Mercy For Animals' Daniel Hauff recently sat down with Chicago restaurant owner Karyn Calabrese of Karyn's Fresh Corner and Karyn’s Cooked for an exclusive interview. Karyn Calabrese, a leader in holistic health, is a nutritional counselor and popular public speaker, having even appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Karyn's Fresh Corner, located at 1901 North Halsted Street in Chicago, is the longest standing raw foods restaurant in the Midwest. "Why raw?" you may ask. While cooking vegetables can make some nutrients more available, such as the lycopene in tomatoes, cooking can also destroy or inactivate certain cancer-fighting enzymes such as alliinase found in garlic and myrosinase found in brocolli. In addition to possible health benefits, eating raw food dishes can also be a refreshing new way to experience different tastes and textures. Raw food dining is taken to new levels as Karyn's offers carefully prepared all-organic gourmet dishes developed by her many years of innovative food preparation experience. The most popular entrees ordered are the Deep Dish Pizza and the Ravioli. For dessert, try the Tiramisu and the Apple Pie. Karyn's Cooked is perfect for anyone who wants the best of both worlds. The most popular entrees ordered include the Lasagna and the Falafel. For those with a sweet tooth, the Double Chocolate Cake, the Chocolate Chip Cookies or the "Cheesecakes" will do more than satisfy.

Please describe your two locations and the differences in menu.

The raw restaurant is my first endeavor owning a restaurant. We actually have the longest standing raw food restaurant in the entire country and I'm extremely proud of that. Education is a big part of what I do. I believe in educating people to eat healthier. So both of my restaurants are vegan, meaning there’s no meat, fish, chicken or dairy involved in either one. In the raw restaurant nothing is cooked. We don’t even have a stove in the kitchen. We just have dehydrators. I believe and I’ve been told that we have the largest extensive raw menu in the country. Not only do I have the sit down dining restaurant bistro, with high end items – things like raviolis that are made with turnips and stuffed with a macadamia nut “cheese,” wild rice stuffed pepper, but I do crepes and other kinds of really fancy food…We have raw ice cream that’s out of this world – no soy, no dairy. Most of the time when people think of raw foods, they think of lettuce and tomato and cucumber. That’s pretty boring…I’ve been a raw foodist for over twenty-five years and I know there is no way I would have been able to maintain it eating tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. I’m passionate about food. I like life. I like colors. I like taste and textures. I’m very proud of my menu. In fact, I’m about to change it in January. I’m adding a “sausage” pizza, of course it won’t be real sausage – it’ll all be raw. We just added a “cheeseburger.” I love to eat, so I make great food. The cooked restaurant I opened a year and a half ago for my husband and for Chicago. I was actually criticized when I first opened it, especially with the raw food community – ‘what are you doing opening cooked foods, you’re supposed to be the raw food, blah, blah, blah.’ But the reality is, very few people are going to go from McDonalds to raw foods and you need a bridge… Plus, I wanted my husband to eat better and my grandchildren, and they weren’t quite ready for an all raw diet. These were all foods that I made at home for them and people just said ‘Oh my God, this tastes like real ribs, real chili.’ By the way, we were voted to have the number one chili in all the city. And so I figured it was something Chicago needed and I put it out there to the universe.

How did you first learn about veganism?

Actually, I didn’t set out to be a vegan. I was very sickly. I had every allergy known to man. I had the worst PMS on the planet. I had terrible skin. Everybody in my family was sickly and dying. I didn’t start out to do this. What happened was, my mother introduced me to carrot juice. So, I started drinking carrot juice. I was getting energy and I started going to the bathroom because I was one of those people who would go to the bathroom once a week. And I thought, ‘woah!’ So, I just started drinking more of it. And I bought a Phoenix Juicer and I was juicing away. And one day I was making chicken soup, and I threw the chicken in and I left it in too long and the bones kinda’ floated over here and I looked at it and I thought ‘what are you doing?’ So, it was like a divine revelation for me, as corny as it sounds. You step aside for a minute and it’s the most barbaric…it’s like Auschwitz, what we’re doing on our planet. When I see these trucks go by [carrying animals to slaughter], I say a prayer that they can find as much peace as possible because I know the torture that they’re going to, and what they’re going to feel and the feelings that they’re having. I mean, they’re no different than my dog. I can't even yell at my dog. My dog has never been yelled at. He’s never been hit. He doesn’t know that anything bad can happen to him. He's God's creature. He's my love. And every cow and pig and horse. I mean, I can't stand to see the [carriage] horses in my neighborhood. I think, my God, if I could free you, I would, because I feel guilty like those people that did nothing. I really do. It breaks my heart to see what we do to the animals that we share the planet with.

Do you feel limited in your choice to be vegan and to be raw?

No, actually I think that we have much more of a choice. I think it leads you to be more creative, because meat and potatoes people really get stuck. They eat the same thing – hamburgers. They eat the same thing over and over again. Right now I’m changing my menu because I’m bored. So I have to get creative again. It keeps you literally more alive, more creative. There is nothing that I can’t make raw or vegan. There’s nothing that I can’t make in my menu. I don't have to taste food. I dream about food. I can think about it and know what it's going to taste like and make it. I can go out and my husband can be eating something in a restaurant and I can look at it and I can smell it and I can go home and duplicate it in the vegan world. It's just a gift I have. Some people can sing without ever taking a lesson, or play the piano. I can do that with food. So, no, I’m never limited. Ever. I can always make something out of nothing.

How does animal advocacy play into Karyn’s vision?

I’m an animal lover. We regularly show Peaceable Kingdom here. We show Meet Your Meat. We invite people after the courses to stay and watch the films. I talk about it in all of my classes because that is the biggest part of my education in trying to heal the world for the animals. I explain that the karma that they're taking in also. It’s not just what it’s doing to them physically. It’s mentally, too. They’re eating that rage and that anger and that fear and that aggression. I don't have a lot of flyers out in the restaurant only because I believe that once you've gotten there, you’re there to try it and I’m not trying to hit people over the head. But if you come in and say ‘educate me,’ then I’m going to hit you over the head with it.

	What are your personal favorite dishes in your restaurants?
	I love my Kale Chips here [at Karyn’s Fresh Corner]. I love my Deep Dish Pizza. I love my Raviolis, and my new Hummos. Those are my favorites.

What do you want people to know about your business?

It’s my purpose. It's my heart. It’s my gift to myself and the world. It’s my life. I love what I do. I love the impact that people tell me that they get from what I do. I feel like I’m really making a difference in the world and that’s important to me. I’m not a guru or anything. I’m not a special person. I’ve been given a lot of divine guidance and truth, and I’ve been given the opportunity to help people find the same thing.

	Is there anything that you’d like to add?
	If you don’t take care of this, the most magnificent machine you’ll ever be given, where are you going to live?