Months ago I noticed a building on the way home from work, and while the name Organic Lives was interesting, I never looked into it. A few weeks ago a friend recommended it to me, and recently I decided to give it a shot.
The menu was disappointing when I first looked at it. Some of the tastiest-sounding dishes had cheeses or cream sauces, so it seemed there was little to choose from. When the server came around I told her I was vegan and had some questions. I was so completely stunned when she said the entire menu was vegan-friendly that I was sure I misheard. I had to double-check. And triple-check.
“Everything is raw food, nothing is cooked. We don’t use meat or eggs or dairy. It’s all vegan.”
I looked at the menu again. Now everything sounded delicious and I couldn’t make up my mind. Vegetable flatbread topped with a Pinoli cheese, fresh vegetables, pineapple, Peruvian sun-dried olives and fresh pesto. Lavender bread, cream cheese, chive foie gras, with a tomato and mesclun mix tossed in pecan oil. I was in heaven.
When our food arrived I could hardly suffer myself to take a picture. Everything about the presentation made the experience more exciting. I couldn’t help myself. From the first to the last bite, I have never experienced such joy from eating. I was entirely satisfied, physically and spiritually, as if I’d consumed energy that sustained me the rest of the day.
The restaurant has a deli where they sell a line of their own products such as chocolate bars and organic ingredients. Everything they use is grown locally and organically whenever possible; the rest is from family-owned, fair trade farms all over the world. They sell other hard-to-find and I-didn’t-know-these-existed items like coconut sugar and cacao paste. (Not that I’d know what to do with either, but for those who do, you can get them here.)
It’s been nearly five days since I’ve eaten there and I’m not sure how much longer I can wait. I want to go and eat everything they have. I want to order two of each, maybe three, and fill shopping carts full of leftovers. And of course I’m exaggerating because it’s not as if they’re lacing their food with heroin. I can quit any time I want to. Really. But I suppose you won’t really know for yourself until you try it. And I recommend you do.
Organic Lives
1829 Quebec Street at 2nd Ave., Vancouver, BC
