Calling All Locavores! It’s 100% Local at Vinland Restaurant
I
n a cozy little spot right on Congress Street in Portland, you’ll find an amaz- ing new restaurant forging a distinctly Maine cuisine. Vinland… the first restaurant in the United States to serve 100% local, organic food. And when, owner, David Levi says 100% local, he means it. You won’t find lemons, limes, black pepper or many other spices in their dishes, because as you know…you can’t get that in Maine. But what you will find is his remarkable cre- ativity in using other ingredients to create similar flavors. You truly won’t even know what you’re missing. His philosophy… simple food that showcases the outstanding ingredients with recipes that don’t suffer for lack of spices. What a refreshing change from the typical fine dining places that load their dishes with sauces and spices! Levi draws his concept from indig-
enous food traditions along with those of the Acadians, New Englanders, and other peoples of the North Atlantic. The mission is as much about ecology, building the lo- cal economy, and teaching good nutrition as it is about great food. Levi believes that the human is an animal, and animals need
food...real food. He says, “The decline in the quality of our food began with the Ag- ricultural Revolution, accelerated with the Industrial Revolution, and has now reached a sad and dangerous low. It is time for us to reclaim the dignity, beauty, and sustainabili- ty of real food, our birthright, and a blessing to our children.” While you might think the name
Vinland is more suitable for a winery, the actual meaning of the name refers to Vi- kings from Iceland and Greenland, the first Western people known to have settled in North America. Though we do not know the precise location of Vinland, and it may have
12 Essential Living Maine ~ May/June 2014
been anywhere from Virginia to Newfound- land, it probably included Maine. Levi seeks to honor the courage, resilience, and adven- turousness of the Vinlanders by naming his restaurant, Vinland. A true entrepreneur, Levi is not only
the head chef, but he designed the interior of the restaurant, is involved in all aspects of management and raised a successful Kickstarter campaign to help launch the business. I had to ask him if he ever sleeps, to which he laughed and said, “Not a lot.” Levi has a passion that shows through in everything he does from cooking to man- agement and I was honored to have the time we spent together as it’s very rare to meet someone so dedicated to a mission. I know you all want to hear about the food, which I haven’t stopped raving about, but first I wanted to elaborate on some of his principles. They are principles we all should be living by if we truly want to save our planet from the abuse it has taken over many years.
Principles of David Levi: 1. We are what we eat. We are also
what we eat eats. When we eat healthy be- ings prepared with love and respect, we are truly nourished.
2. Real food must nourish. If food does not promote physical and soul health, it is not real food. 3. The primary goal of any accept- able food system must be the betterment of the total community. This includes eaters, chefs, artisans, farmers, hunters, gather- ers, cultivated plants and animals, the wild beings whom we eat, all other wild beings with whom they (and we) coexist, the soil, the water, and the air. Any food system (or
anything else) that is detrimental to any of these elements must be rejected, resisted, and replaced. 4. Healthy foods taste good. While some unhealthy foods are addictive, they are never appealing to a palate that knows quality. We must dispel the myth that tasty foods are bad for us while boring, unap- pealing foods are good. We must dispel the lies about healthy animal fats and salt. The enjoyment of eating is a cornerstone of a happy life.
5. Monetary profits should enrich the human and non-human community. It is unseemly and wrong to market sustain- able food (or anything) as a means to hoard wealth, foster greed, or engage in consum- erism. True profit is not monetary. 6. The industrial food system is ir- redeemable. It is irredeemable because it requires fossil fuel for transport and pro- cessing energy, for fertilizer, for the poison it spreads across the Earth. It is irredeem- able because it destroys soil, aquifers, waterways, oceans, and biodiversity. It also destroys traditional societies. It is a war on life. It is irredeemable because it is driven by the lust for ever more concentrated monetary wealth. It is irredeemable because it is controlled by the unaccountable few while pushing vast costs onto the disenfran- chised many. It is irredeemable because its cruelty and destructiveness are intrinsic, not products of “a few bad apples.” 7. We are preparing to help our com-
munities survive the crash. The industrial food system is unsustainable, so it will collapse, whether or not we resist it, but we should resist it, and prepare our communi- ties for the crash. The most essential prepa- ration will be the (re)building of sustainable local food systems.
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