Collingwood’s Pure Food Bar makes healthy, raw food that explodes with flavour
by Emily Worts
photography by Kristie & Brenden Woods
Spring is detox season and as the body prepares itself for the abundant local harvests of fresh produce, appetites transition from winter cravings for hearty stews and heavy breads towards something lighter.
“It’s a time when your body naturally detoxes,” says Jacqueline Graham, co-owner of Pure Food Bar in Collingwood. “It’s time to give your body a rest.”
Unlike many other area restaurants, which suffer from a spring lull between the winter and summer seasons, this is a very busy time of year for Pure – most likely because there is nowhere better to enjoy a great meal while letting your body, and digestive system, rest than in this small, sparsely decorated raw food restaurant.
Pure’s large front windows flood the restaurant with natural light. I meet a friend for lunch in a window seat and she greets me with two quick sneezes; she is fighting a cold. We have come to the right place. The food at Pure isn’t just delicious; every bite is a mouthful of good health.
My friend chooses a juice called Blood Infusion made with chlorella – a sea vegetable which is a complete protein and high in iron and chlorophyll.
“It’s basically like a blood infusion,” says Graham of the drink. This juice also has acerola cherry, high in vitamin C, to help absorb the iron, and some sparkling apple juice for taste.
Feeling boosted by one of the first sunny days we’ve had in a long time, I choose a Tropical Bliss smoothie made with rare organic coconut meat, Valencia orange, cashew, banana, honey, almond-coconut milk and vanilla powder. The drink is meaty and the coconut – frozen in situ in Thailand (to avoid formaldehyde commonly used to preserve coconut for long-distance travel) – tastes like it’s been hand-picked especially for me. The taste of vanilla is strong, pure and decadent, thanks to the use of vanilla powder rather than the extract.
I slowly enjoy my shake, which transports me to warmer climes and sandy beaches. It is a delicious treat and tastes indulgent enough to be dessert.
As we peruse the eclectic menu, Bob Marley croons from speakers above.
“We want this to be a fun experience,” says Graham. “We want to offer something people don’t make at home.”
The menu, created by Graham and her husband, Sam Buob, mimics the menus of more conventional restaurants with burgers, nachos, wraps and pasta. But there is nothing conventional about how these items are prepared. Nothing is cooked, everything is vegan, and almost all the ingredients are organic.
You won’t hear the clanging of pots being whisked from flaming stoves or the incessant hum from overhead fans coming from the open kitchen. Five dehydrators, with nine shelves each, are the kitchen’s workhorses. Whether it’s a coconut-mango wrap, a macaroon, or almond-chili lime chips, the dehydrator is packed with creative combinations of ingredients, slowly transforming in texture to make a raw menu possible.
Every single item, from the mustard to the zucchini pasta, is homemade. The grind of the Vitamix (a super-charged blender with a lawn mower engine) can be heard every few minutes turning cashews into ‘cheese,’ whizzing tomatoes into soup, and grinding nuts into ‘meat’. The only other tools you will find in this kitchen are a juicer, a collection of really good knives, a food processor, a couple of mandolins, loads of refrigeration and an espresso machine that not only makes a mean latté with almond-coconut milk (it’s vegan, too), but whose steam wand is also used to heat soups like smokin’ tomato, miso or mushroom vegetable, so they can be served warm but are still considered raw.
We order our starters – spring rolls and nachos – and watch people come and go to the take-out counter, ordering power juices and shakes. Two types of juices are made daily with various combinations of kale, spinach, celery, cucumbers, apples, ginger, beets and carrots. Served in mason jars, they last five days and are great for people who are fasting, says Graham. “There is a day’s worth of nutrition in one jar,” says Graham. “People see it as their booster for the day. Then they can eat whatever they want after that,” she jokes.
The service is appropriately relaxed. No one is uptight or frenzied, and I find myself decompressing in the bright space.
“Everyone does everything,” explains Graham of why Pure’s staff are so relaxed. “The person serving you also made the crackers and the milk (which is made from blended coconut, almonds and vanilla powder and then strained through a sieve).”
The spring rolls arrive and are a mix of marinated and fresh vegetables along with ‘vermicelli’ noodles made from zucchini. The wrap is dehydrated coconut and mango and is akin to fruit leather. The hint of fresh mint and the light no-peanut sauce add a burst of flavour.
The nachos, made with corn flax chips, guacamole, cashew sour ‘cream,’ salsa and ground nut ‘meat,’ are delicious. The sour cream is rich and tangy and I wonder how it is made here in a vegan restaurant.
“We start with cashew and coconut meat and blend it with lemon juice,” says Graham. “Then it ferments on top of the espresso machine for an hour, bringing out the sour flavour.”
It is amazing how Buob and Graham’s creativity and knowledge have brought this food to life. We could probably end our lunch here, but our curiosity and fascination with this different type of food encourages us to explore the menu a little further. We choose the Liberator Burger and the Truffle Pasta.
The purple burger (there are some beets in there) contains mainly mushrooms and nuts. Its thin ‘bun’ is a mixture of nuts and seeds. What really makes this burger stand out is the combination of homemade condiments, especially the mustard. This sweet mustard uses mango as its base, with mustard seed, cashew and apple cider vinegar adding additional flavour and texture.
“This is the most popular item for people who are here for the first time,” says Graham. “It is the most traditional.”
The Truffle Pasta might be my favourite item we have tried today. With the help of a mandolin, thin ribbons of zucchini become noodles, cradling a rich dairy-free cream sauce with fresh herbs, nori and the unmistakable flavour of truffle oil.
Our hour-long lunch date has come to an end. My friend must get back to work but I stay and linger over a cup of Red Honey Bush tea. I ask my server to pack up a slice of chocolate ganache cake (made with coconut meat and raw cacao sweetened with maple syrup, with an almond and maple sugar crust) for a late afternoon treat. For now I am completely satisfied and satiated here in my sun-drenched seat. ❧
