By Larry Sheingold –
It’s a good bet there were apples in the Garden of Eden. (If you can’t trust Genesis, who can you trust)?
Without the option of fire for cooking, our earliest ancestors reportedly subsisted solely on raw, plant-based, pesticide-free cuisine. Including serpent-recommended fruit.
Funny that original sin involved eating. Because our subsequent dining transgressions, while technically less original (you only get one chance to make an original sin), are no less creative.
Imagine the ingenuity needed to dream up Cocoa Puffs. Cheese fries with ranch dressing. Pretzel dogs. Whipped cream caramel pumpkin lattes. Or any of the rest of our unoriginal sins and guilty pleasures.
But attention you sinners. You don’t have to wait till next January to make life-improving resolutions. The first step is to admit you could use a little Garden of Eden diet in your life.
Easy for me to say? Not really.
I’m just as into cauliflower as the next guy. But I wouldn’t call it comfort food. Like most people, I’d prefer my meals to look appealing. To taste good. And to make me happier and, if possible, healthier than I was when I started eating.
But where can you go to eat without running into something fried or cheese-covered or wrapped in empty calories; where the key ingredients don’t include animal fat or laboratory formulas? All of that, and still be enjoyable?
Thanks for asking. Because I am pleased (and a little surprised) to introduce you to the Green Boheme – a Sacramento restaurant that makes good food that really is good food.
Drawing from organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables, the Boheme crafts meals that are unforgettable (in a good way). Big flavors. Artistic presentations. All raw.
The best part is that the menu is designed specifically to improve your health – but you won’t notice it. Instead you will discover how vivid flavors can be when they are not fried, braised, boiled, rotisseried or rolled in rice and dunked in wasabi-infused soy sauce.
The restaurant is the inspiration of chef Brooke Preston, a graduate of the Living Light Culinary Institute. She welcomes both food purists and diners like me who think the occasional healthy meal couldn’t hurt.
There are enough revelations among the dozen brightly-colored, fresh, clever and delicious entrees to make you forget all about pepperoni pizza, double burgers and fish tacos – at least for the time being.
And no matter how health conscious you may or may not be, if you like desserts, there’s a “Monkey Sundae” for you. It’s a frozen banana creamy soft serve, topped with carob-chocolate sauce, pecans, coconut and cacao nibs. It stands up to any ice cream creation in any ice cream parlor.
The Green Boheme has seven or eight tables. On our visit, each was occupied. The chefs were busy and meticulous. The wait staff friendly, knowledgeable and dedicated to the cause. (Our waitress wore a T-shirt that said: GMO aka WTF).
And, yes, there is a moral to this tale of biblical eating.
While the days of Genesis may well be over, the world is still filled with serpents beguiling us to eat things we know we shouldn’t. Sometimes the snakes win. But now and again, we all hear the call to embrace some dietary righteousness.
When that happens to you, the path is an easy one to travel. It leads to the Green Boheme on Del Paso Blvd in Sacramento.
Green Boheme is located at 1825 Del Paso Blvd. in Sacramento, CA. Phone number is (916) 920-4278. Web site: http://www.thegreenboheme.com
