As our lifestyles get greener, so do our appetites.
Alternatives to overprocessed foods ? grown, packaged and shipped in methods draining the Earth ? are cropping up in Maryland. These restaurants are hosting events and employing eco-conscious practices that would make even Earth Day founders Denis Hayes and the late Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson proud.
– Sip green, organic wines and discuss your energy-saving ideas and concerns for the Chesapeake Bay during The Purple Tooth?s Earth Day festivities. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Annapolis bar, named after enamel-staining reds. Owners Emmy Harbo and Maureen Fallon handcrafted much of the bar?s “as green as possible” furniture. The bar, made of concrete using recycled glass and aggregate, boasts a cork floor, wine racks created from sustainable wood and a register station made of trunk from a mulberry tree that died during a lightening storm. While voicing your green opinion on Earth Day, be sure to sample the Purple Tooth?s perfected almonds, roasted in salt and olive oil, and the luscious honey from the Harbo family apiary in Louisiana. For more information, visit thepurpletooth.com.
-Compassion Over Killing?s latest success is Baltimore City?s Brick Oven Pizza.
With help from Compassion Over Killing, BOP began topping pizzas with Teese, a vegan cheese. This makes BOP the first pizzeria in Baltimore City to serve vegan cheese pizza, according to BOP. To celebrate BOP?s veganism, the award-winning pizzeria will donate 10 percent of its vegan menu sales April 22 to Compassion Over Killing, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that works to end cruelty to animals in agriculture. BOP is at 800 S. Broadway St. The favorite of late-night Fells Point revelers is open 24 hours a day. For BOP?s complete menu, visit boppizza.com.
– Wind-powered electricity keeps Canton?s Austin Grill going.
Since 2003, Austin Grill restaurants have harnessed wind, a clean and inexhaustible energy source, to produce electricity. No fuel is burned to produce the power, so no pollutants are emitted, according to Austin Grill. “Wind power displaces power from coal, oil, nuclear and gas facilities and therefore prevents their pollutants and radioactive wastes. Additionally, it marginalizes the impacts of drilling, mining, shipping, burning, and storing associated with fossil fuels,” its Web site reads. For more information, visit austingrill.com.
– Woodberry Kitchen creates dishes rooted in the Chesapeake region?s traditions, techniques and ingredients.
The popular Baltimore City restaurant buys from local growers and features organic meats and food grown at farms dedicated to working without causing irreversible damage to the ecosystem. Marvesta Shrimp Farms and One Straw Farm ? Maryland?s largest organic vegetable farm ? are among Woodberry?s suppliers. To read a complete list of suppliers, visit woodberrykitchen.com.
– We?d be remiss not to mention Hampden?s Dogwood Deli, named after the first tree the husband and wife owners, Galen and Bridget Sampson, planted together after they tied the knot. To read about their pledge to build a business and menu that does not harm people or the Earth, visit dogwoodgourmet.org.
