Archive for the ‘reviews’ Category

on our recent trip to joburg to launch shamballah tribal community gatherings, we took a few days out to visit with our friend ingrid litman, chef at leafy greens cafe in muldersdrift, gauteng. we discovered a raw vegan haven/heaven that we’re definitely looking forward to frequenting on future visits.  despite several comments that muldersdrift was “way out there” we really enjoyed the scenic half-hour drive from sandton and it was definitely worth it!

we drove down the dirt road, parked in a lot rimmed with trees blossoming with fluffy white cotton-ball puffs, and walked down the shady tree lined path suggested by the arrow pointing to leafy greens cafe.  it was sweltering hot, but we were surrounded by rows and rows of vegetable garden, ancient trees, and the sounds of children in a jumpy castle.

we came up on the cafe and were greeted with a smile by our lovely friend ingrid, who offered us a special green smoothie of kale and strawberries.  we were parched and starving and this was just the thing to kick off our special pig-out raw food day.

 

 

she introduced us to antonia de luca, the radiant and friendly owner.  antonia was trained in raw food living and nutrition at hippocrates health institute in florida, while ingrid completed programs at  gabriel cousens’ tree of life institute in arizona.  their combined expertise and knowledge is evident in the artful variety of love-filled organic raw and vegan food they offer, both to nourish the body and delight the tastebuds.

there is a menu as well as the buffet table which is R80 a plate and there is an amazing variety of options, based on whatever is fresh in the garden.

 

 

there is something for everyone, from the seasoned raw foodist, to those just testing the waters.  we loved absolutely everything we tasted, especially the desserts!

 

 

after our meal, we had the pleasure of being taken on a tour of the organic gardens by ingrid.  the farm grows all of their produce according to organic standards and principles of permaculture and the life force coming from the fruit, herbs, veggies, flowers, and trees is so evident!

if you’re in the area, please make it a priority to support this restaurant and shop.  they have a well appointed shop complete with all of your superfoods, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, supplements and more!

next time i’d love to bring back some banana bread spiced walnuts and vanilla maple brazil nuts. YUM!

during our last visit to cape town, we had the pleasure of having raw buffet breakfast with noel and natalie of earthshine at their home in pinelands.  it was a raw foodists’ dream!  laid out on the table before us was everything that we could’ve asked for before a 5 hour drive home to plettenberg bay.

for R100 each we enjoyed a green juice with wheatgrass, buckwheat muesli with seeds and dried fruit, almond milk, the most delightful raw pancakes with cashew maca cream and maple syrup, a tropical fruit salad with pomegranate arils, and topped all of it off with hemp powder, goji berries, and cacao nibs!  it was a breakfast to remember, and we’re still dreaming about it!

if you’re in cape town and free on a tuesday morning, this is your chance to try out raw food at it’s best, and see how delicious even raw breakfast can be!  and if you’ve been dabbling with raw foods and haven’t yet figured out what to make for breakfast, get some inspiration!

noel and natalie are also pioneering raw food convenience foods and have a selection of organic raw crackers, aubergine biltong, pizza bases, sauerkraut, and buckwheat muesli for sale.  our favorite was the pink sauerkraut and the red onion and chive crackers.  you can also take away an amazing raw pizza to munch on throughout your day!  we’re totally looking forward to tuesdays in cape town!

for more info or to order foods from earthshine, visit their facebook page, or contact natalie at natalie@earthshine.co.za or on 074 167 9792 !

the raw food world in cape town is ever expanding, much to our delight!  after teaching our 2nd smoothies class with smashing success, we drove off to pinelands to pick up our takeaway pizza made lovingly by natalie reid of earthshine.  she snipped fresh chives from the garden just out the kitchen door onto the artfully scrumptious pizza and tucked it into its cute brown takeaway box and we were off to devour the precious pie at home!

the crust was delightfully crispy and light which was a nice compliment to the richness of the tomatoes and olives.  the fresh and fragrant basil and chives were just the extra magick that filled our mouths with joy!  the cheese was a little on the sweet side but went well to balance all of the other flavours.  well done, natalie!  sign us up for next time!

we heard from beryn @ superfoods that there is now a raw food buffet lunch in town on wednesdays and thought it would be a perfect date, since we rarely go out to eat these days, due to the lack of anything raw and vegan or remotely alive at local restaurants.  we made our way there today after a lovely and powerful 11/11 meditation.  when we arrived at kwalapa in newlands we were disappointed to find out that due to their launch party there was no buffet today, but we were delighted to be personally invited by patrick, one of kwalapa’s co-founders, to today’s festivities which included food tasting, live music, and talks.

in addition to having a raw food buffet every wednesday created by annie, kwalapa is a wholistic concept in itself, housing an organic wholefoods store and deli centered around organic, local, and seasonal farming and building an eco-conscious community.  we were quite impressed, not only by the food itself, but by the vision and passion with which it was presented.

though the weather could have been much better for cape town going into summer, we enjoyed sitting outside under beautiful fairy lights and stylish lanterns, under the arms of a giant ancient tree as platters of food were brought around for tasting and guests treated themselves to a number of delights.  we enjoyed a passionate and inspiring talk about the importance of organic farming called “growing happy food” given by liz eglington, who has been running a  magical organic olive farm in the klein karoo since 2001.

and despite no raw food buffet today, after “tasting” cucumber rolls, some absolutely divine olives, fresh juices, flax cracker bites, dehydrated stuffed mushrooms, dehydrated apples and pears with nut butter, and raw chocolates (!) we were satisfied and stuffed with raw food by the time we headed home in the rain.

so we had our raw food buffet date after all!  yay for 11/11 synchroncity.  we were in the right place at the right time, for sure.  and we’ll definitely be back next wednesday for the raw food buffet.

while on my trip to seattle, i was happy to discover a new raw food establishment in the 65th/ravenna neighborhood.  the day we visited was disgustingly hot, surely over 100 degrees, and my sister and i could barely function. it was a perfect day for raw food!  to my bliss, all of the items we ordered were outstanding and exactly what we needed.

i started off with an amazing smoothie called “celestial sea,” brimming with delicious superfoods.

my friend jon hines ordered a suprisingly delightful raw chili, which we all shared along with a soup and taco salad.  we enjoyed the “oh my sombrero,” a taco salad with spicy sunflower seed pate, guac, salsa, and onion cashew cream.  the “sweet surrender” soup was a refreshing organic tomato soup blended with basil, onion, celery and spices.  there’s nothing like tasty cold soup and a fresh salad on a hot hot day…

thrive is a welcome addition to the raw food choices available in seattle.  their menu is vegan, extensive, and predominantly raw.  their staff is amazing and sweet.

they have a great selection of superfoods and bulk items and they even offer community events and workshops about raw food!  if i lived in seattle, i would go there all the time.  if you live in seattle, i highly recommend stopping in and supporting thrive!

peace,

vanessa