Vegannosaurus Rex

The Atlanta raw food gathering we had all hoped one happen someday finally did, last Friday, July 11th, 2008. I’d love to say that I have a particular talent at building community, or even say that I have unique experience in building community, but, alas, neither of those would be accurate. I spent the bulk of my time trying to figure out how to bring all of the local raw food enthusiasts together that I have met through various online networks. A few on MySpace, a smattering on eat.rawfood.com, a skoche from Facebook, and then, of course Give It To Me Raw. Well, all of those problems were solved when we collectively caught a small case of the Dhru that swept through Atlanta last weekend.

There were pictures taken. (thanks Audry)

A video was produced. (thanks Beth)

In the aftermath, many a blog post was written:

Atlanta Raw Food Meetup July 11, 2008; by Bunny Berry

Day 14, Fun in Atlanta and SLUMBER PARTIES!!; by Audry

ATL represents; by Dhrumil

Atlanta Raw Gathering…; by April

As promised…; by Sunshine

A huge thanks to Chadd! : D; by Sunshine (alright, i’m kinda patting myself on the back with this one)

And a few thanks need to be given:

A special thanks to Jim Thomas of R. Thomas’ Deluxe Grill for taking such good care of us.

And, most importantly, to Dhrumil. My feelings are best summed up by a text message i sent Dhru later that night:

‘Tonight was really inspiring, thanks for helping us see our potential’

I added, and unfortunately subtracted, some new locations to the vegan-friendly-business map on my blog. Check it out here.

Additions:
Rainbow Natural Foods
Arden’s Garden (fresh juices and smoothies, all natural) All 5 Locations!
Dynamic Dish (once vegetarian restaurant, now kinda unsure but they have veg options)

Subtractions:
Zennubian 7 – closed without notice

Thanks to the raw community at GITMR.com we’ve managed to take our first steps toward what we hope will become a regular event: a raw meetup for us Atlantans. We’re going to take it easy this first time, and let someone else do the work for us, namely, Loving It Live restaurant in East Point. This is a little self serving, i must admit, for I have yet to dine at Loving It Live and really can’t wait much longer. So…I’m dragging everyone with me.

Everyone and anyone is invited to join us, Friday February 29th, 7:30pm at Loving it Live.

Just like everyone else, there are times when I am just too busy, or lazy, to prepare a meal for myself. Or, more accurate perhaps, I simply enjoy having someone else do the work for me from time to time. Beyond that, i really enjoy experiencing the creativity of others. It’s inspiring.

When I’m between trips to the farmers market, or simply feeling lazy, i call Living Food Delights, a mere 2.5 miles from my house. If I time it right I can call in my order, get in my car and drive to Living Food Delights, and walk in the front door before they have hung up the phone.

Great people and great food, in a non-descript storefront in Grant Park. I only have two complaints, there hours are short, the close at 8, but my attempts to call in an order at 7:30 in the past have been met with grunting and mumbling sounds until i have offered to call back another day, and they only make 4 of each entree each day, so if you try to catch them later in the day your options can be severely limited, as in you have 2 options out of the usual 10. Neither of those are reasons to stay away, and they aren’t really complaints to be honest, they’re observations. I understand limiting the amount of orders, its far to expensive to throw it away and the end of the day, and I trust they know their business far better than I do.

To get a taste of what their wares, take a tour of my most recent visit:

(You can see detailed notes on the flickr version of this picture.)

What you see here is the three course dinner, $17.50.

Choice of entree:

• Barbeque Mushrooms
• Lasagna
• Lentil Patties
• Marinated Kush with Topping
• Spaghetti
• Stuffed Tomatoes
• Sun Burger Patties
• Tempura Vegetables
• Walnut Steak
• Wild Rice Medley

Choice of side dish:

• hummus
• wild rice
• cracked wheat

I have found that almost never have the cracked wheat, but always have a more interesting special side dish.

Choice of green/salad:

• Spring Mix Salad
• Collard Greens
• Seaweed Salad
• Romaine Cesar Salad
• Spinach Cesar Salad

It’s truly a delight to have someone else prepare such a delicious living food meal for me.  If you’re in the are definitely pay them a visit.

I spent a good portion of my day being productive, I added an interactive map of local raw and vegan business’s to the blog. I would really appreciate feedback, especially businesses that need to be added to the map, leave any suggestions you may have as a comment or feel free to email me directly. My goal is to make the map a comprehensive representation of the raw/vegan community in Atlanta. Thanks for your help!