I was a little shocked to hear one of my favourite raw vegan restaurants in LA shut its doors this month. Leaf Organics wasn’t a five-star dining experience, no doubt. The service got better the more you visited and the interior had worn over time. But the food was always great and of course über healthy. Some of their smoothies were incredible, as were the burgers and wraps (loved the Flying Felafel).

As I Googled to find out the goss behind Leaf’s closure, I read a lot of comments from those who had visited Leaf at least once. Reviews were definitely mixed, but that’s bound to happen, especially when a restaurant is vegan and raw. It’s more than likely that some of the general public just don’t get it and that’s completely understandable. If someone had asked me to eat a mostly raw vegan diet just two years ago, I would have thought they were a touch on the crazy side. My, how things change.

What surprised me the most about some of the comments that referred to Leaf, was the belief that a raw vegan diet is extreme. Now as a mostly raw foodist (although this is only a label I give myself for the purpose of this entry), I’d of course have to beg to differ. But it did get me to wonder how many people out there think of the raw vegan lifestyle as off-the-scale extreme, and what part of raw veganism do they see as extreme? Inquiring minds are keen to know.

If you have any thoughts on, or questions about, the raw vegan diet, feel free to leave them in the comments. Or have your say in the poll below…

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Leaf Organics Culver City store

Main photo by: sweetonveg