Surviving in NL: Raw

"Eating French fries once a week can't be bad for you, can it?" 10-year-old Tom's friend can't seem to understand why his mother makes him eat raw food. Tom's mom Francis explains that processed food isn't healthy. Tom is probably the first and only child in the Netherlands who's been living on a diet of nuts, fruit and raw vegetables for five years now. An interview with Francis and her son, broadcast earlier this year on a Dutch TV talkshow, caused a stir when writer Hugo Borst branded Tom's mother an extremist who needed psychiatric help. But Francis is unflustered. Tom gets an apple after playing soccer, not a hotdog. He thinks it's a shame that raw food has no smell, like the pizza the neighbours order sometimes. And that his food is always cold, even in the winter. Tom conforms to the way of life his mother enforces, but also realises there's another world, full of pancakes, candy and fries. In Francis's mind, this is no reason to question their unorthodox lifestyle. For the time being, she's firmly pulling the strings. "We're pioneers, honey."