Find out which leading hotel chain has launched a Raw Bar as part of its regular breakfast offering.

Heritage Auckland is the first hotel in New Zealand to offer its guests the choice of a Raw Bar alongside its regular breakfast buffet.

Natural unprocessed and uncooked plant foods are the key component for the raw diet.  Nothing is cooked above 40 degrees Celsius as doing so can destroy enzymes in food that are believed to assist in the digestion and absorption process. Cooking can also diminish the nutritional value of food. Swiss physician Dr Maximillian Bircher-Benner kicked off the trend in the mid-80s by providing raw food to his patients as part of their treatment.

Heritage Auckland general manager Graeme Back said, “We had observed the international trend towards more conscious cuisine in 2010 and saw a great fit with our own philosophies. As an Enviro Gold hotel we embraced the sustainability benefits of plant based meals whilst at the same time assisting our guests with their healthy goals through providing low fat and nutritious meals”.

Executive chef Jinu Abraham said, “We have used a number of techniques such as preserving, pickling, compression, dehydration and sprouting to enhance the flavours of the ingredients.  We have sourced raw virgin oils such as olive and coconut. We use raw agave nectar, lucuma (Amazonian sweet fruit), coconut nectar and occasionally stevia for sweeteners.

“Salt when used is Marlborough sea salt and raw coconut aminos are used instead of soy.  We sprout and grow our own grains and seeds which are used in a number of dishes.  Even the oats we use for our bircher muesli are unsteamed and raw”.

The Raw Bar is included as part of the continental and full buffet breakfast in Heritage Auckland’s Hectors restaurant.