Native Foods Blog

The Healthy Wealthys

By Chef Tanya Petrovna 

Native Foods Cafe 

When you have a bit of money you have opportunity to have more freedom of choice, and that applies to food choices as well. You have more friends that eat healthy foods and can hang out at Whole Foods and learn about better eating practices, go to Farmers’ Markets in your neighborhood (because you have them), or eat out at a healthy restaurant. 

Studies have found that hunger and obesity are both symptoms of poverty as are the serious health problems that go with them: 

Obesity 

Heart disease 

Diabetes 

High Blood Pressure 

Bowel Disease 

Arthritis 

And even more! 

How can low income peeps get out of the ties that bind? When your hood has no Farmer’s Markets and only 7/11’s how to get more choices? Well God Bless John Robbins. We know he’s a saint but now he’s above that in my book. I don’t know the name for what is above a saint but the name of his group is EarthSave and created a program called Meals For Health. 

Native Foods' own Daniel Cuellar and John Robbins!

Dr. John McDougall became the medical director and they teamed up with the Sacramento Food Bank, took about 20 families on a plant based diet adventure for 30 days. Each family had a vegan coach to guide them through meal planning and made sure they ate well and a lot. UC Berkeley Center for Weight and Health followed the stats from day 1 and can I tell you they are freaking out at the great results. If you watch the video below you will hear the stories of some of the participants. They all got amped each day as they felt better and better, got off their meds, lost weight, had energy, felt fabulosa! It made me cry. They are now vegan zealots starting their own groups in their churches and neighborhoods, yowza!  Jeff and Sabrina of VegSource were on hand as well and Jeff videos everything if you know him so the story is told spot on. 

John Robbins and EarthSave hope to grow this program nationwide. I’m on board to help and I hope you may be interested too. Check out Meals For Health for upcoming events, like the one this past Sunday June 24th Native Foods Cafe had the pleasure to participate in!

Health IS Wealth folks and you don’t need a lot of cash,  just friends and simply great vegan food. So get rich today! 

 

 

 

John Feldmann: Veghead, Goldfinger vocalist and Aspiring Pro-Surfer

By Andrea McGinty
Native Foods Cafe Chicago & California

One of the super cool things about working here is the neat, off-beat people we get to meet.

We'll be posting the full interview later this month... here is a teaser of our In the Spotlight with John Feldmann:

 

 

John loves animals!  Check the video below:

 

  
John, you rock!

Sea Chi Organics Review

By Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

Ok I’m totally biased and love the stuff and I’ll tell you what my favorites are but first the story...

Sanandra came to work at Native Foods in the early 2000’s in Palm Springs. The local gal that everyone liked ended up in a managerial position as she was organized, trustworthy and friendly to all!  A couple of years later after many conversations about healthy hobbies and passions Sanandra started making this healthy tea, that at the time not many knew about, called “kombucha.” She let me know of the benefits:

Kombucha is an anti-bacterial tea containing glucuronic acid which is a building block for connective cell tissue.

Kombucha also has vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12 and Vitamin C creating an antibiotic effect.

Kombucha has been used by many cultures for thousands of years to promote bodily cleansing and healthy lifestyle..

The mother culture!  Photo Courtesy of @Craftzine.com Blog

We had personal hygiene conversations while sipping homemade kombucha about what were the cleanest body lotions we could use on our bodies. So many so-called “good brand” ones were loaded with petrolatum. Petroleum based products have super sized molecules that are bigger than the skin pore size so it will seal you rather than moisturize you, kind of like wrapping a plastic bag around your body!

Sanandra later left Native Foods but remains close (about a mile away) at the Sea Chi facility. Sea Chi is a company she created and started herself to develop a line of products she dreamt about using. The Sea Chi Creme was the first and is still my fave product for a face and body lotion.  I use it for my face and then I take a shot of her Jasmine Sambac Lovers Body Oil and mix with the creme when slathering on the rest of the body. Once you start it’s hard to stop, it’s that good!

Oh did I mention that it is also high vibrational? Check it out! 

 

A True-Blooded Activist

by Christopher Arnett

Native Foods Cafe

Best known for her portrayal as the alluring, witty, and cold-hearted vampire Pam on the hit show True Blood, Kristen Bauer has more than just a pair of fangs—she also has a great big heart!

Kristin is an environmentalist and vegetarian who lives with her many rescued animals in L.A. On her own website, Kristin even encourages people seeking animal companions to adopt from a shelter or rescue. She is also an outspoken animal rights activist that has worked with organizations like PETA. Earlier this year she worked with the long- standing Animal League Defense Fund to free a Siberian-Bengal tiger named Tony, who has spent the last ten years as part of a truck-stop sideshow in Louisiana. Go Kristin!

She has also worked with the Amanda Foundation for many years. For those of you that don’t know, the Amanda Foundation is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that finds homes for cats and dogs spending their final days in City and County shelters, as well as providing spaying and neutering services and re-homing pets. Back on Halloween 2009, Kristen was a part of a special Amanda Foundation event, True Blood Hounds, that promoted the adoption of cats and dogs over buying for the upcoming Holiday season. Numerous fellow True Blood cast members, among other famous faces, were in attendance!

Kristin is also a supporter of Forte Animal Rescue. It is an all volunteer, nonprofit organization, seeking solutions for pet over-population. Forte also works with the community to cultivate the human-animal bond through education and activities. Kristin’s own dog, Ozmand, was a rescue from Forte. Here is Kristen with Oz and Asher.

And Kristin is also a supporter of IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare. IFAW began forty years ago when a group of concerned citizens banded together to fight against the slaughter of whitecoat seal pups off the eastern coast of Canada. Today, they are a leading international organization for animal advocacy. Kristin is currently involved in IFAW’s Tails for Whales campaign. Check her out in this campaign ad on YouTube:

 

Kristin has truly done so much for animal rights, she is really an inspiration! And if you want to be inspired by her provocative performance as sexy, dry-humored vampire Pam, be sure to check her out on the season premier of True Blood this Sunday night!

 

 

 

5 Reasons to Vegan Your Week!

by Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

1. Fish are for swimming!  Check out my blog from last week about common fishing practices that are wiping out the ocean's population.

2.Lisa Bloom’s book “Think!”- a National Best Seller thank God! With a quick and bright spirited style, just like Lisa herself, she sheds some truth on us some and motivates us by giving us some insight to the media and how we can make a difference easily (by thinking!). She has a nice section on preparing quick vegan meals, and why? Because she thinks!

3. Vegan Skull Birkenstocks!  Tre vegan, tre chic.

4. Hash browns in a salad!  What what?  Take frozen hash browns... and be sure to cook them first!  Heat oil in a pan and plop them down with salt and pepper and wait until crispy then flip over. Makes an off the shelf salad have some papa pizzazz.

Try Cascadian Farms Organic Frozen Hash Browns!

5. Cherries and Peaches are out!

Put 1 c. pitted cherries, 1 ripe peach, 1 c. ice cubes, 2 c. almond milk, ¼ c. almonds (raw or toasted), 1 Tablepsoon maple syrup in a blender and smoothie!

photo credit: http://jenconnic.tumblr.com/

 

In the Spotlight: Cathy Liss from Agua Caliente Elementary School

by Holladay Allen

Native Foods Cafe

Cathy Liss is a long time Native Foodie and friend of Chef Tanya.  She also runs the Organic Garden Project at Agua Caliente Elementary School in Coachella Valley.  She is awesome.  Here is the full interview from the In the Spotlight section of the Native Foods Newsletter.

This Liss Lettuce Farm at Agua Caliente!

 

 

Where are you from?  Born in Los Angeles at the original Cedars of Lebanon Hospital 

What is your sign?  Aquarius, the water bearer.  I loved SCUBA and oceanography in my youth.

If you were to come back as an animal what would you LIKE it to be? A bottle-nosed dolphin--- I really want to know the secrets of the deep ocean.

If you were to come back as an animal what do you THINK it would be?  Possibly an owl...I enjoy the visual perspective and really take in my physical surroundings.  

Teaching composting with Headstart .

Do you have any pets? If so, what kind and what are their names? I have a senior rescue blind Schnauzer with three legs and diabetes—Fergus is the most loving, people-oriented animal.  I also have an 11 year old rescue cat named Pete who is extremely mischievous, determined, and stubborn..!!  I just found homes for my rosy boa and my tarantula.  They’ve gone on to other lives.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why? Any smallcommunity with an ocean near by.  I truly LOVE the desert and its flora and fauna, but I do miss the easy access of the ocean.

What is your favorite current menu item at Native Foods Café? Hard to choose...!!  I love the wraps, bowls, quinoa, Native Cheese, Boogie Bars;  I’ve taken classes with Tanya and brought my two adult sons and my mother.  We’re longtime fans from way back at M.T. Plate.

What is your favorite dessert? Key Lime Parfait (from the cookbook) and Boogie Bars (also in the cookbook!)

Fresh citrus from the garden!

 

What is your favorite part of working with the kids and the organic garden project at Agua Caliente? It is just soo amazing to watch kids explore the beds and discover how to dig for potatoes or carrots or green and purple beans.  We rinse them and eat them on the spot.  The preschool Headstart students picked fresh lettuces and radishes every day for over a month and made salad for their snacks.  I watched how they move seedlings that were interspersed to locate radish shoots; then they gently moved soil to see how large the radishes were before they harvested.  They were so talented at finding the big, ready ones....

What inspired you to become a teacher? I just always loved to learn, loved the challenge of discovery and watching how children absorbed knowledge and the thrill of mastery of some new skill.

What is your favorite thing about living in the desert? I am forever in awe of the desert flora---it’s complexity, stamina, and its  brilliant, yet  fleeting bloom.  I also adore spiders, snakes, and birds so desert is the perfect environment for me.

What is your favorite vegetable? Eggplant, kale, okra.

  Carrots rule the school!!!

 

I AM: A (Must-See) Movie Review

by Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

In our hurry up and rush rush world to get to the top, we may trample people, ignoring things that may be important but easier not to deal in order to get there fast, we ignore our friends at time, children, family, our health and even laughter. And if we ever get to the top, we see another plateau and we go on and on. This movie is about one man's plight to find out what really matters in life. His name is Tom Shadyac and being the director and creator of many mega hits starring Jim Carrey brought him millions of dollars and an experience of "being." In a lighthearted way, he takes you through a synopsis of his life that relates to all of us. Are we here to compete and strike out in the world on our own to fuel our successes? Or are we destined to work as a group and provide betterment of the whole and ourselves at the same time?

Through an hour and fifteen minutes of compelling interviews with compassionate leaders, scientists, educators while Tom is travelling with his crew, you end up thinking you want to be working with him on the series. All this because of a bicycle accident.  See the tie in when it comes your way, check the schedule HERE

 

After seeing this movie I like Tom Shadyac so much I'd personally cook him a Scorpion Burger or maybe better for him to try a Gandhi Bowl, as one of his favorite quotes from Gandhi is "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

Dad, You're Rad... and Vegan too!

by Christopher Arnett 

Native Foods Cafe

Fathers Day is here, and so we should take some time to show dear ol’ dad just how much we love and appreciate him. We admire our fathers, and we especially admire them if they’re vegan! The following is a list of some special dads who are committed to a cruelty-free and healthful way of eating:

Nathan Kozuskanich: Better known as Vegan Dad, Mr. Kozuskanich is a popular blogger in the vegan world who posts on the real dishes his family eats. As with our own families, he is often constrained by time and so his recipes range from incredibly inventive to quick and easy family favorites. Some of his most popular creations are his faux meats, which include such delicious carnivore favorites such as buffalo “wings” and “turkey” roast. The recipes listed on his blog are easy to make and convenient enough for any workday at-home meal. His culinary creations also draw inspiration from other cultures, and he has recently delved into baking. His blog follows the responses of his children to his meals and shows the meals he’s cooked up, daily. Those are some lucky kids!

 

Toby Maguire: Mild-mannered actor and father of two by day, and super-vegan by— well, all other times! Toby has been a dad since 2007 and a vegan since 2009 (though he was vegetarian since 1992). This cruelty-free father has gone so far as to remove the leather interior of his car, remove all leather items from his house, and even insists that guests remove leather items like shoes and belts upon entering! Tobey truly stands up for his beliefs, just like his on-screen Spider-Man persona. So have a happy Fathers Day and keep it up, Mr. Maguire!

Anthony Kiedis: The stylin’ and morally-conscious frontman of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has been a dad since 2007. A vegetarian since the 80’s, Anthony became a full- fledged vegan in 2008, and that same year won the Sexiest Vegetarian Man award from PETA! Learning about the worldwide depletion of ocean fish populations and receiving a recommendation from his doctor for a healthy vegan diet for his son helped to seal the deal for Anthony. May he always make music and always be vegan!

Jarid Manos: Father, athlete, speaker, founder of the Great Plains Restoration Council, and author of Ghetto Plainsman. In his book, he chronicles his journey as a broken man who finds meaning in life by seeing his connection to all forms of life. He has also helped to found the new Ecological Health movement, which helps young people heal themselves by healing the damaged prairies and plains of America’s heartland. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Black Vegetarian Society of Texas. Whew! Is there anything this vegan dad can’t do?

And don't forget to swing by your nearest Native Foods Cafe for Chef Tanya's latest creation, The Big Daddy Dagwood.  And don't forget to bring your dad!  Available on Father's Day only.

Thinly sliced original seitan, caramelized onions, melted cheddar, avocado, tomatoes, pickles, mustard & creamy horseradish on grilled marble rye. Comes with a mound of fresh garlic fries!

Pescatarian Still?

by Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

It's summertime and the thought of "fishing" often brings to mind a father and his child off on a nature trip in a quiet wooded area with running streams, pristine lakes and yellow butterflies flying in pairs. We don't usually think about the hooks and when we do some of us start to get the yuck factor and think about swimming in the lake rather than fishing in it, but what about those ocean trawling vessels and driftnes that are the true definition of fishing in 2011? Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator and all his misdoings of late add up to nothing compared to these bad boys of destruction.

Trawling-cone shaped net behind a boat lowered at various depths. Below the surface nets schools of fish and near sea floor grabs flounder and shrimp. Chain or tires can be attached to roll and stir up the bottom dwellers. This of course destroys the sea floor and wipes out coral reefs. Each drop of a net can be the size of a football field.

 


Drift nets- Literally curtains of non biodegradable nets that are 150 miles long and can be dropped 1600 feet below the surface that trap it all. During storms they can get lost and basically trap fish and other creatures for years as free ranging trash in the ocean.

Long Line-Miles of fishing lines that have hooks baited at different intervals and at different depth levels depending on what you want to kill/catch. 

Oh look at all these happy creatures!  They love playing with all the fun lines!

 

Do these terminator types catch specifically what they want? No, they aren't necessarily catching the "woman of their dreams" but in their quest to satisfy their need of getting some, they take everything down in their path. The used and abused pathway participants are called"by-catch" and one in four animals caught are exactly that.

Each year our seas cough up 85 million tons of sea life to these mega fishing operations. By-catch includes 100 million sharks and related species, 250,000 sea turtles, 300,000 sea birds (long lines) and it's pathetic and mean. You can "reduce" the by-catch by adding for example a "sea turtle excluder device," but that's if you want to pay for it and if it's mandatory in some countries there are many where it is not, plus there is a lot of illegal work going on out in the middle of no where with no naval sea police (why I love Seashepherd.org). The by-catch is turned into high protein animal feed (factory farming), fertilizer, soap, fish oil supplements and yes ingredients used even in cookies! Eating fish because you don't support factory farming....better stop! Farmed salmon at least is safe...NOT! It takes three pounds of wildfish for every pound of farmed salmon (and I'm not going to discuss the huge amount of anitbiotic use in farmed fish operations).

Wonder what it's like on one of these terminator boats? Trip out on this!

www.dsi-as.com/default.aspx?m=2&i=190

Mega Billionaire Malcom Glazer and his company Omega Protein yearly grinds hundreds of millions of fish (Menhaden)  and sells them for these purposes. His green marketing campaign is that his business is 100% recyclable.

The Menhaden fish story so incredible that Lisa Simpson got into it in a "97 episode of The Simpsons with Mr. Montgomery Burns.

To read more about about our sea situation and Menhaden fish I suggest an excellent article in Mother Jones by Julia Whitty. I suggest you check it out, and do watch that Simpsons episode and don't forget most of the sea nutrition and benefits is in the (sea)weed man!   Lighten up.

 

Quarry Girl wants a Big Daddy Dagwood

http://www.quarrygirl.com/2011/06/13/vegan-fathers-day-in-los-angeles-2011-free-beer-sandwiches-brunch-more/

 

We love Dads at Native Foods Cafe!