It's hard to miss Bart Potenza. Tall and lean, with a big smile, he turns to face me and, before speaking a word, he puffs out his chest. His light green t-shirt is printed with the words, "I Am Green."
The founder of Candle Cafe and Candle 79, the acclaimed vegan restaurants located on the Upper East Side in New York City, exudes energy when he enters the room. A vegan for 17 years, he looks at least a decade younger than he is. Over a cup of peppermint tea and a plate of Candle 79's famous seitan, he and Francesca MacAaron, the manager, discussed their commitment to a vegan lifestyle and how that commitment translates into the Candle restaurants.
Candle 79, the fancier of the two branches on the Upper East Side, has fed Oprah (she liked the black bean burger), Dr. Oz, Fathy Freston, and Paul McCartney as well as a base of extremely loyal clients who are now introducing another generation of diners to the restaurant by bringing their children with them to dinner. Candle Cafe, located a few blocks away in the same neighborhood, is more low-key but just as popular.
Despite the high-profile names Candle 79 can boast of in their clientele, Potenza said he does not want the food to be considered elitist. He claims switching to a vegan lifestyle was easy for him. Additionally, only about 20 percent of the customers at Candle 79 are 100 percent vegan, according to Potenza. They return to the restaurant simply because they like eating the food.
"It's more difficult to change people's eating habits than their religion or politics," Potenza said, saying he has a great deal of respect for people's upbringing, but also mentioning awareness of how food has changed over the years. "We take a good idea and run it into the ground, trying to make it better, stronger, faster." He said the modifications to food are causing negative reactions such as food allergies.
Potenza said a vegan lifestyle is concerned with large-scale sustainability. Candle 79 utilizes more than one thousand local farmers in the tri-state area to decrease the fuel used in transporting the product. The restaurant's menu changes five times a year, based on the availability of local produce. In addition, the restaurant has a very low carbon footprint. The kitchen does not use jet fuel, they do not serve meat or dairy, and they were one of the first restaurants to utilize composting. And, as a crowning touch, the booths are covered with recycled, sustainable fabrics.
"A vegan lifestyle is not about deprivation. It's about a delicious life - full and rich. Food is about pleasure," MacAaron said. "You feed the body, mind and spirit." She descrubed the vegan lifestyle as having a great deal of support, especially in online communities, saying, "We're in a beautiful time, with all of this connectivity and all this opportunity to share. People that are riding their bikes to the farmer's market are also on their iPhones."
While acknowledging that a vegan lifestyle is not an inexpensive one, Potenza and MacAaron both described it as an investment in the future of a person's health as well as the planet. They also cited a recent New York Post article where the author shopped and four different grocery stores, looking for the least expensive option, and the most cost-effective store was Whole Foods.
"It's not like anybody lives forever," Potenza said. "You could live until you're 95 on a respirator. Or you could live until you're 89 and feel amazing."
Source: BecauseAction.com
