Welcome to The Seeds of Life
Raw Food Chef Certification
Bali’s pioneering raw-food training program · Established 2012
A professional-level residential immersion for anyone who wants to create extraordinary food—at home, for the people they love, or as the beginning of a new path.
26 living foods transformations and counting!
Your teacher
At 51, Ben Richards has spent 37 years in kitchens and hospitality: growing food on farms, serving in fine-dining restaurants and high-end hotels, and working in the occasional dodgy, high-vibe hole in the wall. His culinary grounding includes experience in a two-hatted kitchen—Australia’s equivalent of Michelin-starred recognition.
His deeper passion is the healing arts. Since choosing raw living food as his full-time path in 2009, Ben has brought these worlds together in a singular offering here in Bali. He founded The Seeds of Life Raw Food Chef Academy in Ubud in 2012—not simply to teach recipes, but to share a way of living.
Training unfolds at a dedicated Ubud retreat centre, with fully equipped kitchen facilities and on-site accommodation available. You work hard and learn deeply through the day, then step straight into the comfort of your room—giving the food, practice, and community time to settle in.
A training is only as good as the people, place, and practice behind it. Seeds of Life brings together lived raw-vegan experience, professional culinary craft, formal plant-based study, and a café that has served this way of life for more than a decade.
Ben has lived a raw-vegan lifestyle for 18 years. The teaching comes from a practice that has been tested in real life, every day.
From farms and fine dining to two-hatted Australian kitchens, Ben brings a chef’s eye for flavour, technique, service, and quality.
Cornell plant-based nutrition study meets 13 years of service at Seeds of Life—a working café built around living, plant-forward food.
Ben’s energy and passion are infectious. In a small residential group, he makes sure each student is seen, supported, and leaves with the confidence and skills they came for.
The experience
The training takes place in Bali, surrounded by extraordinary local produce. Each morning, freshly picked fruit and vegetables arrive from organic farms on the active volcanic slopes of Kintamani. Most of the produce we use is organic, grown locally whenever possible, and chosen at its freshest—one of the main reasons Ben has chosen Bali as the premier location for preparing and teaching raw food.
Whether you want to open a café, expand your existing chef skills, add raw food items to your menu, or simply prepare nourishing, creative, well-balanced meals at home — you will be professionally and intimately taught by the man who built Bali's most celebrated raw vegan institution.
Your home in Ubud
Gaia Retreat Center
Explore the venue ↗
Venue and room photographs courtesy of Gaia Retreat Center.
Curriculum
Daily rhythm
A considered rhythm of movement, nourishment, serious kitchen practice, and time to integrate. This is a sample teaching day; each intake has its own living flow.
One full day off is held for rest, exploration, and integration.
Beyond the kitchen
The learning extends beyond the training villa. Meet the growers, makers, and plant-knowledge keepers who give Bali’s living-food culture its depth.
Field trip 01
Visit the farm to see how fresh spirulina is grown and understand its journey from living culture to the food on your plate. The farm excursion is included in your training package.
Optional Seeds of Life dinner · approx. US$20 · paid separately
Or take the evening for a massage, the Ubud market, or a Balinese ceremony.
Field trip 02
Spend an immersive day with Nadis Herbals, exploring Balinese herbal traditions, plant lore, and the spiritual worldview that informs their relationship with nature. This full learning day is included in your training package.
Optional Moksa dinner · approx. US$20 · paid separately
Join the group for an easy, beautiful casual fine-dining evening—or make your own plans.
The final table
Over two weeks, you learn every corner of the craft through diligent, hands-on practice. Then comes the culmination: create your own dishes, prepare food for a larger group, and bring it to the table with confidence.
For the New Year’s Eve graduation dinner, we invite the Seeds of Life community to celebrate with you. Guests ask what inspired a dish, how you brought its flavours together, and what you have discovered along the way. It is a real, generous moment of service—not just a classroom exercise.
Create · present · share · celebrate
Investment
All accommodation options are within the training villa complex in Ubud, 15 minutes from the town centre. Airport transfers are not included; trusted driver recommendations are available on request.
50% deposit available. Prices are shown in USD. A 50% deposit confirms your place; the remaining 50% is due by 18 November 2026. Ben sends payment details when you enquire.
A 50% deposit confirms your place. Ben sends payment details after your enquiry. The remaining 50% is due by 18 November 2026. If you would prefer a three-payment arrangement, contact Ben before you make your first payment so it can be agreed in writing.
This training requires a minimum of five confirmed participants. We will confirm in writing by 18 November 2026 whether the training will proceed. If minimum enrolment is not reached, you may transfer every training payment to the next training or receive a full refund of training fees paid.
If you need to cancel more than eight weeks before the training, training fees paid are refundable less a 10% administration fee. Four to eight weeks before: 50% of training fees paid, less the 10% administration fee. Within four weeks: training fees are non-refundable.
Please do not buy non-refundable flights until you receive written confirmation that the training will proceed. We recommend flexible or refundable travel arrangements and comprehensive travel insurance. Seeds of Life cannot reimburse independently booked travel, visas, or other third-party costs.
Included
Questions
Where
The training villa is set in the lush landscapes outside Ubud, surrounded by the organic abundance that makes Bali the perfect environment to learn raw living foods. 15 minutes from the town centre, yet a world away from it.
December 18, 2026 to January 1, 2027. Send your details and Ben will reply personally with the information pack.
Form not loading? Email Ben directly at ben@theseedsoflife.net.
A place awaits in Ubud this December. Email Ben directly — spaces are limited and fill months in advance.
