As raw vegan dieting moves from the fringe to the mainstream (no doubt inspired by the arrival of bathing suit season) we test dishes from two of T.O.’s signature raw food restaurants to find out if they’re really as healthy as they seem.

LIVE ORGANIC FOOD BAR
Raw Pizza

You’d think that ditching the cheese, pepperoni and deep-dish crust (i.e., all the good stuff) would slice a few calories from your pie, but this raw vegan pizza still boasts 57 grams of fat and a whopping 99 per cent of the recommended sodium intake.

RAWLICIOUS
Special Pasta Bolognese

Bad news: even when you make spaghetti Bolognese with zucchini noodles and a nut-and-seed blend in place of ground beef, it’s still not the healthiest dinner option. This raw version contains so much fat you might as well go for the real deal.

TEST PARAMETERS: Results relate only to the items tested. A standard margin of error applies for each item. *DAILY VALUE PERCENTAGES: Health Canada uses a 2,000-calorie diet as the benchmark for nutritional labelling, and so did we. Subsequent values for total fat and carbohydrates are derived as a percentage of that diet.