Within the raw food lifestyle, there are those who eat all food without any wanted heating at all and also those who say that so long as it is not heated above a temperature such as around 40 °C (104 °F) to 46 °C (115 °F) that no discernable deterioration to the food will follow. Perhaps the most popular form of raw foodism is the “raw vegan diet” – however some long term raw foodists such as Paul Nison say that it is better to not be so dogmatic and have gone on to enhance their diet with dairy products etc.. Hence there is a specific division in the raw food movement between on the one side vegans and on the other side those saying that some kind of raw food is acceptable such as dairy products and meat.
The concept of what exactly is raw food is perhaps not so clear – what is apparent, is if for example one looks at the concept of dehydrating that this will normally by necessity damage the food in some way. For instance, if one cuts up and dehydrates an apple, one would expect the food to lose some of its nutritional value, although perhaps less of course than cooking. So, while clearly barbecuing etc., could clearly be said to damage food and in this type of processing, scientists also support that notion, in the case of keeping food under a certain temperature, perhaps it can be said that if possible, fresh is best?
