Crystal Bonnet: Queen of Raw Desserts

Hi! This is Danielle Maupertuis, Vegan Pastry Chef.

In our previous issue, I briefly mentioned a new generation of Vegan, Plant-based, Raw Food Chefs (among them, I am pleased to say, quite a few young women!)

Today, I am delighted to introduce one of the most talented International Raw Food Chefs, Crystal Bonnet. As a Pastry Chef myself, when I first saw pictures of her desserts, I was thrilled by her creativity, her sense of finesse and presentation.

Also, I was impressed by her professionalism in building her online courses.

So Crystal, I am very pleased to share this moment with you and learn a bit more about your journey, experience, challenges.

It was thrilling to travel to design and cater multiple health retreats in Canada and Europe, and when I launched my raw chocolate and dessert business, it was so liberating!

How did this passion for raw food start, was there any specific event, a circumstance that changed everything for you?

In 2013, I was home for over 4 weeks sick and I knew I had to do something about it, my body was not happy with me. As I was researching cleansing, detox and how to heal my body, I came across raw food. I knew about juicing and green smoothies but had no knowledge of raw “cooking.” I knew right then and there this was what my body was missing – fresh fruits and vegetables. I purchased a 21-day raw food cleanse and started right away.

I was not good at cooking and had no desire to learn at all, but when I started making recipes from the 21-day raw food cleanse, I fell in love. I had no idea food could look and taste that good and make me feel so good. I finished the 21 days and stuck with eating a high-raw plant-based diet; I felt the best I ever had in my life.

Two years later, in 2015 I finally decided to take a plant-based culinary course to improve my skills; I had no prior culinary training, and I finally found my passion, doing anything else just didn’t make sense. That’s why I decided to pursue it as a career.

What training have you completed throughout this journey?

My first choice of informal education was Fundamentals of Raw Cuisine through Matthew Kenney Culinary in 2015. I started taking raw chocolate courses just after that because I wanted to dive deeper into making professional quality raw chocolate.

Because I had no prior culinary training, I found video tutorials was the best way of learning for me. Doing courses, I was able to really up level my skills and knowledge about raw cuisine. I recently completed an Advanced Plant-Based Course in London and am still taking advanced courses online. I love learning, and although now I have a lot of experience I can always learn something new from different chefs.

What drew you to creating a business out of your love of raw food?

I started with a chocolate farmer’s market business. I went to Bali in 2017, took a tour of chocolate farms, attended some raw food classes and, when I came back, I felt very frustrated in my job’s office. Something had to change. So, the day I was admitted in the famous Edmonton’s Farmer’s market I quit my job straight away!

While I was doing the markets a lot of people asked me to teach them about raw desserts.

I started to do classes and fell in love with teaching.

What do you love about raw food that keeps you so passionate?

There is just something about raw food, because it’s living, makes you feel alive. Raw food for me looks so much more appetizing than cooked food; the colours are still vibrant and you can create so much texture. When you cook vegetables, they just don’t look the same; I do also cook for myself, very basic such as steaming as I don’t eat a 100% raw diet but about 80% – 90% depending on the season.

Could you give us some advice about how to start a raw diet?

My main advice would be “Start slowly!” If you go for a 100% raw diet straight away, you will have a lot of detoxing and negative effects, you will think “This diet is not for me”.

Start your day with a green smoothie, you will get all the minerals, hydration your body needs.

You now offer an Online Raw Dessert Chef Certification Course.

Tell us about it, what makes this course quite unique?

Raw desserts are very popular and so many people are starting raw dessert businesses, patisseries and bakeries so I wanted to create a course that taught all the skills from basic chocolate to advanced cakes. When I launched my course, it was the scariest thing I had ever done, but it was all worth it. I’ve kept true to myself throughout the entire process and have created something really unique, with live monthly teaching components and a community full of support and people really resonate with that.

I started with a large comprehensive, Certification course where the students can find all the support they need because I knew this was missing in the market. Many students want to start a raw food business or already have their own business. They learn about ingredients, equipment, how to create and write a professional recipe, they have to submit assignments, knowledge assessments, and at the end of the course, they have to come up with 3 raw desserts of their own.

You just launched a new course, “the Nut-free Raw Cake Academy”, I am sure this will arouse the interest of many readers?

Raw food contains a lot of nuts, cashews are widely use in raw desserts. I received a lot of requests about nut-free raw desserts, so I decided this would be my next challenge! Once you know the ingredients, it’s really simple to do. As a next step, I was just asking myself why not create a course with all these recipes? This is how the “Nutfree Raw Cake Academy” started. My hope is people realize plant-based desserts are not only healthier but taste better than traditional ones full of dairy, refined sugar, and gluten. Raw desserts made from whole food ingredients are full of nutrition.

Learn more about Crystal Dawn Culinary by visiting her website:

crystaldawnculinary.com

@crystaldawnculinary

Crystal’s Morning Green Smoothie

www.crystaldawnculinary.com

Mineralizing, hydrating, alkalizing and nutritious green smoothie recipe!

• 1 large handful spinach

• 1 small handful cilantro

• 1 cup almond milk

• 1 fresh banana peeled

• 1/2 cup frozen mango

• 1 lemon peeled

• 1 apple cored and chopped

• 1 thumb ginger peeled

• 1 tbsp mesquite powder or maca

• 1 tsp chlorella powder

• 1 dash ceylon cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS

Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.