Where do you like to go for great vegetarian food?
Thanks!
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Where do you like to go for great vegetarian food?
Thanks!
What do you like about it? What do you like to get there?
I love the people who own it, they're my friends. I like all of the food there. And I've had most of it. It's a buffet so you pretty much can create your own meal. I very much like the atmosphere and the musical entertainment. And last but certainly least, the prices cannot be beat! It's cheap, very economical. Given the propensity for crunchy veggie places to charge big bucks for greens, Gaia's is an amazing deal. The menu is on the website I linked by the way. As well as plenty of other comprehensive information. Any more questions?
I love the people at Gaia's Garden, too -- they so supportive of our community. They invited me to speak about my new book, Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud about Senior Sex, on June 4: see https://betterthanieverexpected.blog...ng-events.html.
Another restaurant I love for vegetarian food: California Thai on 7th St., Santa Rosa, between B and Mendocino. You have to ask for the vegetarian menu -- once you do, you see they have pages of entrees, many creative dishes.
Let's not forget Fresh Choice. If you choose wisely, you can fill your plate with satisfying veggie food.
I have heard that some salad bar places like Fresh Choice and the Sizzler, spray their lettuce, uncooked veggies and fruits with Metabisulfite, a sulfite preservative to prevent or reduce discoloration of light-colored fruits and vegetables, prevent black spots on shrimp and lobster, inhibit the growth of microorganisms in fermented foods such as wine, condition dough, and maintain the stability and potency of certain medications. Sulfites can also be used to bleach food starches, to prevent rust and scale in boiler water that is used to steam food and even in the production of cellophane for food packaging.
About 5% of the population can experience symptoms of “Salad Bar Syndrome” such as nausea, diarrhea, asthma, broncospasm, racing heart, chest tightness, hives, sinus congestion and even Anaphylactic shock
https://www.naturalhealthtechniques....n/sulfites.htm
Personally, I’d rather find a place that uses local, organic products.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Joan Price:
Sharing Wisdom,
Your ambiguous text does not make clear whether or not you're sliming Gaia's Garden for not using locally sourced ingredients, and/or using "Tater White", aka Sulfites on their salad in their salad bar. I checked their website and they don't specify that they don't, but they also say almost all of their items are Vegan, the remainder are Vegetarian, and they take special care to keep items separate and will accommodate anyone with allergies if asked.
Here's their menu link. I know Susan and Ari intimately. If there's anyone who is a bigger perfectionist when it comes to purity of ingredients, surgical hygienity of prep, storage and clean-up, and near absolute concern for the environment and social justice, I don't know who it might be.
Maybe your implied slam was completely inadvertent. But in the context of this thread, it's hard not to read that implication. Or were you only referring to California Thai and Fresh Choice? I don't eat at either of those places, and don't know their owners or managers, so I can't speak for or about them.
Anyone concerned about the issues raised by SharingWisdom/Judy Dragon (which I agree are serious issues, I'm responding to the context and manner in which she expressed them, her timing and placement of her remark, I've avoided Tater White ever since I learned about it as a dishwasher/janitor in the Officer's Club Bar & Grill on Redstone Arsenal. Summer of '74.) can ask Susan and Ari, I'm sure they'll be happy to reply. And I trust their candidness implicitly.
After eleven years of association and friendship with them (admittedly in the last three we've drifted apart, different schedules, the usual separating of paths that happens among busy people) I can say with confidence that they work their butts off to assure exactly what they say they do. Provide fresh, tasty, healthy and economical Vegan and Vegetarian food in an inviting and culturally rich environment.
Ari told me once that I couldn't get my dishes clean because I didn't have a dishwasher that used scalding water in the rinse cycle. That hand washing and air / rack drying would allow bacteria to remain behind.
He's the guy who asks where everything in a restaurant is sourced from, prefers tofu and fish to red meat, and only fish that he can determine where it was caught and hopefully by who and using what methods!? He won't eat in mainstream corporate places because of the social and economic injustice they purvey and the lack of sourcing and hygiene standards that are business as usual in such places.
If anyone is serving the healthiest, cleanest, untainted by any chemicals of any kind, locally sourced, organic food in a commercial setting in this area, it's him.
So, if you have any concerns about sulfates on the salad in the salad bar at Gaia's? ASK THEM before shooting off your mouth or tapping on your keyboard!!!!
Think I'm overreacting? SharingWisdom specifically replied to a post which lists, Gaia's, California Thai and Fresh Choice. She did not specify which of those places, if any, were where she is implying the practices she decries are used or not used. As I said, maybe it was a mistake, a lack of clarity. But she is a regular poster here, knows that if you use the "Reply Publicly" icon in the lower right corner of her screen, that post is quoted in the reply. If anyone does not want to quote the previous post in a thread, use the "Reply To Thread" icon in the upper left corner above the text field.
The implication seems obvious to me, if I've been reactive (like THAT never happens here or in internet chat in general!!?) I apologize.
To be candid, the kind of alarmist stuff (in my opinion, no doubt) that SharingWisdom regularly shares here, is another reason my hackles went up. The tendency of many to be alarmist and reactive in such discussions as this, that's a topic for a long book. Something I've been thinking about lately...
I don't eat out alot but I was pleasantly surprised in the past year to find that Fresh Choice uses a significant amount of local and organic products (labeled as such). I appreciate the info regarding the use of metabisulfite. I'll ask them next time round.
Judy
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by sharingwisdom:
I saw a restaurant down by the Oakland Airport that was called "Organic Choice". The branding seemed to be similar but different from "Fresh Choice". I couldn't tell if it was the same company or not. I couldn't find out anything about them on the internet. :hmmm:
You know, Miles, I was totally referring to Fresh Choice and Sizzler in what they put in their salads to keep them fresh. I just share info and if I happened to somehow place it without being specific who I was referring to, I take responsibility for that placement. I can tell that you have great respect for them and felt that I somehow tainted their reputations and characters. In all honesty, it didn't even cross my mind about Gaia's Garden. I'm sure it's a fine place. I've seen it next to Community Market and thought that if my daughter was in town, she would love to know about it. I was a vegetarian for 27 years and raised my children that way, so went to many salad bars. And some I didn't feel too good after eating there, like Fresh Choice & Sizzler, which was why I researched about it.
You could have just asked me what I meant or who I was referring to, but instead decided to do what seems to be getting more frequent on this forum...get emotional, accuse first and push for answers w/o asking questions. Again, when people don't seem to agree on other topics, there seems to form a personal group vendetta to silence them through different "journalistic" styles. Hmmm. Is this 'progressive'?
Again, I didn't mean any harm or judgment against Gaia's Garden or even Ca. Thai. Just so you know, I'm always willing to take responsibility if I'm out of integrity. I have no problems admitting when I've made an error of judgment, overstepped boundaries and become disrespectful in communicating; and I support others to join me so this forum can be an open vessel for all kinds of diverse ideas.
“He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love.” Martin Luther King, Jr
Thank you for all the suggestions! I appreciate it!
Just heard about this thread and, for the record, we don't use sulfites or any other "freshener" at Gaia's Garden. It's a constant challenge to keep the buffet items fresh and appealing - especially the salad bar and the steamed vegetables - but we do it on the natch - cooking small batches and re-stocking often. Thanks for the discussion and all the kind words.
Susan and Ari
Gaia's Garden