Walking into Indigo Raw Food, passion, integrity and authenticity permeate the air. The quaint multi-coloured chairs, unassuming countertop and eclectic mix of furniture tell a story all their own as it’s plain to see that a love of food and a scrupulous dedication to quality and freshness is the driving force behind this family run business. The story behind the birth of Indigo Raw Food is almost as delicious as digging into one of their meticulously created delights!
The Chef
Lovena Galyide, a Ukraine-born architect and now raw chef, brought her family to Canada nine years ago. She noticed a terrifying trend starting to take hold in the foods she was eating and the food she believed to be nourishing her children. The entire family began gaining weight, feeling lethargic and as soon as her son began developing allergies, she knew diet was the culprit!
This busy mom began trending back towards a raw diet to bring her family back to health and discovered a joy in sharing whole, healthy foods. Her knowledge spread from her family to her friends as she began immersing herself in holistic nutrition and getting back into the kitchen with quality, wholesome ingredients. Her genius was sparked as her friends began gathering in her kitchen for cooking lessons and displays wanting to learn Lovena’s tricks of the trade.
She saw an opportunity to teach and began offering classes out of her home to empower others about how to take control of their health. As the popularity of her classes grew and began to push her kitchen to its limits, Lovena knew it was time to expand to another location.
The Restaurant
Indigo Raw Food been nestled into their cozy home on West 16th avenue, Vancouver, BC for two years, bursting with the same excitement as day one with one mission: to change the way people see food.
“If you want to see change, you need to change people’s habits,” says Lovena with a smile as she leaned against the bright yellow backing of her chair, “through the food, you change people’s lives.”
Nothing in the restaurant is there by chance as Lovena’s vision was to create a space that customers would see as their own living room and feel comfortable to call their own – right down to the lending library of books in the corner to the wall hangings encouraging a lifestyle that keeps us connected to the Earth. Consciousness is in every detail as all the items are recycled or came second-hand from Craigslist during the creation of the cafe.
The philosophy behind Indigo Raw Food is to make healthy living accessible for anyone. They looked to have one place where an entire family can feel comfortable from grandparents who appreciate down-home cooking to teenagers eating a 100% raw diet and everyone in between.
The Food
At Indigo they believe that strict ideals will only alienate people so that’s why their 90 percent raw menu is infused with a twist on traditional European fare with items like borcht, cabbage rolls and even perogies! You’ll find collard wraps, raw pizzas, kelp salads, kale chips, buckwheat crepes and coconut creme pie, so making a decision is often easier said than done.
For my visit, Lovena shared some of their most popular items which ranged from raw to cooked, gluten-free and gluten-full. The common thread woven throughout the feast was deliciousness!
First off, was a starter of Indigo’s well-known kale chips. Lovena informed me that they were some of the most sought after in the city and with an introduction like that, I was waiting with baited breath. The chips definitely did not disappoint! If you avoid dairy and are looking for something with a cheese-like taste, cashews, garlic, lemon juice and nutritional yeast sprinkled into this snack definitely does the trick. They could satisfy even the most opposed to raw foods with an out of this world crunch!
Next to grace the table was the Mermaid Kelp Noodle Salad. Made with a combination of kelp and dulce seaweeds, zucchini noodles, carrots, bok choy, bell pepper, and mushrooms, this salad danced on my tongue and zipped across my taste buds. The soft and elegant swimming of the kelp and zucchini were balanced perfectly by the crisp shredded carrot, bok choy and red pepper. The delicate balance of the salad was only intensified with a showering of soy sauce and sesame oil, with a zing of lemon, garlic and ginger.
Now given that perogies are Indigo’s most popular dish and coming from Ukrainian heritage myself, I couldn’t help myself when Lovena asked if I wanted to give them a try. Most of the time, I eat gluten-free but whether it was our great conversation, the laughter that filled the restaurant, or the fact that perogies seem to pull on my heartstrings like nothing else, I made an exception to my rule to give them a shot…and am I ever glad I did!
With a choice of either mashed potato or sauerkraut filling in the perogies, I decided to try the latter. As a plateful of doughy cabbage filled half moons were placed in front of me, I knew I was in for a treat. The melt in your mouth exterior was complemented perfectly by the creamy tart sauerkraut centre. With a drizzling of cashew cream to replace the more classic sour cream, a sprinkling of chives and a dollop of house-made sauerkraut on top, the ode to tradition with a kick of Lovena’s raw inspiration is a wonderful marriage of flavours, tastes and texture.
As I sat in post-meal bliss, contemplating why it had taken me so long to try out Indigo, a succulent surprise came to the table. The chocolate ganache. I’d like to consider myself somewhat of a cacao conoiseur as I’ve eaten and created many cacao creations, but these bite-sized beauties were out of this world.
The velvety richness that tantalized my tongue was round and full as the sun-dried cherries gave it a certain punch. These dairy-free delights are something that should be thoroughly enjoyed slowly, mindfully and in the company of friends as they are small but mighty in the flavour department.
As I made my way towards the door, murmurs of the latest candida diet came from one table as they sipped on carrot-curry soup while an elderly man and woman tried to decide what perogy filling to choose for their Saturday night meal. Indigo Raw Food’s vision of an accepting space for all walks of life was perfectly, poignantly, and deliciously reflected.
