Norman Van Aken: Norman's Coral Gables, FL.

Since 1995, Chef/Owner Norman Van Aken has been introducing new ingredients and a new vocabulary into the pulse of Americana. Terms like fusion and new world have become mainstream descriptors, thanks to his cuisine. An accomplished chef, mentor, and an undisputed poet of the culinary word, Van Aken remains a beacon because he is ever-evolving as a professional and artist who embraces the tactile world around him.

Though he admits that Norman's does not get a lot of requests for raw food one is enough to tickle his curiosity. "When the subject comes up, people are engaged in questions and lasting conversation. People are really interested, or I should say challenged by it." After receiving some exposure for having prepared a raw menu, one of his fears was that people would come looking for that kind of an experience. Van Aken readily admits his restaurant is not structured to convert their entire menu; however, with advance notice, if possible he is happy to accommodate the request. "From the standpoint of a restaurant, you could build up your mise-en-place so that part of your entire menu could be adjusted to be raw, but it would certainly require a few weeks of digging-in and having the equipment and the understanding and the basic materials and the wherewithal to do it. But to do it on the fly is nearly an impossibility," he confesses of the labor intensive cuisine. Basic materials include dehydrators, juicers, ice crushing machines, sprouts, nut milks, and produce, impeccable produce.

"I have spoken with chefs who are appalled by the very idea; some will rationalize that it doesn't make any sense scientifically because once the food enters your system the very heat and enzymes [of the body] will change the food from raw to cooked. They'll attack it for many different reasons. "Van Aken shrugs. "But I say, 'wait a minute,' Taking that same open mindset of a chef and applying it to the idea of raw food only increases the creativity and the knowledge of the chef who is willing to take the plunge. I found it invigorating to have to try and see what I could create out of the narrowness of a concept that I had no background in. I think it is challenging and, therefore, makes me stronger." He likens the development of raw cuisine to that of any cuisine: there is a process and evolution that will unfold with time and experience. "I don't think people took a potato and instantly made pommes soufflees," he reasons. "They had to work with the products before they could conjure up ideas in such a way that they got the greatest benefit from the ingredients. Though the investment of time, product, research, and labor are extensive for one meal and one guest, Van Aken believes it is an integral part of his mission. "I think it's very instructive to the chefs who come to work at Norman's that you take something like [raw food] and treat it both seriously and with a sense of honor that these guests would like you to take care of them and their friends. I think that if you don't embody that for a few guests who may require a little more, then you may not embody that for the regular customers. It shows the young chefs that are with me, "Yeah, we'll try to get to the word 'yes.

That is a very important philosophy that you need to instill in your staff in any restaurant." Though he admits he cannot accommodate every request put to him, the role of experimentation is an important part of the creative process, and visiting the fringe is sometimes necessary for the slightest idea to be realized. "I'm not telling people I prepare raw food; I'm not telling people that I've changed my cuisine--I haven't. But my position has been and remains that, given a challenge that is going to expand my consciousness, 'Why not!"