Fruits And Roots

Who said health food had to be bland?

My boss is probably one of the coolest, most funkiest people I have ever come across. With no prompting from any of her employees, she makes a habit of treating the office, six employees, to lunch frequently. I mean it… This is not one of those corny efforts at appeasing bottom-of-the-salary-scale workers with misplaced distractions and redirections. This is genuine. This lady loves food and she loves entertaining. Plus she puts in the extra effort to find the most obscure eating-places all over Jozi. Budget? Not a problem. She could take you to the most posh restaurant around, and not even bat an eyelash as the bill rises to R800 in one sitting, and then still invite you out again the following week.

So, here she comes just last week, asking me if I would like to join her for lunch. Knowing fully well that I had not been disappointed before (save for that Crab Curry incident that had me spending the weekend on the throne), I just at the opportunity.

She then takes us to the backside of Emmarentia. You can imagine my disappointment. What good ever came out of Emmarentia? Nog al, to a place called Fruits and Roots! Now, I’m no clairvoyant but you hardly need ESP (or is it ESPN?) to figure out that their best dish is probably not a carnivore’s speciality. I braced myself for a disappointment as I sat down outside their little bohemian-looking setup on these unpolished wooden chairs that were very reminiscent of the 60s park benches.

Tentatively, I placed an order for a Mighty Burger and a Health Nut Smoothie. The smoothie came first. Can you say, “Heaven in a glass!” This smoothie redefined what smoothies were originally intended by the Lord God when He took a rest on the 7th day and said, “Let there be a smoothie”.

I was suddenly motivated to take a closer look at my surroundings. Very serene, laidback environment, secluded from the hustle-and-bustle of Jozi’s commotion. Being a residential area, it was very quiet during the day as most people were at work. A few grannies took up the rest of the tables outside catching a little of the rarely relished summer breeze. It felt like another world.

The burger, as I had suspected, was a vegetarian burger, but in that famous cliché, “Just one byte and I was hooked!” I was pleasantly surprised to see that if ever my girlfriend succeeded in bring out the herbivore out of me, I would not be entirely lost. I would have a new home, thanks to my boss. Fruits and Roots. Until then, I still hold on dearly to my carnivorous tendencies, although Fruits and Roots has provided an opportunity for me to flirt with the wild side every now and then.