We believe in a good healthy balanced diet, and we do not believe in diets. You cant have missed the whole raw food movement – “raw clean eating’. Eating a raw salad once in a while is great, however be careful of an all raw diet as this does not suit everyone. On the plus side raw vegetables and meat retain all their nutrients which they loose in cooking, they also retain their own digestive enzymes, and if you are only eating raw fresh veg then this is going to be better for the environment. However, we all work differently and for many of us a raw diet puts a strain on your digestive system and can leave you feeling tired and bloated. So here is our raw summer salad packed with nutrients and vitamin C and the fennel and mint are great on the digestion! One of the great things about raw salads is – (obviously) there is no cooking involved which makes it really quick and easy to prepare. Super easy to whip up as a starter or filling enough to have for lunch on a hot day. Just the thought of eating this cold, fresh and crunchy salad on a hot summers day is blissful as we are sitting in our London kitchen with the pitter patter of rain outside. This salad is an adaption of the Sicilian fennel and orange salad, where the fresh ingredients are key, plump aniseed fennel, sweet orange and very good quality peppery olive oil. In this recipe we used blood oranges, managed to grab some right at the end of the season, these are the Tarocoo variety that grows near Catania, where the combination of cold winter nights and mild days increases the development of the red pigment that gives the wonderful colour. If you can't get blood oranges then choose an orange that is in season for the best flavour.