When Kimber and I were creating the concept of Nourish, there were two things that were always our main focus. The first is obvious, making nutrient rich food craveable and the new "norm" for how food should be, unprocessed, whole and delicious. The second, was our minimal impact on this beautiful Mother Earth we all share. To us there is no other option but to go the extra mile and spend a little extra, to ensure that we are being as Eco Friendly as possible, within our small Cafe. It is said that restaurants (obviously this greatly depends the size) can produce, on average, 150,000 lbs of garbage a year. That's heartbreaking and nothing we wanted to be a part of. We just hope that our customers care as much a we do and support the local restaurants that do things differently. Let me share our green ways:
Composting
We compost everything from coffee grounds, to pulp from our juicing, to food leftover on plates. This equates to 5 large bins picked up by the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture where they grow organic food and the compost is used to enrich their soil for optimal nutrients for the food they grow.
Rethinking Food Waste
Restaurants are notorious for food waste. We just can't toss perfectly nutritious, organic, high quality food. For example, we go through 50 lbs of almonds a week making almond milk. The byproduct is almond meal. Rather than throwing this all away we use it in our Grain Free Granola, dessert crusts, breads, etc. Have you ever seen how much of a bunch of broccoli is wasted when you only eat the florets? It was too sad for us to part with the stalks, especially when they contain more fiber than the florets and just as much vitamin c, potassium and B vitamins (even folate). That's why you see some broccoli stems in your Broadway Bowl, sitting proudly next to their floret siblings.
Soaked almonds ready to make milk in the Vitamix. One cup of almonds makes approximately 5 cups of almond milk. And all of the meal is repurposed.
Compostable Take Out Containers
We have a ton of take out orders and deliveries, thank you Mr Delivery and Order Up! We also have food available daily in Clover's Natural Market. But our to go containers are made of food and completely compostable so we can send food out the door guilt free. Is it more expensive than traditional containers? Yes, quite a bit, but we believe not only is important to us, but we want to be a part of the increasing demand for products like this that will eventually drive down the price. We get our containers from EcoProducts.com.
"By lining our cups with renewable polylactic acid (PLA), we've created cups that break down in a commercial compost facility and return to the Earth, leaving nothing but life-giving compost as a legacy"
Sourcing Locally
We proudly use several local suppliers. Stanton Brothers (eggs), Goats Beard (goat cheese), Happy Hallow (produce), Three Creeks (produce), CCUA (produce), Covered L Farms (grassed fed beef), Ozark Mountain Creamery (milk), Z Best Coffee, Golden Creamery (cheese). As a customer of Nourish, not only are you supporting your local economy, but food doesn't have to travel as far (it's fresher and has more nutrients) and all of our vendors have organic practices. Not only are pesticides horrific for your body, but also for the environment. Supporting local food systems generally means less energy, emission and food miles associated with your food.
Recycle Plastic and Paper
Duh. Welcome to the 90's, of course we recycle!
We not only want to make your body, mood, hormones healthier with nutrient dense food, but now you can be reassured knowing that your waste with us turns into something wonderful.
With Gratitude,
Kalle and Kimber
