While Atkins, South Beach, and other high-protein diets proved to be a bacon-scented flash in the pan, the vegetarian diet has existed for - well, for as long as we humans have been capable of putting food in our mouths. (Granted, some of us are still getting the hang of that.) Since it tends to be a personal diet - without best-selling how-to books and white-haired gurus - there are a few variations on "being vegetarian."

Some people who eat fish consider themselves vegetarians, as do folks who lapse into the occasional burger binge. "Lacto-ovo" vegetarians forswear meat but will eat eggs and dairy products. And then you have vegans, who just say no to dairy, eggs, and all animal-derived comestibles.

For the purposes of this story, I'd like to bring attention to the raw diet. Raw foodism has been around for more than a century in the United States. From what I can gather, it boils down to the belief that enzymes in plants that would otherwise be destroyed by heat during cooking are somehow beneficial to humans when ingested. Raw foodists obtain most of their calories from monounsaturated fats like avocado, young coconut, and olive and flax oils, instead of cooked grains and beans. Protein and minerals come from leafy greens, spirulina, bee pollen, seeds and nuts.

>>> AmeRAWcan Bistro's raw enchiladas

In Tacoma, AmeRAWcan Bistro (pronounced "American") is the go-to spot for raw foodies, although owners Darrin and Tina London do offer a tiny list of deli sandwiches made with fully cooked organic meats - the meats are kept at a distance from the raw materials. He of the Western Culinary Academy and she of Tacoma's London Couture, the dynamic raw duo's philosophy has one root planted vegan and the other uncooked.

AmeRAWcan has earned a solid reputation for sophisticated, raw food in an open, well-designed restaurant in Tacoma's Triangle District, next door to Club Silverstone's rainbow cheer. On one recent evening, I was treated to a big bowl of Earth. Cashews, celery, nori seaweed, lemon and garlic sang "We Are the World" in the delightful, cold "Earth Chowder" ($6.95), which somehow tasted like a spring morning hike on Mount Rainier. The raw enchiladas ($12.95), its most popular dish, looked like the Jolly Green Giant tossed its organic cookies on my white plate, but tasted extremely satisfying. The sweet cashew tortillas balanced the savory and spicy concoction of seasoned walnut taco meat (resembles the tiny meat nuggets found in a Taco Time soft taco), cabbage and sweet red pepper, topped with the London's "New Mexico Chili Sauce," chopped romaine, salsa fresca and cashew sour cream drizzle. This dish pops, and did so on my tongue for the next four hours.

Anyone who claims he wouldn't get full eating vegetables should have witnessed my food coma at the close of this two-dish feast.

AMERAWCAN BISTRO, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 253.327.1962

No animals were harmed or eaten in the writing of this article.