To all those mind-numbing questions about the right way to eat, a restaurant on East Sprague has some creative and flavorful answers.
By Jamie Borgan
It’s wintertime in the Inland Northwest and at a latitude of 48 degrees north, Spokane can’t really expect to bask in the radiance of locally grown mangoes and tomatoes in January.
That wouldn’t be so much of an issue at eateries elsewhere in town, but at the One World Spokane cafe on East Sprague, it is. The purposely out of step restaurant, launched last fall with a mission to serve nutritious food on socially conscientious terms, puts a premium on serving locally grown organic produce. And that’s hard to come by in the deep frosts of winter.
So it’s no surprise, then, that the fare at One World in the last few months has leaned toward what I lovingly and maybe a bit derisively deemed “wholesome” as a child. Beets and cabbage have been the stars of the winter months, appearing in a variety of soups, salads, and thoughtfully prepared stir fries. The pragmatism of
using what’s in season imbues One World’s food with a simplicity that allows for endless variations on a theme. And genuine discoveries of delight, I should add. The friends at my table got a laugh the other day when I took a bite of ginger cabbage slaw and suddenly exclaimed: “I want cabbage to be part of my life.”
Even in the heart of winter, the chefs at One World have a palette of flavors to work with, one that on any given day includes a texture-filled array of root vegetables, cabbage slaws, vegetarian quiches, and hearty cookies, all served on quirkily mismatched dishes.
It’s impossible to be isolated from conversation about food when it’s a necessary and ubiquitous part of our lives. The verve of current food debate is fraught with a complexity that can lend itself to the ridiculous.
Unprompted, a coworker of mine recently casually remarked: “So studies have shown that rats that are kept hungry most of the time tend to live longer.”
I didn’t quite know what to say. I was befuddled as I tried to absorb yet another piece of data into the morass of information swirling around food in our global dialogue in general and my own brain in particular.
There was a time when I thought of food in dichotomous terms, i.e. chocolate milk, good, corned beef hash, bad. This debate was infused with my parents’ opinions that items like canned spinach were healthy whereas donuts were not. The complexity of this inner dialogue broke down somewhere between “green equals good for you” and “sugar laden equals pleasing to my taste buds.” 
Fast forward to 2009 and in my adult social consciousness food has been catapulted out of the good/bad realm and into the murky complexities of global food markets, long-term health effects of chemically laden snacks, environmental consequences of our current industrialized food production system, and the gustatory satisfaction that ought to accompany our eating experiences.
Whatever else it provides, the menu and the paradigm at One World Spokane café at least offer a straightforward answer to the blizzard of facts and contradictions about food and eating. It dispenses with the conventional restaurant model, as patrons are asked to pay according to their ability and their conscience depending on their portion size and their own sense of what a fair food price might be. It comes down to this:
*Serve locally sourced, seasonally available organic food.
*Strive to eliminate hunger by offering meal vouchers in exchange for volunteer labor.
*Strive to make patrons happy by serving scrumptious food.
Perhaps it’s not a line-up for the ideologically feint of heart in a nation where the majority of eaters happily and unthinkingly devour an unrecognizable chunk of meat dubiously and hopefully referred to as a “nugget.” On the other hand, it’s a pretty simple and laid back way to eat, even if you don’t want to think too much about it.
But I find it inspiring. I admire the commitment of the people and organization behind the restaurant as they enter into the economic, political, social, and environmental dialogue around food in such a tangible and courageous way. I’m sure they know, as a business proposition, that this carries with it the risk that consumers come to the modern day table with the emotional baggage inherent in being an eater in the 21st century. However, the risk for the customer is not nearly so daunting, no more than adventuresome entrees, a sauce of conversation, and the inspiration to get to know cabbage a little better.