For years New Yorkers have been raving about Blossom, a chic all-vegan restaurant in Chelsea that encourages organic, plant-based eating and concern for animals. Growing in popularity among vegans, vegetarians and omnivores alike, Blossom has continued to bloom by opening Café Blossom in Manhattan’s Upper West Side and Cocoa V, a decadent vegan chocolate boutique and wine café. And now, New Yorkers have the opportunity to indulge in a new concept of food and drink on the go with the latest addition to the Blossom family, Blossom Du Jour!
Blossom Du Jour is committed to making a positive impact on the “fast food” industry by offering food and beverage choices that are fast, healthful, environmentally friendly and most importantly, cruelty-free. With such tantalizing vegan menu options as the “Midtown Melt,” “Filet No Fish” and “Chocolate Mousse Pie,” to name just a few, Blossom Du Jour is really taking the Big Apple by storm.
MFA was lucky enough to sit down with Pamela Elizabeth, owner of Blossom NYC, to get her take on the growing vegan movement.
With your chic vegan Blossom restaurant in Chelsea, Café Blossom in the heart of the Upper West Side and Cocoa V, your vegan chocolate boutique and wine café, business really seems to be booming. Now you have opened a sleek vegan fast food restaurant called Blossom Du Jour and have plans to open even more “Shrewd Fast Food” restaurants in the near future. What inspired you to open these restaurants and why do you think they have been so successful?
What’s moved me to open these establishments and will continue to move me is a hope that through these venues more and more people will adopt a vegan diet and lifestyle. At every second countless animals are being tortured and slaughtered to feed this world. As a species that can make decisions and changes I feel that it is our responsibility to recognize this emergency and do whatever we can to abolish this suffering.
More and more people are adopting a vegan diet either because they have recognized this suffering and don’t want to partake in it, or they recognize the numerous health benefits that are a by-product of eating a plant-based diet – or both.
Blossom Restaurant, Cocoa V and now Du Jour, all offer a menu that is completely animal-free and delicious. Folks don’t have to miss certain flavors or textures they are used to when eating a plant-based diet. Approximately 70% of people who enjoy Blossom and Cocoa V are not vegans or vegetarians, they just like good food. I have had conversations with so many people who would actually like to become vegans but they don’t know how to cook “vegan.” It’s really something because learning to cook anything is all about enhancers. Herbs, spices, sweeteners, etc. Of course, you have the base that you’re working with, like let’s say a potato. If people put all of their attention and creativity into how to make that potato taste incredible, to meet their palates’ desires, just the same way they do with meat or fish, there’s no difference. It’s a state of consciousness that needs to change, a state of routine. Caring about what’s happening to another will change that. A desire to live a healthy life will change that.
What is the idea behind a vegan fast food café? What do you hope to achieve?
The idea behind BDJ is to offer “Shrewd Fast Food” to the masses, meaning fast food that’s void of any animal products or chemical preservatives – food that’s mostly organic, satisfying, healthy, delicious and affordable, and food that is prepared quickly and efficiently. Food that the discerning person will choose to eat. The goal is to open several BDJ’s in New York City and other cities. We hope the mainstream will respond to the vegan food we’re offering in a fast food setting and as a result will lead to people wanting to eat this way permanently.
At BDJ not only are we serving vegan fast food, we are also offering educational materials, such as vegan and vegetarian starter kits and publications like Animal Liberation and Food Revolution. The most powerful feature at BDJ is our large video screen, which shows farm animals living the way they should be – happily, at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary and other sanctuaries. One of the most moving scenes is of a calf romping in the snow with two dogs. We’ve literally watched people’s jaws drop when they see this. Many people don’t realize or ever think about the fact that a cow, a chicken or a pig has feelings, or about their tremendous suffering as a result of factory farming. But when they see them in this light, there is an opportunity for something to click.
What were some of the biggest challenges the restaurant has had to overcome?
The biggest challenge we’ve had to overcome is meeting the demand. It’s been five weeks now since we opened and for the first few weeks it was a challenge to produce the amount of food that was being requested, but that’s been settled now.
What are some of your most popular dishes?
The most popular dishes thus far are The Skyscraper Burger, The Midtown Melt Sandwich, The Smokacado Wrap, The Mac n Cheese and The Pot Pie. We can’t keep the juices or the desserts (we do pies and gluten-free cookies) in stock.
It is apparent from your restaurants’ websites, the free vegan literature you make available and the scenes of happy animals from sanctuaries playing at Blossom Du Jour that you have a passion for animal rights. Which came first, your love of animals or your desire to open a restaurant, and how do the two relate to each other?
I care about animals very deeply – all animals – and I don’t want them to suffer. Factory farming is a Holocaust for animals and I am always trying to think of a way to end this suffering. I’m always looking for that silver bullet to come to me or to someone so this suffering can stop. I’ve been told by many that there is no silver bullet. It’s got to be that the truth is exposed and many will hopefully come together and make a difference. Simply, I hope by offering food free of animal products, food that is delicious and healthy, by offering vegan literature and by exposing the truth about factory farming through these venues that there is an opportunity for a positive shift to happen.
What inspired you to go vegan?
A number of years ago I received an envelope in the mail from the Fund For Animals, asking for a donation. I read about how animals are horribly mistreated. I became vegetarian on the spot. 5 years thereafter I became vegan.
What do you see in the future of veganism, animal rights and the restaurant industry?
A few years ago, if you said the word “vegan,” nobody knew what it meant, but today it’s almost a household word. I feel animal rights and the fact that animals are being hideously tortured every moment of every day for food production cannot be ignored or hidden any longer. The fact that eating animal products is completely unhealthy cannot be ignored any longer. Now is the time for tremendous change to take form, and it is! There are so many people who care very deeply for animals and want their suffering to stop. So much is being done to bring light to what has been hidden for so long. The restaurant industry can obviously have one of the most positive impacts on veganism, but the public will dictate this. If we keep asking for more and more vegan options, there will be more and more vegan options.
