Lauren and Kate
I had the pleasure of meeting Kate Magic over a lime blossom and peppermint tea before she jetted off to Geneva for her next workshop appointment.
Kate Magic, formerly known as Kate Wood, is the author of the bestselling raw food recipe books Rawliving, Eat smart, Eat raw and Raw Magic. She is one of the UK’s leading raw food experts and one of the most popular raw food personalities in the world.
She has been following a raw diet for over 26 years, gave birth to three sons and has been giving talks on healthy eating ever since. She owns the Rawliving company, which offers information on raw food and an online store. In the meantime, she has developed/created an extensive collection of chocolate bars, cakes and other raw food products.
L: Why Kate Magic?
KM: It’s my real name on my passport.
It is easy to change your name in your passport in England.
As a teenager my name was Polly and my nickname was Magic Polly, later I was married and then divorced and didn’t want to keep my name: I went back to the name Magic.
There’s a lot to say about this, but I think it’s most important to get the magic out into the world, because magic is what we are made of, magic is what the universe is made of.
Just the fact that we’re sitting here talking is magic, having these ideas in my head and being able to form the thoughts into a word, communicate with you, you see, that’s magic!
L: So your tattoo on your decollete with the diamond also has something to do with magic?
KM: It’s my diamond heart, my pure heart.
L: Your website says: “How personal growth contributes to the bigger picture of life/ the revolution that is so urgently needed at this time.”
What exactly do you mean by that?
KM: One of my most important messages is: “be the change, be the change in the world”
Be the change! People have so much potential, people are the most fascinating thing of all and there is so much in us.
But we don’t use our full potential, our potential is suppressed, we really only live a fragment of what we could live.
We could do so much more, we could create so many beautiful things, so many wonderful things.
Our lives could be so much more fantastic and great. And we are now at this point in the human revolution where we are ready to do more, to live up to our potential.
But it takes a lot to make that happen.
There is so much unnecessary suffering in this world and so much unnecessary poverty and pain: it simply doesn’t need to be the way it is now.
You often think you have to get angry, you have to protest, you have to be sad, you have to make a drama out of things.
But I think if you really look closely: everything is a reflection of what happens inside of you and change always happens inside of you first and if we change our attitude first, then we change the whole world, we change the view of our world.
Then we can give our own special “unique ability” to the world and make the world a better place in this way. There is so much to change instead of getting angry about it.
Otherwise this is just a “contribution to negativity.”
I think everyone starts with themselves.
There is so much “positivity” we can create, the more we do it, the more we create the world we want to live in, instead of being angry that the world is not the way we want it to be. There is so much we can do to make this planet a better place: Why not start today?
L: Do you like Switzerland?
KM: “I love switzerland, i relly love it. they have the best air, i love the air.”, I love the architecture, I travel a lot and the cities I visit are always like too overrated..But Switzerland is like the image you have!
The pretty houses…When you go into the country you have all the cows with the bells on, it’s “relly lovley”, people are so “lovley” in Switzerland, I think you are the most polite people out of the Sich in general “in the posspectiv like generly polite, respect full” for example, when I arrived here at the main station and I was looking around lost, this woman can help me, ask me where I want to go! In many countries people just stress past you, but everyone here is “very consideret, maby thats that considered!”
L:What kind of sport do you do?
KM: I have been practicing Bikram Yoga for two years
L: You advertised a retreat on your website in December 2012, which took place in Thailand with yoga and raw cooking classes, as well as dancing: Tell me more about it!
KM: As part of a retreat we taught raw food, practiced Ahstanga yoga and danced.
as an improvised fun dance workshop with the yoga teacher, who is also a professional dancer
It was really “amasing dance, and very inspiring”!
L: Can you make a living from teaching?
It goes in that direction, I mean I have several side businesses: “the bubbel, the magic bubbel,” I have my books, I have my website where we sell all the products (Raw Magic), and I have the events and workshops, as well as these retreats.
L: It is certainly good to have different channels where some money comes in, if something goes a little worse you can still concentrate on the other projects.
KM: Yes, I think in this multimedia time, you have to have a presence in different areas: Not only online- where some people are, then you miss the people in real life outside.
That’s why you have the world of books, I think it’s good to get people where they want to get the information.
L: You are a sought-after woman and travel all over the world to pass on your knowledge, what is your attitude to your carbon footprint?
KM:I try to take the trains where I can, I travel a lot by train! I love to travel by train, I now take the train from Zurich to Geneva, if there is a possibility to travel on tracks I always take the train, next month I am going to America and will take the train from NYC to LA. With a little stop in Chiccago;-)
A “trainjourney” makes you really happy: it’s like my little office, I can focus, concentrate, I love to see where I’m going, I can see the country, the landscape. That would be my first commitment to a better carbon footprint, plus I never traveled my whole life until 3 years ago, I’d never been over the border of England before that, so I’ve only just started traveling-so if you look at it in comparison/balance with your whole life, my 3 years are certainly quite “everich-coolup” and thirdly, you just do what you can: it’s the nature of the world we live in, you can’t choose the lifestyle you want to live sometimes. There are so many things set up that don’t make it easy for you to be sustainable. But I’m overconfident that in the future, in the next few generations, we’ll find ways to make flying less destructive to the environment than it is today, and we’ll find things that are more realistic and make more sense than they do now.
L:Do you drink alcohol sometimes?
KM:No none.
L:When was the last time you drank and was it champagne?
KM: It was probably champagne;-)
Kate Magic pauses and has to think for a long time…
KM: To be honest, I can’t remember when.
L: It seems like a long time ago! You became a vegan over 20 years ago? And fully raw?
KM: I became vegan in 89, but without knowing it I was already almost “raw,” I reminded myself to be at least 50% raw, I just didn’t know that it was called raw food, then in 1993 I decided to live fully raw.
L: And in all these two years you also gave birth to healthy children!
KM:Gneua, there are three of them aged 9, 12 and 15!
L: where, how old are you?
KM:I am 42 years old
L: Wow, I thought you were my age, 11 years younger! Your children live in London and also only eat raw food, how does that work with school and the social environment?
Km: J we all live in Briton and the children are “homeducadet”
L: How do you handle eating Rph in winter when it’s so cold and what do you mean by that?
Eating raw food warm?
Km: Technically speaking, rRaw is still raw when heated up to 42 degrees. The point is the enzymes in it and the vitality of the food, which is not destroyed up to this Celsius degree. When food is heated above this temperature, it loses a large proportion of its enzymes, vitamins, etc.4
However, 2 degrees is really very warm, a little more than our body temperature even!
When it is below this temperature it feels cold, when it is above this temperature it starts to burn.
So if we listen carefully to our body, this is the exact temperature we like our food at when we put it in our mouth. I don’t think it’s healthy to eat cold food in our winter European climate. We have very long and dark winters and it’s just not practical to eat cold food: We heat a lot of soups, sauces, for example, if you’re on a transition to raw food and eating half cooked half raw you can’t eat your
Top the cooked hot potatoes or rice with a raw sauce to cool the dish down a little.
But yes I think when people just eat mostly cold food the pPtta *starts to interrupt the eEnergy.
L:Okey and when you say “raw food” in winter do you mean food that is up to 42 degrees from the Dehidratour (a kind of dehydrator that doesn’t get warmer than 42 degrees) or Vitamix?
KM: Yes, you can do it in different ways, you can heat water and then add it to the soup or with the Thermamix, which is not available in Switzerland (but can be ordered online) so you can set your food temperature exactly.
You can find more ideas on how to enjoy raw food in winter here on Kate’s Winter warmer Recip Ideas, have fun!
L:Dearest Kate Magic, thank you very much for the interview and I wish you a relaxed and pleasant train journey to Geneva vegan kitchen!
KM: Thank you too and see you next time here in beautiful Zurich!
Click here for the Kate Magic Rawliving Project
Recipes and the possibility of a raw food consultation subscription from Kate Magic herself!
Video interviews Kate Magic herself has made with people from the raw scene right here.
*Pitta=ENERGY in Aryuvedic medicine:
Activity and movement need energy. This is provided by Pitta. Pitta forms the basis for the activity of the digestive system and the entire metabolism. It is responsible for the intellect and controls the emotions. In the body, Pitta is located in the center, the heart, the lower part of the stomach as well as in the liver, gall bladder, spleen and small intestine.
In nature, pitta is associated with the elements fire and water.
Kate mAgic has given us another delicious recipe for the blog:
*Magic Mushrooms
. by Kate Magic
Serves two Takes two hours to marinate & two hours to dehydrate You need a dehydrator to make these
In the cold weather, it’s impotant to eat warm food. Treats like these straight out the dehydrator help keep your inner fire burning when the temperatures outside are threatening to put it out.
– 500 g (1 lb) Portobello mushrooms
– 1/2 cup olive oil
– 2 tbsp tamari
– 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
– 2 cloves garlic
– 2 tbsp Seagreens
– 1/4 cup hulled hemp
Slice the mushrooms into fat pieces, about an inch (2-3 cm) thick. Blend the olive oil, tamari, vinegar and garlic together until the garlic is completely broken up and there are no lumps left. Put the mushrooms in a large serving dish, and pour the marinade over the mushrooms. Mix together with your hands or with a fork, so the mushrooms are evenly coated. Add the Seagreens and hemp and make sure they are evenly dispersed as well.
Leave for 2-4 hours, tossing regularly to ensure an even marinade. When you’re ready, pop them in the dehydrator – they’ll have shrunk down considerably and should cover one sheet.
Dry for 2 or 3 hours, and serve warm. Chop them up and add them to salads, or serve the strips whole as a side dish.
More recipes from kate magic here