The Tree of Life café is more than just a raw food restaurant. It acts as a central point of communion for staff members, guests, and visitors to spend time together, enjoy amazing food, laugh, smile and feel their true essence. It is a place where people gather to connect, share with each other, and nourish the body, mind and soul with nutrient dense, completely live, vegan food. Ask anyone who has eaten at the Tree of Life café and they will tell you that their experience transcended all other dining experiences, to a deeper soul-level, in which the person feels more connected with the Earth and the Creator. The Tree of Life is a spiritual community, and the food served there is a reflection of this. The food goes deeper than simple taste sensations, to fully nourish the body temple.
The Tree of Life chefs and apprentices express their creativity through art, using the food as a template. The blenders, juicers, peelers and special knives are their tools of the trade. One of the things I love most about the food there is the way it catches my eye. It is truly like working with Mother Nature, using the colors and shapes that she has already provided to create an amazing culinary masterpiece. I also love the variety served at the café. Dr. Gabriel Cousens, founder and director of the Tree of Life, believes strongly that everyone's body needs different things, and different ratios of nutrients. During meal times you have the opportunity to choose the foods that best meet your own individual needs. Everyone's plate will look different.
Every day the menu changes. This gives apprentices the chance to learn and try out new recipe creations. I have spent a lot of time at the Tree, so I must admit that I've eaten a few disastrous experiments, but these instances are few and far between. I am so blessed to work at the Tree of Life, where I can eat at the café every day if I wish.
Here is an example of a day's menu:
Breakfast was live pancakes made from nut pulp flour, flax seed, agave nectar and sweet spices. On the side was as dollop of fresh coconut cream and strawberry jam. I also enjoyed a tall glass of brazil nut milk, sweetened with coconut water and touched up with a bit of mesquite and Himalayan salt. A salad bar is also available during breakfast, for those on a very low-glycemic live-it plan. A basket overflowing with grapefruits, plums, apples, and oranges is also placed on the table for those who enjoy fruit.
Lunches at the Tree include an enormous salad bar bursting with green life energy! Sprouts, kale, escarole, spinach, purslaine and cabbage abound. Accompanying the green cuisine is a montage of yellows, reds, oranges and even purples. Choose from tomatoes, summer squash, carrots, cucumbers, burdock root and much more. Many of the vegetables come from the Tree of Life's very own organic garden.
While the salad bar is good, the entrees are even better, especially for those transitioning into a live food diet. Usually there is a theme to the meal. For instance, there may be falafel and cauliflower couscous for Mediterranean day or sushi with pistachio miso dipping sauce and wasabi on the side.
Dinner is usually the simplest meal. Sometimes leftovers from lunch are served with a simple soup, flax crackers and salad. The soups are wonderful and range from a creamy tomato macadamia to a light cucumber fennel.
On Saturdays and Sundays brunch is served, which is always a more elaborate meal followed by a dessert. Making low-glycemic desserts can be a tricky at times, but the Tree of Life chefs and apprentices are always up to the challenge. They strive to make desserts that balance the blood sugar rather than cause a drastic swing up and then down. They make incredible cheesecakes, parfaits, custards, cobblers, pies and even real nut milk ice cream! It isn't better than the real thing…it IS the real thing.
The Tree of Life offers so much. The food alone is enough to bring people from all over the world there who desire to learn all the secrets. The Tree of Life has the only live-food café that I know of that serves ONLY the finest raw food products and organic produce. The meals are truly balancing and a balanced body enables us to explore so much of this world and this existence beyond food.
To make a reservation with the Tree of Life please call 520-394-2529 ext. 201. The center is located about one hour outside Phoenix, AZ. Click here for directions.
Anna was the winner of the www.rawveganteen.com "How I Went Raw" Essay Contest 2003. Read her essay. She now works at Tree of Life.
