Women at Opportunity Green, plus yummy vegan food

My favorite panel at Saturday's enviro-biz conference Opportunity Green: "Women In Sustainability Shaping the Future." And my favorite panelist was Ann Gentry, founder of Real Food Daily, one of my favorite restaurants.

Apparently, RFD's now feeding 3,500 people a week! I'm one of those 3,500 -- and a loyal one at that. In fact, I had plans to eat at the West Hollywood RFD with my friend Roberta on Thursday -- except I was so worn out from the L.A. Auto Show that I totally forgot until she called asking where I was. Oops....

I ended up biking over to the Santa Monica RFD to pick up a few desserts, got into a Flexcar, and drove over to Roberta's place. Never underestimate the ability of yummy vegan desserts to make amends. Roberta says her fave was the Apple Crisp, though the Carrot Cake ran a close second, and the gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookie disappeared before either of those.

But back to the panel. Ann talked about some of the enviro reasons for pursuing a less animal product-intensive diet, then went into some of the other ways RFD's trying to go green, from compostable take-out packaging to biodegradable cleaning products to an intensive recycling program. "We will continue to be a leader and set the pace for organic vegan restaurants," Ann said.

A common theme among the panelists was the intersection between personal health with environmental consciousness. Ellen Strickland, founder of the eco-store Livingreen, talked about her experience with multiple sclerosis: "My environment impacted my health and my quality of life," Ellen said, and making that connection got her more interested in environmentally-friendly housing materials.

And women-driven businesses are expanding. Heather Stephenson, cofounder of the eco-e-newsletter Ideal Bite, announced that her company's in the process of launching local editions so people can "purchase things from their own backyards." The NYC and San Francisco versions launched in September; L.A.'ll get its own version in the new year, with seven more city editions launching during 2008.

After the panel, I ran after Ann (right person on right) to ask the question all L.A. peeps have been dying to ask: "So -- when's the Santa Monica location going to get its liquor license?"

January or February, Ann said. Come spring, Santa Monicans'll be able to eat their vegan carrot cake and drink organic wine too.

A sidenote: An L.A. dude's going vegan for two months, and vlogging the process at Vu goes Vegan. The vlog looks cute so far! Watch it, and get to know 'bout all the cool vegan -- or at least could-be-vegan restaurants we have in L.A. (via blogging.la).

Just to be clear, I'm not vegan. But I'm lactose intolerant, and eggs aren't my favorite food, and I don't eat factory-farmed meats, so I like vegan restaurants.

Photos by Siel

Comments

[Ed A]

Sounds like the book, "The Greening of America" from the '70s, not about environment or food but culture. I think this article with the breathless green chatter will sound similarly dated in 30 years.

[Jennifer Cilloniz]

Athens Services has been contracted by the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation to provide a Food Waste/Organic Recycling program to all restaurants that are interested in becoming a Green restaurant. Is there any way that the program could be advertised? Jennifer 562-336-3636