Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Blissed in Bali: Gaia Oasis

After a summer full of raw food events over Europe, including a successful participation at the Rohvolution, German's biggest raw food event last weekend in Speyer, I just got back to Bali a few days ago.
Thanks to my friend Marianne, who I met during my last stay here at the Radiantly Alive Yoga Teacher training, I was asked to come to Gaia Oasis as a raw food consultant. Gaia Oasis is a jewel tuck away in the North of Bali in Tejakula. Only having seen the South and center of Bali during my last visits, I finally felt that I just discovered the real Bali. The resort is split into two locations, a mountain resort, with 9 hectars of ground where they grow all the amazing organic fruits and vegetables, like mango, papaya, jackfruit,
even Durian :-) and spinach, arugula, all the herbs, ginger, lemongrass and so much more and of course endless supplies of coconuts.
The second resort is down by the beach with a private beach access, beautiful gardens , a great spa and a picturesque restaurant patio right by the sea.
During the last 5 days, I had the joy to teach the staff at Gaia some raw food dishes that they can easily implement with their simple tools they have at hand.

From now on, Gaias menu has been extended with some new fun raw dishes like my b.alive! zucchini spaghetti "bolognese", Asialive noodles, zucchini hummus,
Love Sprout salad with pink ginger lime dressing, cashew kaffir lime cheese on cucumber bites, avocado chocolate pudding, passion love smoothie, coconut yoghurt for breakfast and even mocaccinos and lattes based on cashew milk :-)











Working with the kitchen team was an beautiful and rewarding experience. Sirsan, the head chef, was extremely excited to learn the new ways of preparing the food and very happy and willing to learn.
And on top, the working conditions couldn't be better, when I asked Sirsan that we need a fresh young coconut that has some thick meat inside for making a nice creamy coconut sauce, he simply walked out of the kitchen , going to the coconut tree by the beach and getting a coconut fresh from the tree ! We live in Paradise :-)

We also visited another resort and spa closeby, where they make their own organic fresh cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil. If you were ever wondering , what a coconut oil press looks like, here you go:


Gaia Oasis is a wonderful place full of good energy. Being a non-profit organization, with a board of 15 members that communally built the place and invested their money without the aim of making money, but giving back to the community, this is the real way of how to build holiday homes. The staff gets properly treated, well paid and they donate big parts of the profits of the operation to the community to support the schools and many other things.

It is a perfect place for holding retreats of all kinds and now with the inclusion of raw food definitely a good address to just spend a lush day and indulge in their amazing healthy drinks list and fresh food prepared by the most lovely chef and his kitchen staff.
Thanks Gaia for a wonderful experience. It's been a bliss to work for a place like this!