What’s in your basket: CBD lemonade and keto cookies at Erewhon
Erewhon is a supermarket for the wellness set, a flamboyantly health-conscious grocery store where you can stock up on locally grown biodynamic vegetables, keto-approved cookies and a kaleidoscope of tonics that promise to stimulate everything from psychic energy to chakra, mood, even brain cognition.
Founded on Boston’s Newbury Street in 1968 by early disciples of the macrobiotic movement, Erewhon made its mark selling organic brown rice to longhairs and distributing soy milk, Dr. Bronner’s soap and carob bars to the health food stores and co-ops that fueled America’s counterculture.
The Persian cucumbers are always a mob scene.
Flash forward to 2019 and Erewhon is entirely L.A.-based, with five stores west of La Brea Avenue and a sixth due to open in Silver Lake in 2020. You will not find sugar or flour, synthetic pesticides, growth hormones or artificial flavors and colors on the shelves. What you will find are legions of beautiful people sipping reishi lattes and chagachinos. Maybe in another 50 years, healing mushrooms and CBD lemonade will be as ubiquitous as soy milk and brown rice.
Zan Charisse (Tony-nominated actress and creative director of Happy Noise; “We’re not 20 anymore,” says companion.)
Buying: Erewhon CBD lemonade, lavender lemonade, pink lemonade
The juices are to pair with gin. You know, gin is made with herbs and botanicals. It’s a digestive and it’s great for your skin. I used to drink wine non-stop and I didn’t feel well; it was too much sugar so I decided to go with gin. Sometimes we add E3Live or pitaya powder too.
Allie Leggett (model; 25) and Hamish Khayat (founder of Burst; 28)
Buying: Lesser Evil Paleo Puffs, Hippeas and California Snax Raw Hummus
Allie: We’re always arguing about who makes the best paleo puff.
Hamish: I’m a hummus connoisseur and this is the best hummus. Ever.
Crockett Anthony (artist; 33)
Buying: Dazzle Raw Superfood Bar, Way Better blue corn tortilla chips
I like this bar because of the vitamins. It has a lot of selenium and copper. I can’t claim to know all the benefits, but I was told briefly that it’s one of the things we don’t honor enough in our diets. Copper in conjunction with another mineral, I can’t remember which one, creates our electricity.
And for the tortilla chips, I like the whole sprouted vibe and then there’s no salt. That way I won’t feel guilty if I kill the whole bag.
Laura Falls (owner of a music PR firm; 32)
Buying: Gluten-free pasta, kale, zucchini, avocado
We’re trying to reduce the number of grains we’re eating because my husband has an autoimmune disease that we just discovered recently. They have a whole section of gluten-free pastas that are made out of things other than rice, like chickpeas and lentils.
Tonight we’re doing a pasta night, so I’ll add some roasted squash and a spicy pesto with tons of chiles and a lot of fresh basil, but unfortunately no Parmesan cheese because dairy is out now too.
Adriana Raffoul (Student, Victoria University, Australia; 27)
Buying: Divine Organics Irish Moss
Irish moss is a blood purifier kind of thing. I’ve been doing some research because I’m really into nutrition and apparently it helps. I don’t even know how to use it yet. I haven’t read the instructions.
Sarah Gaboury (acting coach; 40)
Buying: Vegan Mario’s gluten-free quinoa and brown rice sourdough, Siete Family Foods almond flour tortillas, Patagonia Provisions wild sockeye salmon
It’s funny, we have a love-hate relationship with Erewhon. I come here because I can get everything I need for all my weird food things in one place, meaning dairy-free things, gluten-free things, pasture-raised meats and the same produce that I see at the farmers market. As far as I know this is the only place I can buy Vegan Mario’s bread — and we use it for everything. I make my kid’s French toast with it.
Eat your way across L.A.
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