Fine&Raw Sklaar leaves finance for raw chocolate

Back in 2003, I left my native South Africa to pursue a career in the New York financial world, with all its adventure and excitement. I joined the ranks of financial analysts, and for two years, immersed myself in a crazy lifestyle of very long days, and celebration at night. It was working for me - until I developed an interest in Yoga. Yoga broadened my horizons about life, and I slowly realized that I wanted to leave the intensity behind. I even considered becoming a yoga teacher or a DJ. My friends and family thought that I was going through a quarter life crisis, having traded a stable career for an uncertain future.

A concerned friend suggested that I before I take off to explore Norway, Amsterdam, Berlin and Asia, I meet Amy Rachelle, a New York raw food educator, nutritionist, healer and musician. And that's when things really started to change for me. Meeting Amy and her enthusiasts opened a whole new world : the world of raw living. The seeds for my new identity as raw foodist, chef and raw chocolatier were planted.

Until then, I had never heard about raw, but I had experimented with vegetarianism after taking up yoga. So there I was, down in the Lower East Side of Manhattan meeting Amy's circle - people who shared my taste in books, music and yoga, and people who even looked like me. Raw was new ground, but their way of eating uncooked, unprocessed, living foods made sense. And so did their practices of meditation, pranayama (yoga breathing) and yoga. Things were resonating, and this allowed me to leave the financial world knowing that I was doing what was right for me. This new lifestyle was informing my choice.

When I returned from traveling overseas , I decided to head to Patagonia,Arizona, to the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center. I had read about Dr. Gabriel Cousens and his raw center in his book Conscious Eating. And I had read Dr. Cousens' Spiritual Nutrition.

I was drawn to the Tree of Life over other raw centers because I come from a family of medical doctors, and the Tree is under the direct supervision of Dr.Cousens. He's also a recognized raw and living foods medical authority. While apprenticing at the Tree of Life Cafe ,I began to experiment with one of my favorite foods - chocolate!! When I returned after four months, my parents came to visit from South Africa and I was about to break the news that I had left finance and was planning to become a raw food chef or start a chocolate company. I offered them one of my raw chocolate creations, and without missing a beat, they insisted that chocolate was most certainly the way for me. And that's how a raw chocolatier was born.

I started playing more and more with raw chocolate, properly known as cacao. ( I'll tell you more about how raw chocolate and roasted chocolate differ in an upcoming post). And I realized that I was completely in love with chocolate - and always had been.

Growing up, I ate Cocoa Puffs cereal like an addict. And then I graduated to chocolate bars, making my way up the chocolate hierarchy, from milk to the more sophisticated dark. Chocolate even saved the day when I was trekking through the Himalyas, when I was well aware that the tea houses at the top had Snickers bars - and that kept me going from peak to peak.

Friends tease me that I stash chocolate under my bed, and it's not far from the truth. I do have a chocolate obsession, and I spoke about it last week on live television, at the Forte Greene Flea Market - one of New York's best kept secrets on the food scene.

In my next post, I'll take you behind the scenes and show you what goes on in my chocolate lab.

Sincerely more chocolate,
Daniel