by Ahkote Havanah E. Shlomo
KNN-Houston, Texas
The Garden of Life Vegan Deli (GLVD) officially opened its doors for business on Saturday, February 13 after a ribbon-cutting ceremony inclusive of live music, dance, poetry, and food sampling and guest nutritionist speaker.
Aturah Yafah E. Yehoadeen, nutritionist and author of both the original Soul Vegetarian Cookbook and The New Soul Vegetarian Cookbook, shared some health facts and words of wisdom for eating and living for the attainment of everlasting life."This is so needed," Aturah Yafah said about the deli. "This is the future. This is the future right now. As you look out, our people can not continue to consume the things they consume and to have the lifestyle they have. You see what its doing to us in your own families-the degeneration, the disease, the unhealthiness of the body. It's not just occurring in African Americans and not just with the elders, but even our children are experiencing it now."
Aturah Yafah warned that in being a vegan, there are still limitations and cautious measures one must take to assure a healthy diet. She stressed the need for us to change our taste buds and to free ourselves from the desire of excess salt, sugar and fat.
"We have to make sure nether to become "SAD" (Standard American Diet) adherents nor to consume the "SAD"-vegan style diet. We can't do that. We have to change and retrain our taste buds," she said. "We were mis-educated. We have to re-educate our own selves. We let somebody else feed us and they did not do a good job. So we're firing them and we are taking control over own destiny through our own food. Our women are back in the kitchen again, halleluYah!"
Additionally, Aturah Yafah shared three phenomenal things that are destroying the health of the human family and the health of your family: a lack of water, a lack of a sleep, and stress.
"We must calm down. We must stop. There are many benefits in stopping and regenerating," she said.
GLVD is owned and operated by the Houston extension of the African Hebrew Israelite Community, and is but one of the many extensions of the Community's international chain of vegan restaurants including the Soul Vegetarian Restaurants, Ta'am Ha'Khieem (A Taste of Life) Restaurant (Israel), and Asasse Pa (The Earth is Good) (Ghana, West Africa). As a whole, the Community humbly promotes the vegan lifestyle that it has practiced for over 40 years, and assures its patrons that they can be free of all worries when dining in their eateries.
"Whether you are a vegan or transitioning into a vegan, this is the perfect place for you because it's not just the food we are going to give you. We are going to give you how to eat the food and explain what the food does for your body," said Bahtyah E. Shalame, the grand opening's mistress of ceremony.
"We just don't deal in the area of food, but we are the foremost nutritionists on the planet! I don't want you to think this is just another vegan restaurant. On our fliers, it says "a vegan's paradise. It means you have no fears, no worries when you come here and take part in the cuisine, because we are not just here cooking. This is our lifestyle."
The deli, located at 12121 Veterans Memorial, is Houston's only completely vegan deli. During the event, guests delighted their palates with samples of barbecue tofu, lentil bean soup, macaroni and our homemade soy cheeze, greens, jollof rice, marinated kale greens, carrot supreme, broccoli salad, almond nut loaf, wakame salad, cous cous, cornbread, sweet potato pie, vegan chocolate cake, vegan brownies and vegan chocolate covered strawberries.
Are you hungry yet? That's just a portion of the menu's offerings!
For more information about the deli or to check out daily specials, call (in the US) at +1 (281)893-4300.
