There has been a lot of talk on cVillain related to the local/slow/organic food movement. Gobbler wrote a post on the economics behind sustaining a 100% organic diet, thanks to his wife’s new infatuation with the hit-book “Skinny Bitch”. Vanillavy submitted himself to days upon days of a 100% vegetarian diet and prepared a local vegetarian food guide.

So the Charlottesville City Farmers Market is one way to participate in this scene, but there are many other places to embrace this spirit all over town. Courtesy of the Piedmont Environmental Council’s Buy Fresh Buy Local guide, here is the directory to end all directories for the local food scene:

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Popularity: 46% [?]

Inspired by reading Michael Pollan’s “Omnivore’s Dilemma” as well as previous posts about the lack of vegetarian offerings in cville, I wanted to look deeper into Charlottesville’s vegetarian friendly scene. I know, Pollan’s book focuses more on “local” and “slow” food, but I have to start somewhere. This post is thus part of a multi-series journey into all things vegetarian in Charlottesville. The next couple of days will be spent only eating veggie fare in Charlottesville. Meat haters rejoice.

Despite the dreary weather, we can always rely on comfort food. And what better way to remind yourself of your American upbringing than a dinner in the city’s only Tibetan Slash Nepalese Slash Indian restaurant? I know, the logic is shocking. But the weather does inspire you to try something new, and I am very glad we did.

The downtown mall was totally dead last night…and then we came across Himalayan Fusion and the place is packed (as much as it can be on a Monday night in cville).

And as you walk in…

• Décor (check)
• Ambient lighting (check)
• Full bar (check)
• Open check (double check)
• Theme music (check)

It seemed to have all the puzzle pieces a solid restaurant has to offer, but what of the food? We decided to start with an appetizer, or how about three?

Chat Papry: Chickpeas, potatoes, and crispy wafers tossed in a tamarind dressing and finished off with a a wonderfully plated yogurt sauce. This dish is served cold and could be compared to an Indian salsa. It was dam good. The menu says crispy wafers, but they really looked like fried wonton wrappers…still good though! This dish is definitely worth a try to the shy diners…it shouldn’t dissapoint.

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Popularity: 34% [?]

[written by Smiley]

Okay, it’s not downtown, it’s not a one-word name, and it doesn’t serve artfully contrived, brazenly overpriced alcoholic concoctions (in fact, it doesn’t even serve alcohol), so why bother with the University Grille on Ivy Road? Two words, my imaginary internet friends: Greek Salad.

Make that three words: Small Greek Salad.

Umm, scratch that, make it four words, a consonant, and a forward slash: Small Greek Salad w/Chicken.

I am always hesitant to recommend anything, due to unfortunate outcomes from previous recommendations, like the time I sent my friend with a toothache to my trusted dentist, and my dentist gave him a root canal. On the wrong tooth. However, having now eaten upwards of 15 U-Grille Greek salads, I am fairly confident in telling you that it’s a good bet. (The salad that is, not my dentist.)

The foundation of this masterpiece is a bed of crisp iceberg lettuce. Layered on top of that is a copious amount of feta cheese, ripe kalamata olives (with pits, so watch out for your pearly whites), cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and juicy pepperoncini. Atop that mound of cool mother-earth goodness are strips of warm, grilled, seasoned chicken breast. And not just two strips. I’m talking the entire salad is covered in chicken.

Overkill with the chicken? Maybe. If you’re a sissy vegan. »Read More

Popularity: 23% [?]

An avid birdy by the name of Laura send us a link that explains that solving obesity does not save the government money because those people live longer and require more health expenditures.

I did a little researching and found the actual published paper. Read it here.

The authors conclude:

Although effective obesity prevention leads to a decrease in costs of obesity-related diseases, this decrease is offset by cost increases due to diseases unrelated to obesity in life-years gained. Obesity prevention may be an important and cost-effective way of improving public health, but it is not a cure for increasing health expenditures.

That’s unfortunate given our debate on protecting people from their own eating habits. Survival of the fit-ist anyone? More like survival of the most expensive.

[pic credits]

Popularity: 15% [?]