It hardly seems right to slap the hot-trend label on a cuisine that never gets warmer than 116 degrees. But as enthusiasm for the raw-foods movement simmers to a boil, there's no denying its cool cachet.

What began as a diet for people who didn't find veganism extreme enough has lately won headlines as a celebrity beauty secret, fueled a veteran chef's latest triumph and done a star turn on that arbiter of all things hip, Sex and the City.

Demi Moore's sleek Full Throttle look? Said to be the result of a raw-food diet. Roxanne, the critically lauded, booked-weeks-out California restaurant created by chef Roxanne Klein, who recently showed off some raw-food tricks on VH1's Rock Bodies? The plates are the only things that go in the oven. The Sex quartet's take on food done sans heat? Miranda's "like lawn in a bowl" quip pretty much sums it up.

The traditional medical community has yet to embrace the raw-food movement, but plenty of health-conscious people, some of them here in the Lone Charred State, are going raw, eschewing meat, fish, dairy and eggs in favor of cleverly sliced uncooked vegetables, coconut juice and seeds.

Dallas chef Cynthia Beavers is among those leading the Metroplex raw-foods charge. About three years ago, Beaver held her first raw-foods potluck in Dallas. It drew 65 people, she says, and many returned to the monthly events for dishes such as Beaver's mock tuna salad and "live" Mexican margaritas -- no tequila or sugar, just juices and a healthy dose of flax seeds. About half a dozen monthly raw-food potlucks currently meet in the Metroplex.

Until a few weeks ago, Beavers kept busy preparing raw meals for clients who paid as much as $150 to have a week's worth of dinners delivered to their homes. Now, she's working on opening Pure, Dallas' first raw restaurant. She hopes to be seating diners at the Greenville Avenue space by September.

The menu may include crepes made of sprouted buckwheat and flax seeds, pizzas with crusts made from seed pastes that spent 12 hours in a 105-degree dehydrator, and pad Thai with noodles made from young coconuts.

"You name it, if it's a cooked recipe, I can turn it into a raw recipe." Beavers says.

Like most raw foodists, Beavers believes that enzymes -- proteins that act as catalysts for bodily functions -- help, even heal, the body. Cooking is thought to destroy the enzymes, and therefore the life force.

"The enzymes are the key to health and healing and aging and everything," she says.

Raw foods, mainly vegetables, do not take as long to digest as cooked vegetables, which leaves the body with more energy, Beaver says.

Raw foodists also tout the diet's environmental benefits. By refraining from eating animals, they're discouraging land or grain resources from being devoted to the animals' cultivation. Using no stoves or ovens saves energy, too.

Many who've gone raw consider the transition a spiritual, as well as physical, change. Along with increased energy levels and clearer minds, some say they feel more in tune with their environment.

Spiritual benefits notwithstanding, many health professionals remain unswayed.

Neva Cochran, a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant in Dallas, says the idea that the body needs the enzymes found in raw fruits and vegetables is absolutely false.

Of course, raw foodists -- many of whom say their allergies, rashes, digestive ailments and weight problems have disappeared as they replaced cooked food with raw -- disagree. As one self-described raw-food addict and Beavers customer proclaimed, "It's so amazing that something so incredibly healthy could taste so wonderful."

CYNTHIA BEAVER'S MOCK TUNA SALAD

Serves 4

• 2 cups raw almonds, soaked overnight

• 1 cup raw cashews