ocean drive “how to eat clean in miami (even dessert)”

FOOD + DRINK / HOW TO EAT CLEAN IN MIAMI (EVEN DESSERT)

How to Eat Clean in Miami (Even Dessert)

BY STEPHANIE DUNN

A slew of green, vegan, and organic companies provide locally grown and packaged cleanfoods to Miami and beyond.

From left: Endlessly Organic’s Cheryl Arnold, Arden Karson, and Lindsay Scherr Burgess at Surfside Urban Gardeners Community Garden.

Take a stroll along the sandy beaches of South Florida or the catwalks of the Design District and Lincoln Road,and you’ll see gorgeous bodies and perfectly groomed faces. But no less important than what’s on the outside iswhat’s on the inside. As American consumers devour organic products (sales in the United States jumped to $35.1billion in 2013, according to the Organic Trade Association), nowhere is that more evident than in Miami, wherethe fruits, vegetables, grains, and overall clean-eating trend has become all the rage. And a number of localcompanies have popped up to meet the demand.

Surfside-based organic buying club Endlessly Organic lets members bring home the harvest with boxes of 100percent USDA-certified organic produce, ready for pickup at more than 80 locations from Palm Beach Gardens toCutler Bay. Helmed by Cheryl Arnold, Lindsay Scherr Burgess, and Arden Karson, the company has a simplemission: to bring color to your kitchen, to make it as convenient as possible, and to build community in theprocess.

Every other week, members take home a box geared to one of five themes—Mixed, Juicer’s, Fruit Lover’s, VeryVeggie, or Paleo—brimming with goodies such as crisp kale, jewel-toned beets, sun-ripened berries, and otherseasonal staples that are locally sourced wherever possible, and free of pesticides, GMOs, and radiation. Whilethe ingredients themselves are simple, each box comes with access to recipes, storage tips, educational videos,and cooking classes for “organic produce virgins.” When the team finalize their home delivery service, you’ll beable to have garden goods delivered straight to your doorstep.

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Ginnybakes provides gluten-free treats, created by holistic nutritionist Ginny Simon.

When it comes to healthy living, Ginny Simon, founder of Miami-based Ginnybakes (305-638-5103), insists youcan have your cake (and cookies, muffins, and bars) and eat it, too. A certified holistic nutritionist and healthcoach, Simon mixed her passions for baking and education by creating DIY bake mixes for clients with celiacdisease. The demand for her health-conscious confections became so great that she developed a line ofbake-at-home products for commercial sale, and ultimately launched a full-blown industrial kitchen in 2011. “I don’tthink anyone should have to sacrifice taste for health,” says Simon. “We add flavor with whole foods like coconutand raisins, or high-antioxidant organic chocolate. If you’re going to indulge, let it be on something that’s mindfuland tastes great.”

Today, Simon offers fresh-baked cookies, brownies, biscotti, bars, and bake mixes that are gluten-free, organic,non-GMO, vegan, paleo, and kosher. She owes her success entirely, she says, to her hometown of Miami. “I thinkSouth Florida is a bit like California in that it’s a little more cutting edge, a little more aware. And with Miami being acoastal city, it’s been positioned at the forefront of the clean, locally sourced movement.”

Mariana Cortez’s bite-size Bunnie Cakes cupcakes cater to those with common food allergies.

Bunnie Cakes (2322 NE Second Ave., Miami, 786- 268-9790) is another homegrown success story, this one bornout of necessity. Founder Mariana Cortez’s son needed a dairy-and gluten free birthday cake, but no local bakershad any. So Cortez took matters into her own kitchen, modifying her grandmother’s cake recipes to cook updelicious treats free of common allergens. Now, her kitschy Wynwood storefront sells her bite-size cupcakes,cookies, brownies, doughnuts, cakes, and even items like empanadas and cacao chia pudding, which she makeswithout soy, gluten, or peanuts. “Our most popular flavors are guava, passion fruit, and dulce no leche,” Cortez

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says. “These are flavors I grew up with; each of them takes me to my infancy. I just adapted them to make themvegan and vegan gluten-free so everyone can enjoy them.”

It’s more proof of an evolving palate in the South Florida region, where preservatives, fillers, and artificial flavorsare disappearing while innovative ideas, natural foods, and forward thinking are driving a new wave of culinaryentrepreneurship. “You never see a wild animal that’s out of shape,” says Scott Joseph, whose four flavors of theHollywood-based Chimp Food are available at more than 50 health food stores and green markets across SouthFlorida. “And because our DNA is 99 percent the same as a chimp’s, it hit me that eating whole, raw fruits andvegetables is the way to go.”

When Joseph says whole, he means it: Each 16-ounce bottle of Chimp Food contains 25 veggies, fruits, berries,nuts, and seeds that are blended whole—peel, stems, and all—so your body can absorb the extra vitamins andminerals that would typically be thrown away.

Miami-based Velu is a tasty shot of healthy wheatgrass.

Wheatgrass, high in concentrations of vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, calcium, and other nutrients, is another dietstaple of healthy eaters, and Jason Magrisso has developed a company to make sating that need in Miami moreconvenient than ever. Magrisso is the owner of premium wheatgrass beverage Velu. Derived from the Spanishwords ver luz, meaning “see the light,” Velu combines two shots of organic wheatgrass with apple and lemon juiceto provide a flavorful immunity boost without the bitter aftertaste that sometimes comes with shooting the greenstuff straight.

“We live in a society that’s constantly moving and need a healthy beverage we can grab on our way out the door,”says Magrisso of Velu, which is stocked at about 40 stores throughout Florida and will be rolling out mango andpeach flavors within the next year. “Velu is packed with vitamins A, B, C, and K, and it’s also high in chlorophyll,which cleanses and builds the blood. Plus, it tastes delicious, kind of like a cross between green tea and plumjuice.”

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ocean drive “how to eat clean in miami (even dessert)”

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