Monday, October 24, 2011

Green Eggs and Ham? 5 Eco-friendly food spots in Bethlehem

Who’s hungry?


Who’s hungry for some gourmet food
that was produced and prepared with the environment in mind?
Now I’ve got you’re tummy rumbling. 


Sustainable food is popping up on menus all over the country. But I’m not sending you around the country. I’m sending you down Main Street. Run! Or walk!


In all the restaurants in Bethlehem, I’ve spotted five eco-friendly all-stars. 

1. Bethlehem Brew Works. The heavy hitter
They’ve got a whole tab on sustainability on their website: “At Fegley’s Brew Works we are grateful for the world’s gifts, and we strive to pass along the best of these by providing food that is as good as nature intended.”

And in case you didn’t remember why you should buy local, the Brew Works reminds you that most produce travels 1,500 miles over four to seven days to get to you*.

So the Brew Works tries to get as much as it can from as near-by as possible. Pocono Produce Company , 44 miles away, supplies much of the restaurant’s produce.

But their burgers can top that! Brew Works gets its beef from  Dale Koehler Farms right in Bethlehem!

If you’re in the mood for a chicken sandwhich—may I suggest the Brewschetta—you can still stay sustainable. Brew Works serves up chicken from Lancaster County, PA. It’s Freebird Chicken . This means, as the BW website proudly states, the chicken are “free of antibiotics and hormones, free to wander in barns without cages, and are always fed a natural corn and soybean diet free of animal byproducts.”

Feeling fishy? The seafood they serve up follows Monteray Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch.


Want to stick to veggies after all that sustainably sourced meat? Keep heading down the hill, toward the Bethlehem Star, and you’ll find our next eco-friendly all star.

2. The Confetti Café
I include this Main Street hit mainly because they serve up an awesome vegetarian dish. Even when meat is sustainably sourced, like the Brew Works, producing it still requires more energy (more eco-guilt) than veggies. So if you really want to lower your carbon footprint go vegetarian for the day.

And on that day, you’ll want to pick up one of these to vegetarian approved dishes:

  • Main Street Masterpiece. $5.75. Whole wheat bread, swiss cheese, mushrooms, zucchini, aflafa sprouts, lettuce & tomato, finished off with mayo, dijon and a splash of poppyseed dressing, and served with a side salad.
  • Veggie Weggie $5.25. Array of fresh vegetables topped with shredded cheese rolled in a fresh pita with your choice of dressing.


That last one is approved by Bridget Gross. She’s a Bethlehemer that I met while working in Glacier National Park. She grows vegetables. I mean, just look at that antler.

Bridget, my fellow ranger at Glacier National Park.


Met a new boy/or girl and you’re looking to score a fancy date spot? I got you.

If you don’t know how to pronounce part of the name, you know it’s fancy.

The Starfish is located at 51 W Broad St, near the old Boyd movie theatre. According to their website, they serve up “only the freshest Sustainable Fish and Seafood, as well as the Freshest Local Organically Farmed and Raised Ingredients.”

4. Vegan Treats. The lefty.
Rumored to be patroned by celebrities like Gweneth Paltrow, Vegan Treats serves exclusively animal free sweets. That’s right, no eggs, no butter, no milk! But your taste buds wouldn’t know it.

PETA has awarded founder Danielle Konya with their Proggy Award for Best Bakery. Google offered her a drool-worthy spot as Guest Chef. But her bio on the Vegan Treats website says that perhaps her biggest accomplishment was an award she won in PBS’ Feast of Sweets, “Here, she not only won Best Overall, but did so competing against over fifty non-vegan bakers. Take that, dairy!”

The bakery is famous for its peanut-butter bomb. You gotta try it. Life won’t be the same after.

Come to ECO’s Vegan Vegetarian Thanksgiving, November 20, where we’ll have Vegan Treats sweets!

5. Horns. The Rookie. 


This is one, I’m going to send you to try and report back. The vision of John Silvester, an Easton-er, Horns just opened in the South Side of Bethlehem by Lehigh Pizza. (Yes, Moravian kids, it’s over the bridge. But I hear it’s worth checking out.)

The restaurant offers locally grown and organic food, as well as eco-friendly take out packaging.


So go forth! Eat up! And tell me what you think!

4 comments:

  1. Great Suggestions. Been to the Brew Works and Starfish, and didn't know the Eco connections. Makes me feel good about that. My sister-in-law is allergic to all things chicken, and she sought out Vegan Treats when she was here visting. She gave it a thumbs up!

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  2. These all sound delicious! I've never considered a vegan diet before because I'm all about the protein, but these places seem to be very interesting!

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  3. OH, and I love your headline hahaha. PERFECT.

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  4. Thanks Kasara! Yeah, I don't think I could go vegan either. But it is cool to explore all of your diet options and to give animals a break when ya can!

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