When Monica Stoutenborough took over PuraVegan Café (307 Belt, 314-932-5144) in 2012, she wanted it to be more than a restaurant. She wanted it to be a starting point for those interested in exploring the raw food diet or vegan diet. Now, PuraVegan hosts donation-based yoga classes, nutrition and food preparation classes and even a dextox program. But the place isn’t just for the granola-set; serving up smoothies, pad thai, pine nut ricotta pizza, and tomato spinach soup, the café is mostly for people who like good food. That it’s way healthier than your average lunch or dinner spot is just a bonus.
Were into the raw food movement and gluten-free movement before you took over the café?
Definitely. I had been following a plant-based lifestyle for many years because I didn’t feel well. I was always a vegetarian but I ate lots of cheese and drank milk and ate yogurt. I was gaining weight and getting lots of health issues that most people just consider the normal consequences of aging but I got tired of taking prescriptions and just decided to give it a try. I went to an all plant vegan diet with lots of raw food and lost weight and no longer had to take any medications and it kind of felt like a miracle to me.
Why did you become a vegetarian?
I became a vegetarian when I was in college. It wasn’t really for health reasons. It was more just about my love for animals. At the time I didn’t really understand that they also go through a lot to give up their milk and their eggs and the other products that come from animals. Down the road what really got me more interested in eliminating all the animal products was all the health benefits I had read about.
Did you give up gluten too? Cause your café is gluten free.
I still do eat gluten because I don’t have an intolerance, but I do try to keep it minimal. It’s not something I eat everyday. I do ask that all my staff leave it at home because we are 100% gluten free kitchen and I know that there are a lot of people that are highly sensitive to it.
Is it pretty hard then to maintain your diet?
For me, there is zero effort required to live this way but I will be honest, in the beginning it felt a little hard for me because I think I was addicted to foods like cheeses and salty foods, oily foods. Once I was able to separate myself from eating them for a period of time, I no longer craved them. Changing your habit and your addictions is never easy in the short term but once you get through it there’s no effort. It’s easy.
Let’s say someone wants to try the raw food diet, are there any sort of beginning recipes that you recommend?
Yeah. If you buy a lot of raw food cookbooks it can be overwhelming. When you read the ingredients and preparation instructions there are a lot of recipes that can be extremely complicated and take long periods of time so I’ve come up with a long list or recipes that I teach in my classes and to my students here at the café. But for me, using the Internet to find simple recipes has been a lot more helpful for me than using books.
Are the health benefits from being vegan or eating the food raw?
Well, I think it’s a combination of both because it is very easy to eat a lot of vegan junk food and not be healthy. There is a big misconception that vegan automatically means healthy and it does not. I think it is very important even if you’re not 100% raw foodist, even if you’re not a vegan you just need to be eating raw fruits and vegetables so you can get all the vitamins, nutrients, minerals, things that we need to help our bodies natural healing mechanisms work properly.
Is there anything that you thought you’d miss that you found a good substitute for?
Yes. I thought that I would miss cheese and I think in the beginning I did but there are a lot of vegan cheeses. I don’t really love all the processed ones that they sell in the grocery store, but I’ve discovered how to make my own cheeses here in the café out of cashews and natural ingredients.
What do you do if you’re invited to a function and there’s food?
If I’m going to a restaurant and I have advance notice that I’m going, I’ll always either look at their online menu or I’ll even call ahead. If that’s not an option I eat before I go just to be safe. I know a lot of chefs, especially here in St. Louis if you give them notice that you’re coming they’re more than happy to accommodate you. If I’m going to someone’s house for an event, I will bring something and not just for myself though. If you’re going to be eating special foods you need to bring a tray to share with other people so they can participate and check out what it is you’re enjoying.
Do you find that people are critical of you being vegan sometimes?
Sometimes yes because I think that sometimes people feel uncomfortable eating animal based foods around me because they might think that I’m judging them, when in reality I’m not. I know that all I can do is what I feel is best for me.
Sometimes it feels like vegans are judging you though…
You’re right! It’s like when someone quits smoking. They’re really excited about it and they want everyone around them to quit smoking. It’s the same thing with vegans. A lot of people they’re so excited about everything they’ve learned and how they’re feeling that they want to share with everybody and they don’t know how to dial that back.
How would describe the role of your café in the community?
We want to be a resource for people who are beginning their journey and don’t know where to go because that is the largest part of our customer base is people who have been told by their doctor that they’re not well. They don’t want to be on prescriptions; they’re trying to take charge of their health; they’ve heard about how eating vegetables can help them but they just don’t know where to begin.
