Q: How do you know
someone is a _______ ?
A: They tell you.
Q: What do you call 1000
_______ at the bottom of the ocean?
A: A good start.
Q: What’s the
difference between _______ and _______ ?
A: _______ knows they
are a dickhead.
In versions of these
jokes, I have heard the person in question be Harvard alumni, corporate
lawyers, and vegans. I am sympathetic to
the vegan cause and with K being an aspiring one, we mainly have a plant based diet at home. Yet, it will be noted from the first post that I do not count myself
among their ranks and in future posts there will be meat involved. If I were going to advocate an ethical style of eating, it
would be one that was resolutely local and involved some killing and butchering
of wild meat myself. In that way, I take deep pleasure in eating the fish, lobster
or abalone I catch down on the south west coast back home.
But in New York, the
options for eating meat are somewhat different. Meat here runs from factory
farmed, agribusiness, monstrous flesh to the pasture raised, locally sourced,
organic varieties that one purchases from local markets where you know the
farmer’s name. When dining out, it is harder to determine meat’s provenance, and
sometimes that causes concern or changes our choice of dishes. This brings me
to one of our favourite places to eat lunch – Peacefood Café. K and I prefer it
to nearby vegan restaurants Mana and Blossom du Jour, though all of them have appealing
qualities.
Peacefood serves a menu
that is all American café – Caesar salad, gyoza, corn chowder, cheeseburger,
not-chicken tenders, sushi, fries. The staff are friendly in an absent-minded
way, kind of gentle and fluid, never rushed or hurrying, daggy too in sweatpants and joggers, or socks and sandals. Over
the speakers they play an eclectic selection of music from slow and smooth R'n'B
to jangling freeform jazz. On one wall, there are old posters and Disney
figurines, near the window a large round table and plants. It is lived in like
a sharehouse, reminiscent of undergraduate lentil stew that was eaten while you
spend hours in a fire bath humming reggae tunes. Peacefood is a
restaurant paved with good intentions. It is charming in the way that one’s local pub is
charming, rather than being a magnetic destination that pulls one from miles
away, and we like it because it is close by.
I have eaten their soup
and their salad, but what I like best of all are their sandwiches. They bear
very little resemblance to the stacks of meat, cheese, sauces found in delis
right across New York. At Peacefood, they are made of crumbling house-baked
brown bread that tastes like reason in a society high on sugar and missing
fibre. Mine is filled with roasted pumpkin puree, caramelised onions, ground
walnuts, cashew cheese and greens. As a whole, it is sweet and jammy, kind of
soft and welcoming in a pliable, mushy way. The pumpkin is rich and has been
roasted brown before being mashed, the onions cooked low and slow so they complement it with an intense depth of flavour, the greens are fresh and crispy,
and the nuts do the work of flavourful condiments. It is served with a side of
pickled jicama and a bunch of alfalfa sprouts, both of which lift and refresh.
The effect
of eating here matters. One feels satisfied and somehow enlightened as though the
tasty good times have become tasty good vibes, that one has taken into the body the peace that the café is trying to cultivate. When it comes to
walking out the door, one does so with a spring in the step. You feel uplifted in
your body, clean if somewhat self-congratulatory, and in very different shape
than if you had downed a stack of cold cuts slathered in creamy dressing on white
bread. Maybe now you can do 100 sun salutations and greet the stranger on the
street with smiles that are beatific, and all because of a $12 sandwich.
Peacefood Café
460 Amsterdam Ave, New
York, NY 10024
10 AM – 10 PM
Subway: 1 at 79th Street; C, B at 81st Street.
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