Enviromnental Eating

All cities have a breakfast culture, none more than Melbourne one could argue, but Adelaide is coming into its own with more and more cafes focusing on organic, ethical and free-range produce.
This basically means that those of us with an environmental conscious don’t have to miss out on delicious food, and we don’t have to be surrounded by incense, Enya playing in the background, and vague staff.
Adelaide has its fair share of interesting suburbs, and luckily, most of these cafés have made their homes on excellent streets where you’ll want to hang out.
Although Adelaide is a small city, it has the advantage of accessibility. That means that breakfast down at the beach, and then lunch in the Adelaide Hills is not at all out of the question. Excellent huh?
Starting in the city, you’ll find Bliss Organic Garden Café [7 Compton St. Adelaide]. It’s just off Gouger Street, about a minute’s walk from the bustling Central Market.
Here they offer homemade vegan food made from organic ingredients plus a variety of organic, fair trade teas and coffees.
They try to support local producers as much as possible, and stock only seasonal organic fruit and vegetables.
The East End of the city offers two fantastic vegetarian, organic cafes.
At Joy Discovery Café [13 Bent St Adelaide] the food is made with love. Yes, you’ll spot the odd hippy here, but local business people and cool art student-types also frequent it.
The menu is totally vegetarian, with vegan, gluten-free, organic and macrobiotic options, and of course the coffee is made from organic fair-trade beans.
Vego and Love’n It [upstairs 240 Rundle St Adelaide] is an Adelaide vegetarian institution. They specialise in enormous vegetarian burgers and other Western style dishes.
The upstairs space is casual, completely quirky and totally unique. Here you’ll get enormous meals at cheap prices, making it good value. I suggest sharing a burger with a friend [yes, they are that big].
Sarah’s Café is on delightful Leigh Street [number 12], which runs off eclectic Hindley Street.
This street is similar to the cobble-stoned Centre Way in Melbourne. Walk down here and you’ll almost forget you’re in Adelaide.
The ethos at Sarah’s is that vegetarian does not have to equal dull. The food on offer is far from bland and they also have gluten-free and vegan meals.
With a bar, live music and tango classes some nights of the week, this place has so much to offer apart from the food.
Cosmopolitan Melbourne Street now offers a great alternative to its Mexican restaurants and basic cafes, with Wild Thyme [101-103 Melbourne St North Adelaide] It’s a simple philosophy here: “to offer the widest range of organic foods and products, produced in an ethical manner, with minimal impact on the environment”.
This is similar to Macro Foods on Bridge Road in Melbourne with its retail and market section. Here they stock fresh produce from local growers and wholesalers, and have only certified organic fruit and vegetables. Seasonal eating is also strongly encouraged.
Real Organics [46 The Parade Norwood], which is a long standing organic food store, has recently opened a café with outdoor seating.
They serve an assortment of organic, gluten-free and vegetarian breakfasts, such as free-range, organic eggs on pumpkin toast.
Situated where it is, it’s a nice change from the upper end of The Parade, with sunny but covered, footpath seating.
On Offer in the stunning, picturesque Adelaide Hills, is The Locavore [49 Mount Barker Rd Stirling].
In keeping with the principles of the 100-Mile Diet, The Locavore is dedicated to sourcing food and wines from places within 160kms. They balance this with the following approach: if not local; eat family-farmed; if not family-farmed, eat organic; if not organic, eat fair trade. The idea is to run their business as sustainably as they can, and look after the earth.
With breakfasts like sunrise poached eggs, San Jose bacon with slow roasted young mushrooms, tomato and toasted bread. Millie’s Butter Croissant with local jam and Paris Creek butter, or with Udder Delights goats curd, ham and tomato, non-vegetarians will also be really happy here.
Down at Semaphore with its tattoo parlours, op shops and surf shops, you’ll find Sarah’s Sister’s [117 Semaphore Rd, Semaphore] Sarah’s Sisters, located in a character heritage building, is unique and relaxed, and the meals are created with fresh, local, seasonal ingredients.
With all these fabulous ethical and environmental choices, breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day.