Whole foods, Kombucha and Tea houses……..

It is so exciting being in a place where wholefoods is mainstream (as long as you can try to ignore all the McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks and the like).

I’m having a two day break in one of my favourite cities of all time – New York City. I have been here a few times though it is a city that changes rapidly – one thing I am noticing and that is super exciting is that there is such a resurgence of whole food outlets, tea houses, health food supermarkets and even healthy fast food chains. It’s quite exciting.

When I entered the small Deli (supermarket) near my accommodation I was so pleasantly surprised at all the variety of kombucha drinks you can buy – that have no added sugar but rather lots of incredible combinations like pomegranate and chia, or coconut water and ginger – and they are absolutely delicious. I admit that the fruits and vegetables don’t look as good as the produce at the market in our home town in Crete but hey – it still looked great and better than eating a Big Mac. You can buy anything from chia and veggie chips with minimal salt, to kefir drinks and organic everything – and that wasn’t even a health food store!

One of the really exciting things I have seen is all the tea houses that are popping up – whilst I don’t think they will give Starbucks too much trouble, it’s wonderful to have the choice of groovy places to sit, use wifi, eat raw food organic treats, and choose from a great variety of world teas. I’m sitting in one of these tea houses right now called ‘Argo’. It is such a cosy and welcoming place, lovely escape from the snowy world outside but also wonderful to sit by the window and watch the world go by. Yesterday I chose Armenian mint as i felt I needed a lift after the long flight the day before. It was quite different to usual peppermint and was very refreshing and yes it did clear my fuzzy head. I don’t think I had enough to drink yesterday morning – and as a Kidney Lymphatic iris type – this is the most important thing I need to do for my health so the Armenian mint definitely did the trick. Today I tried Argentinian mate latte – made with real tea and almond milk which wasn’t sweetened. Absolutely delicious. Such a change from Starbucks where a few years ago I got a soy latte and even after I insisted that I don’t want flavourings or a super size upgrade or anything like that I just couldn’t understand why it still tasted sweet. Well – they use sweetened soy milk! I only made that mistake once.

The ambience in here is lovely, there are many people sitting with their children, working on computers, watching the world go by outside the window. It’s very relaxing. Thank you Argo – and I love their mission!

‘We are PASSIONATE about bringing teas directly from the GROWERS around the world and blending them into UNIQUE and delicious signature beverages and teas. We are COMMITTED to being a SUSTAINABLE business by working with the best local and global tea, coffee and food artisans & by contributing back to our communities to promote a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE & the conservation of NATURAL RESOURCES.’ Argo tea house.

Thank you Argo for the few hours of peace, ambience, delicious food and amazing teas. You have my vote!

The best thing about this whole food resurgence that I’m witnessing is that it is very mainstream and it’s not these tiny specialty places in the backstreets. Maybe it’s a trend we might see spread to other parts of the world. I hope so.

Have an awesome day
Christos