I had the pleasure of attending yesterday’s UVa student presentation on the Charlottesville Glocal Food System. I know, Vanillavy is handling all of the “green” stuff this week, but a flyer for the event caught my eye and I thought it would be a great break from the office. This is (what appears to be) a yearly event for a class at UVA focused on the local food economy/eco system. The class, consisting of both graduate and undergraduate sutdents, is titled “Healthy Communities, Healthy Food Systems (Part III): Global-Local Connections”. Now that is a mouthful. The following presentations were made:

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Popularity: 36% [?]

Day 2, the fight to eat vegetables continues. I feel a bit lighter and have a little more energy, but also feel a little gassy (I know, gross). Yet, the challenge goes on, and yesterday I found myself at the hippie strip mall on Preston Avenue. I mean hippie with the best of intentions. There is a yoga studio, The New Body Mind Spirit, where I had the pleasure of speaking with a hippie instructor. Apparently if you are part of the elderly or pregnant population in cville, this is the yoga studio for you. They focus more on the “intention” than the movement like a traditional vinyasa. Next door to the yoga studio is Blue Ridge Eco Shop. This is basically a store that has more green than your stomach/wallet/house can handle. They have everything from clothes to lights to cleaning products, very cool.

And then in the corner a couple feet away is Café 88. What is it with Asian restaurants and double digit numbers anyways? The previous founder/owner of cville’s vegetarian haunt Ming Dynasty, Li Chen, started a new Taiwanese café. The place is teeny tiny like a little baby, and the menu is even smaller. While some might balk at that, there is something refreshing about having limited options…there are so many restaurants out there that give the consumer so much choice, it’s a task in itself to order.

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Popularity: 31% [?]

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% [?]

In case you didn’t know what you should be doing this week, you should be participating in Charlottesville’s own Earth Week. Sponsored and promoted by a local group known as Earth Week Online, the event, scheduled around the 3rd week in April (i.e. now), is about creating awareness around being green on a local level. The events during the following week are meant to build awareness for an internationally recognized, Earth Day on April 22nd.

Started in 1970, Earth Day has grown substantially. Today, through the Earth Day Network, over 15,000 organizations in over 174 countries participate in growing the environmental movement and promoting a vision for a sustainable and healthy planet.

Earth Day’s formal mission is to:

broaden the environmental movement worldwide and to educate and mobilize people, governments, and corporations to take responsibility for a clean and healthy environment

So, we challenge you, cVillains, to do something for Earth Day and tell us what you are doing so we can all get involved.  How are you going to mobilize your workplace, your friends and Charlottesville to make the world we live in a better place?

More Resources:
For an interview with the leaders of Charlottesville’s Earth Week, go to Charlottesville Podcasting!

Official Earth Day Website.

A list of events from Charlottesville’s Earth Week group is after the break:

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Popularity: 25% [?]

April Fools week. Booya. What a better way to start out that getting all of you with a sweet April Fools joke? We know we got a lot of you! We also saw a lot of restaurant action, reviewed The Local, named our birdie Scowly, got into some hot discussion about babies and found Jenna Bush at a local restaurant. Don’t believe me? Read the week in review to see what you missed!

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Popularity: 18% [?]

Judging by the popularity of Charlottesville and Belmont’s new little jewel, The Local, many of you have already eaten there and like it. We’ve asked you what you think of The Local and published The Local’s Menu.

We’ve visited The Local several times in recent weeks and now it’s time for a formal review. If you peruse the menu, you will find that The Local has a very reasonably priced menu. It hits that $13 to $16 entre range that has driven a similar success to restaurants like Continental Divide.

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Popularity: 53% [?]

My review is coming, but I know a lot of you went there.

Popularity: 28% [?]

[written by UVa LaGrape]

Did you know that..

Dave Matthews donated $2300 to Barack Obama?

The biggest 2008 election contributor in Cville is Stanley Woodward, a self-employed artist who donated $6300 to Obama’s campaign?

Patricia Kluge gave $4600 to Hillary Clinton?

How do I know this, and why is it legal for me to tell it to you?

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Popularity: 21% [?]

Two0Four sends in a rumor for you foodies:

Belmont BBQ is opening up at least two new locations, one in Waynesboro, and one on 29 north, perhaps by the mens warehouse, I vote for forest lakes

The new mystery bar and restaurant next to CRUSH is hiring. Musical chairs anyone?

I do know something about The Local and Belmont BBQ’s plans after the break:

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Popularity: 26% [?]