Big news today!
After several months of doing research, coming up with recipes, and testing them out, I'm so proud to announce the release of the first downloadable cookbook from No Meat Athlete—Fuel Your Run the Tarahumara Way.
The cookbook is a collection of recipes based on two ingredients—pinole and chia. They're the foods eaten by the Tarahumara tribe of superathlete endurance runners, as popularized in the bestselling book Born to Run. (If you haven't read that one yet, stop what you're doing and drive to the bookstore right now to buy it. It's fantastic.)
After I read Born to Run, I tried to make pinole and iskiate (another name for chia fresca). The pinole the Tarahumara eat is either a paste or a drink, and neither one is practical for carrying on a run. I felt pretty hardcore fueling up this way, but the taste and hassle were just too much.
Then—BAM—I got the idea to enlist the help of my professional-vegan-baker sister, Christine, to create pinole and chia recipes fit for today's world. Recipes for stuff you could bring on a run with you.
So that's what we did. Energy bars, pancakes, muffins, smoothies, and more, all with pinole or chia, or both. Portable, practical, easy, and all with vegan options. And—to my amazement—delicious. (I guess that's a perk of having a sister who makes things like vegan black-bean brownies, chocolate avocado mousse, and cauliflower cookies taste good, just for fun.)
Click here to see more details about Fuel Your Run the Tarahumara Way. I know you'll love it.
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Yea!! I just bought, downloaded, and printed the cookbook in less than 3 minutes!
I have been eating pinole (the nomeatathlete.com recipe) before almost all of my long runs for the past two months. The one odd-run was while we were out of town. I didn't think airport security would be cool with me trying to carry a bag of suspicious looking powder on the plane. Anyway, so far I haven't had any problems with hunger and/or energy on runs up to 9 miles. For my double-digit long runs coming, I'll try carrying a pinole pinto energy bar and see how it works.
Thanks for putting this cookbook together!!
Congrats on the book Matt & Christine! Very exciting
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I am so proud of you and Christine, I can't even stand it! Congratulations!!
looks like a great cookbook! can you tell me how many of the recipes are raw or adaptable to raw?
Kyndra, I'm sorry to say almost none are raw or adaptable to it. The problem is that pinole is mainly roasted corn, so unless there's some way to "roast" it at a low temperature, that won't work.
The strawberry iskiate smoothie is raw, if you use raw agave. That's the only pinole-less recipe though.
I just bought it and I can't wait to try some of the recipes!
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I just got mine too. It is awesome, can't wait to try these out.
I got mine…can't wait to go to the grocery store this weekend and get my cooking supplies!
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Awesome! Just bought it!
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Funny timing… just made the (Thrive) chia recipe from your site last night! It was… only okay. Look forward to trying more recipes out to find some winners. I love chia and always keep some around. Been wanting to find some good Pinole resources too!
Here's a video I did about chia back in December: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHfGAdBpr7s
Hey Marc, as much as I love Thrive, my biggest complaint is that many of the recipes are as you describe… just okay. I look at that book as a benchmark to compare my current diet to, in terms of nutrition. While I can't make those recipes work as a lifestyle, I try to incorporate as many as I can because they're just so healthy.
I had the pinole and chia brownies (recipe in book) that Christine made! YUM! YUM! YUM! And I'm the sugar junkie Mom from the Matt's "Help Me Save My Mother" post. I've been eating more healthy lately and have given up the morning white flour and refined sugar pastry ritual. These brownies are SOOOO good that they can easily take the place of that desire for something sweet in the morning. And it felt good eating something that I knew was so good for my body. Great recipe Chris!
Hmmm.. I have been wanting to try chia but I can never find it at the store. I might have to just order some online soon.
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I have a question for you (or Christine) I've reduced corn in my diet, so I am assuming pinole recipes are not be a good option for me. Any input?
JL, if you don't want to eat much corn, then pinole isn't for you, since that's what it is. Granted, eating whole-food corn is far better than eating corn-syrup or who-knows-what other processed corn products are in foods these days. But I'm sure you have your reasons for not wanting to eat much corn, and can determine whether it's corn that you don't want or the corn derivatives.
CONGRATS Matt! I know Chris a little, and this is a lovely tribute both to his work and to your own way of interpreting it. I'm really impressed!
Hi Matt,
I love your blog! I have been a vegetarian all my life and am still trying to figure out healthy ways to get all the essential nutrients. I am training for my first marathon and would love to try some your recipes. To that end, I just downloaded your book. Thank You for all that you do for the vegetarian runners!!
Cheers
Meena
Thank you, Meena! Hope you've enjoyed it.
Congrats on the book! It's a huge accomplishment and you and your sis should be proud.
This is perfect. I just bought Chia seeds for the first time. Look forward to trying out some of the recipes!
Hey Matt,
I was wondering if you had persued the "Tarahumara cookbook" idea any further! Glad to see you did. I can't wait to try some of the recipes after I download the cookbook!
Kevin, I actually completely forgot we had talked about this! I think because when we talked about the idea, I was thinking of how we might be able to get some authentic Tarahumara recipes that one could eat as their regular diet, rather than this approach (the modern, convenient versions of foods that work for running).