Soul Vegetarian East - Chicago South Side

Religion, food choices go hand in hand at restaurant
By Lisa Donovan
Chicago Sun Times

When asked about the philosophy behind the no-meat, no-dairy menu at Soul Vegetarian East restaurant on the South Side, the waiter reached back to a story at the very beginning of time.

Or, at least, the beginning of biblical time.

He pointed to the the Old Testament, Genesis 1:29, which offers "God also said: 'See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food."

For the African Hebrew Israelites, which operate the Park Manor eatery at 205 E. 75th, this was a call to veganism.

The movement, whose members believe they are among a lost sect of ancient Israelites, began in Chicago in the 1960s and today has more than 10,000 members in the United States.

For diners, there's no doubt that God has had a hand in the tangy collard greens, the gritty yet moist cornbread paired with the lentil soup, and the Down-South Barbecue Twist Sandwich, $6.
(The twist is that it's not brisket or chicken but a soy protein shaped into an imperfect cutlet, baked and bathed in a sweet barbecue sauce.)

Proprietors of the 25-year-old restaurant, catering to the take-out crowd as well as the power suits, say it was an examination of their own diet, including traditional African-American soul food, that led them to today's menu.

"We were conspiring against ourselves, with the heavy carbohydrates, heavy salt. What was soul food, actually was killing us physically," says Prince Asiel Ben-Israel, the restaurant's owner and international ambassador for the Black Hebrews.

The "Genesis diet," as wife Yohanna Israel calls it, is heavy on fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains that fuel body and soul. See: Religion, food choices go hand in hand at restaurant