LOHAS, Boulder & Sustainable Restaurants by Dawn

So I know this is after the fact, but I still want to comment on LOHAS briefly and Boulder, which is full of sustainable and organic restaurants (even the hotel we stayed at has green initiatives!)

LOHAS (which is Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) was a business to business sustainability conference – held in Boulder, CO. We were excited to attend and to share Sustainable Table, The Meatrix and the Eat Well Guide with other sustainable businesses. People were definitely interested in what we do and they were drawn to our table by our life size versions of Moopheus, Leo and Chickity… how could you not be curious about a cow, pig and chicken in leather jackets and sunglasses? There were a diverse group of businesses attending: Heifer International, Theo Chocolate, Organic Valley, Planet Green, Chico Bags and companies concentrating on fashion, vitamins, health drinks, finance and more! In addition to meeting many people who were creating sustainable businesses, we were also able to attend panels. I got a chance to sit in on a few that focused on media: magazines, tv, online, newspapers – they covered it all. I also saw Molly and Carly Houlahan speak about their business, Hives for Lives - at 16 and 14 years old, they are an amazing duo. Co-CEOs of their business, they have donated over $45,000 to cure cancer. And I know that Diane has a few things to say (actually I heard it was reaching 7 pages!) about 1 panel specifically, so I’ll leave that to her, and tell you about the wonderful restaurants we ate at!

The first night we picked a sustainable restaurant whose water heater broke and they had to close down before the end of the night. Not only that, but it was getting late, and other places weren’t serving anymore. So, we ended up just running across the street, but we were able to eat on the roof of a Mexican Restaurant (Rio Grande). The view was amazing and the food was pretty good too. So the next night we actually made it a place on our “Where the Health Can You Eat Around Here” handout (a handout that we created with Healthy Monday and gave to conference attendees to find sustainable restaurants close to the hotel), called “Leaf.” Leaf is vegetarian and they source as much local and organic as they can. They also own the restaurant next door (not vegetarian), “Aji” - Latin American food, and they source the same there. Being a vegetarian, I’m always excited about a menu that I can order anything from – and there were so many choices! I ended up with Oaxacan Mole – poblano relleno with sweet potato cake and chocolate mole and Diane had Jamaican Jerk Tempeh. Both delicious. And then we had to try the Blueberry and Thyme sorbet… so flavorful! The manager of both restaurants, Justin Chentnik, spent some time with us talking about local food in Boulder, and had us walk through the other restaurant to get a feel for both- they have very different atmospheres, Leaf was quiet and Aji seemed to be quite a party!

The other restaurant that I want to talk about is The Kitchen. We went to this restaurant the following night with a friend we made at the conference. We had all heard great things (and heard about long waits), so we were happy when we were able to get in right away! They sat us at the community table, right in the middle of the restaurant. This was another sustainable, local, organic restaurant, not vegetarian, but still some great vegetarian choices mixed in with their sustainable meat appetizers and entrees. In addition to sourcing local, quality ingredients, they also focus on other “Eco Practices”:

“We believe that being "green" transcends any current hype or fad. We simply believe it is the right thing to do for our community, at home and at large. We make conscientious decisions about every aspect of our operations, from the hand towels in the bathroom to the wind-power generated electricity we use. We recycle and reuse nearly 100 percent of our "discards". All of our paper products and straws are biodegradable. We give the remaining uncooked food and open bottles of wine to our staff at the end of each shift and all of our food scraps are made into compost, often returning to the farm where they were first harvested.”

Our food was delicious! I had a pickled mushroom & turnip salad and then gnocchi with pesto & potatoes. You can even see some pics!

Boulder was full of sustainable and organic food. With a town so beautiful, it would be hard to put up a fast food restaurant in the vicinity... (though I’m sure they are around)

More to come from Diane...

Article Tag(s): leaf, the kitchen, lohas, boulder, 061908, sustainable table

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