By Lori Bosworth
It figures. Feel Good Guru is located in a super trendy block of Queen West retail shops directly across from Trinity Bellwoods Park…about a five minute walk from where I used to live. So I guess I’m late in discovering this vegan take-out and delivery shop that sells whole, unprocessed organic plant foods that contain no GMOs, herbicides, pesticides, hormones or pharmaceuticals.
Compliments of Feel Good Guru, I was treated to a typical lunch including the soup of the day, which was Hot and Sour Cabbage with tempeh Soup , Bangkok Doc, a vegan version of Pad Thai, RedJoice, a fresh beet, apple, ginger and lemon juice and a bliss ball for dessert.
I love cabbage soup and Feel Good Guru’s hot and sour version was more interesting than most due to the addition of tempeh, tamari, chili and rice vinegar, which gave this winter favourite a kick. I also like the fact that the vegetables were not finely chopped, allowing you to really savour their flavour. If you love Feel Good Guru’s soups, you may want to join their Soup Club. Members get fresh soups delivered in a one litre Mason jar on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to either their office or home from Jan. 7, 2013 to March 27, 2013. At $350 and 36 soups, it works out to less than $10 per one litre soup, which should leave you some left over for dinner. You can also try a shorter soup package from Jan. 7, 2013 to Jan. 27, 2013 with 12 soups for $156. Currently, Soup Club members must be in the delivery zone, which is Dufferin to the west, Wellington to the south, Queen Street to the north and University Avenue to the east.
Love Pad Thai, but not the calories? Bangkok Doc, Feel Good Guru’s super healthy version, replaces rice noodles with yam, kelp and zucchini noodles and also includes carrots, cabbage and sunflower sprouts in an almond lime sauce for added flavour. Coriander gives this dish a nutty, spicy undertone. Bangkok Doc comes in a takeout container that is 100% compostable. This carton contains a deceptively good portion of noodle salad since the salad is packed quite tightly in the container.
Interestingly, owner and vegan chef Moira Nordholt spent four years in Venice Beach, California cooking for Hollywood’s elite and appeared in the popular documentary, Forks Over Knives.
I love Feel Good Guru’s value statements such as “Our kitchen is entirely free of animal products and ‘frankenfoods,'” and ‘We believe in the power of whole unprocessed organic plant foods to transform lives,” as well as “We encourage each other to follow our bliss, to practice random acts of mirth and merriment.”
RedJoice perfectly complemented these spicy dishes. Made from beets, red apples, lemon and ginger, this juice was quite sweet with just a bit of a bite from the ginger. Beet juice contains potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium, phosphorous, folic acid and research has shown that drinking beet juice daily, helps lower blood pressure. The bliss ball for dessert, made of cocoa and nuts, was satisfying without being sweet and put the perfect finishing touch on a fabulous and nutritious lunch. Thank you Feel Good Guru! I have to admit I felt virtuous after having eaten it.
Feel Good Guru, 917 Queen Street West (just east of Strachan Avenue), 647-748-5800. Open Tuesday-Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Monday.
