Now we suddenly find ourselves, across the globe, together in our isolation as we hide out from the latest enemy - the pandemic. Nothing in my lifetime has caused such a devastating upheaval as this — cancer didn’t even come close. At least cancer treatment had a finite ending and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t die. Afterwards, I thought rehabilitation and recovery would be my biggest obstacle to returning back to my “normal” life in a timely manner. But not long after I finished cancer treatments, my “normal” life was turned upside down, along with most everyone else’s.

There are so many good things about these raw vegan summer rolls, I just don’t know where to begin! Riceberry is a whole grain rice with a purplish color and it can be found in Thailand. I found these riceberry rice papers so I had to try them out, even though I’ve never successfully rolled a summer roll in rice paper. It’s a little tricky but my rolling got a little better with practice. Notice the beautiful mauve color of the rice paper. But ordinary white rice paper will work just fine too.

Rendang is a curry popular in Indonesia and Malaysia and contains lots of immune-boosting favorites like garlic, ginger, shallot, turmeric lemongrass and kaffir lime. Although it’s popular to use beef in rendang, my version is vegan and uses kabocha instead. It is anti-inflammatory, alkaline and an excellent anti-cancer dish.

KEFIR HACK: Probiotics are most effective when consumed as food —rather than in pill form. Coconut water kefir is my favorite probiotic drink and it’s easy to make here in the tropics or at home. Raw organic coconut water kefir can be prohibitively expensive when purchased at a top grade natural foods market but this hack is cheap and can be done while traveling. The probiotics that emerge with fermentation make kefir excellent for gut problems and for boosting immunity, something we all need more of during this Coronavirus scare!