…just made your delicious zucchini hummus that my 1 and 4 year old gobbled up. But, superfoods are still a mystery. I have unopened bags of Navitas goji berries and cacao nibs…excitedly bought them and now I don’t know what the heck to do with them. Help?!?!
You asked what we thought about superfoods, right? The honest answer is I’m not quite sure. I would like to know a lot more about them. I do have many in my pantry and fridge and I use them in recipes that call for them, but I can’t say I really know why. Now, maybe if I win the book, I can learn . . . 🙂
I LOVE adding maca to my smoothies!
Oh! And I liked Navitas AND Superfood Cuisine on Facebook! 🙂
I’ve gone back and forth on my opinion of superfoods. When I first became vegan – which coincided with me learning about and eating a lot of raw – I felt like they were absolutely necessary and I went out of my way to add maca and goji berries and spirulina to absolutely everything. But after a while I realized that regular old fruits and vegetables are plenty healthy and delicious without all of these bells and whistles. I feel just as great not eating them every day – but of course have never met a “superfood” I wouldnt enjoy eating!
I liked superfood cuisine on facebook 🙂
Well honestly I am very new to all of this, raw food nutrition and superfoods but it is so amazing!!! I am hoping to get some of the ‘garbage’ food out of my house very soon. I want to properly feed my body.
i think that superfoods are great and should be included in a healthy happy diet along with all the other fruits/veggies/nuts/seeds/etc. they are not however medicine or miracles or for those who want a quick fix! those people have being “healthy” completely wrong all together!
I would like to understand what makes it a superfood.
I love superfoods because they illustrate just how important good nutrition is for a healthy, happy, and sound wellbeing.
i think superfoods can add a little extra zip and zam to an already healthy and well rounded diet. plus they are lots of fun to experiment with! 🙂
i already follow you on twitter. 🙂
i also “liked” navitas naturals on facebook. LOVE their products!
i also liked superfood cuisine on facebook. 🙂
Tweeted the giveaway!
In a burst of enthusiasm I did steps 2, 3, 4 and 5 but I won’t make 4 additional posts if you don’t mind 😉
Everything just tastes better with superfoods! I really like the unique flavour of maca and goji berries. I’m also addicted to raw cacao (don’t know if this is really a good thing though). I have heard about some controversy (toxicity level, addiction and similar effects to drugs…) but honestly I don’t really know what to think. I like it a lot but I will try to moderate.
I am relatively new to the blog, and to the idea of raw and natural eating. I am a “gym rat”, and found it only natural that my habits in the gym accompanied me home and are now being incorporated into my diet.
I used to think of superfoods as those “nutritonal marketing” products claiming higher amounts of nutrients such as fiber, protein, or calcium. However, my perspective has changed and I no longer consider many of those sugar-loaded snacks to be anything close. To me a superfood is a natural food (or very minimally processed) that makes me feel as though my workout continued at home because what I put into my body will benefit me in the gym. Some examples are almonds, beans, and many vegetables.
Great work Gena, keep it up.
I’m like you (or the former you) as I am often intrigued and skeptical of the superfoods. I have tried quite a few, but rarely buy more than once (except Navitas raw cacao… thats a staple!). I would love to read a book that changed your mind about them – thanks for the give-away!
Your stories, reviews, and overall love for wholesome food has opened my eyes in such an amazing way! Thanks for such positive, inspiring posts, they are lovely to read.
I also liked superfood cuisine on fb.
I like the idea of superfoods because even if they aren’t regulated they give people who don’t know a lot about nutrition (and don’t/can’t learn more) an idea of healthy foods to choose.
& I follow you on twitter! 🙂
I like the idea of “superfoods” but I won’t buy into them entirely until it’s a little more regulated (in terms of what can actually be called a superfood) 🙂
I followed you on twitter
I liked navitas naturals on FB 🙂
A lot of people think that superfoods are overhyped and overpriced – but personally I think they’re exciting! Being a new to raw foods I’m still enjoying experimenting and superfoods give me a whole new platform to work with. I don’t think they’re necessary to have a well balanced diet but I don’t see any harm in trying them out – and if they really are “super” then its all the better.
I have to say that I’m both skeptical and curious about superfoods. Some, like chia seeds, seem to have a great nutritional breakdown, so I can see how they are healthy. Others, like lucuma, I’m not so sure about.
There are several “superfoods” I eat that all the time. Like you, I take the word superfood with a grain of salt. I do believe there are some foods that do have lots of extra nutrients and are definately superfoods.
Liked Navitas Naturals on FB
I like the idea of superfoods because I’m always looking to add new and interesting flavors and nutrition boosters to my diet. While I agree that no food on it’s own is a miracle worker, I love the idea of supplementing my day to day diet with foods that not only offer amazing health benefits, but delicious flavor as well!
Liked Suferfoods Cuisine on FB
I use superfoods as a supplement to my mostly raw, all vegan diet to fuel my crazy active lifestyle as a competitive triathlete, CrossFit athlete, medical resident, dog owner, and wife of an uber-cyclist. I LOVE Navitas products and learning about new ways to incorporate them in my diet. *I also tweeted your contest @CHMoriarty
🙂 Charlotte
I LIKE Navitas Naturals, too.
I LIKE Superfoods Cuisine.
The idea of superfoods to me is must include in diet everyday and a book to show me how to do that awesome
Superfoods always sound so great, but I too am a little skeptical of all the hype. That’s why I would love to read this book–real science, real nutrition, and real taste! I am on board!
I follow you on twitter! (and I just got a warning that I was posting comments too quickly – ha!)
I like how the superfoods trend brought attention to some less known healthy, nutrient-rich foods, but I can’t help but feel like it’s also kind of the “new” thing and is being blown out of proportion a bit.
I like Superfood Cuisine with Julie Morris on facebook.
I Like Navitas Naturals on Facebook.
Tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/mgonyeo/statuses/98836871374839808
I think the term Superfood is kind of silly because all healthy foods could be considered super foods, but it doesn’t really bother me either.
I liked Superfood Cuisine on FB too. It’ll be nice to see healthy topics showing up on FB instead of the usual crap that people post.
I tweeted about the giveaway too!
I follow you on Twitter
I don’t really think of ‘superfoods’ as miracle workers. I believe in eating a diet full of varied whole and healthy foods.
I am always trying to improve my diet by replacing lesser foods with ‘super’ foods. I made a big change a year ago after doing an elimination diet, but now it’s just gradual things like using more whole wheat flour and less bleached flour, making more quinoa instead of rice, etc.
The book sounds great – I’m adding it to my wish list.
I like your sass 🙂
I’m on the fence with superfoods, I just don’t know how much of a difference they really make – and how much do you need? How often? Does the book answer those questions?
I’m fairly skeptical about the whole super foods movement. I bought some maca and thought it tasted like medicine (anyone want some maca?). And, generally agree that they’re overpriced and underperforming. Though some are just yummy. Cacao? Yum.
I follow u on twitter.
I like navita naturals on fb 🙂
LOVE superfoods. I love mixing them into smoothies or just adding a few to a bowl of oatmeal. They make me FEEL so much better!
I like superfoods cuisine on fb 🙂
I’m new to the idea of superfoods, but I am always up for trying new things!
I tweeted about the giveaway as well!
I’m a big fan of superfoods – but not as an exclusive diet trend, but as great suggestions to ensure that my diet is well-rounded and that I’m getting the nutrients that I need!
I feel like it’s interesting to sparingly add superfoods to my already healthful eating regime. They taste good (for the most part) and I figure it can’t hurt to include them, but I don’t consider them the end-all-be-all. As in, I don’t believe that eating superfoods will balance out a terrible diet just by their inclusion alone.
Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
I “liked” Navitas on FB
I “like” Julie Morris on FB.
I’ve always been interested in superfoods and firmly believe that certain foods have more healthful qualities than others, not just hype.
follow you on twitter