If you think that raw food aficionados are all yoga teachers just back from a ten-day meditation retreat, think again.

Walk into a Crudessence restaurant - there are two in Montreal plus one take-out counter - and you'll see everything from a trio of well-heeled retired ladies enjoying a leisurely lunch to a crowd of university students grabbing a quick immune boosting elixir between classes.

Pine floors, white walls, clean lines and meditative instrumental music inspire quiet conversation and thoughtful eating. Servers are knowledgeable and happy to explain - in both English and French - anything on the entirely vegan, organic, gluten-free and living menu.

Crudessence has it all: restaurants, uncooking classes, workshops, catering, recipe books, commercial kombucha production, boutiques and their own line of raw food. These tireless living food crusaders prove what raw foodies have been saying for years: that eating raw equals an impressively energetic, vital and vigorous life.

Want to eat raw at home? The restaurants are also raw food boutiques offering a range of products, such as kale crackers, nuts, dried fruit and nut butters. If you can't make it to the boutique in person, there's an online version so you can access living food anytime, anywhere.

Attached to your sweet tooth but still want to eat healthy? They’ll satisfy the need for goodies with halvah and an array of raw chocolates, including maple and pink pepper, mint and pistachio and green tea fondant flavours.

One visit to Crudessence and you'll be convinced. If you want to have it all, have it raw.