Addis Abeba’s New Vegan Café

3/10/2012
AKDA GETACHEW,
SPECIAL TO FORTUNE

“The brown, flavourful, wholegrain pancakes served at the capital’s new full-time vegan café makes it seem more like a pancake house. While organic veganism is nothing new to Ethiopia, it is overwhelmingly practiced only part-time, based on the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s fasting schedule. However, Green Arts Coffee, on Debre Zeit Road, is definitely full-time, writes Makda Getachew, Special to Addis Fortune.”

Those who have frequented Debre Zeit Road in recent years might recall the rather deserted terrace that was vacated by Milifone Pastry Shop years ago.

But, if someone were to visit today, they would notice that a new café has popped into the scene to revive the tired hotspot, a café with the slogan “Green: The Healthy Way.”

Green Arts Coffee does not occupy a room, but what appears to be a framed extension of the outdoors, with potted plants scattered around the floor and wide openings in the walls, allowing pedestrian glances, sunlight, and an occasional breeze into the café. With such an open setting, it is difficult to leave behind the hustle and bustle of the busy road just outside.

Joining the sound of traffic is the music playing from the café’s speakers. As Sam Cooke sings about summertime, Ethiopian drums and masinkos dangle from the ceiling to create a mash-up of cultures.

The café’s most defining feature, however, is evident in its slogan. Offering more nutritional versions of some common meals, such as pancakes and injera, the café does, indeed, place its customers on the path of “the healthy way.”

The café, which officially opened Sunday, June 24, 2012, five months after the idea was conceived, is owned by Robel Teferedegn, Surafel Shewatatek, and Ambanesh Kebede, who themselves provided the capital to construct it.

The café is busy in the afternoons, filled with groups of people huddled around its small tables, some sitting indoors and some outside, intently conversing with one another over cups of coffee.

With a shelf sitting at the centre of the café offering books ranging from self-help and health to fiction, those looking to entertain themselves will certainly not be disappointed.

“We have a poor culture of discussion,” Robel complained, “So our green theme also involves reading, googling, and discussing,” he said, adding that they hope to include free Wi-Fi in the café’s services.

Samson Tesfaye, a second-time customer at the café, sat at a corner of the room, ignoring the crowded atmosphere as he immersed himself in a book entitled Nuro ena Poletica (Life and Politics).

“I love that there is a bookshelf,” he said enthusiastically, hoping to borrow some of the books he skimmed through.

Part of the owners’ plans for the café is lending books through another retailer, a service that they have yet to start.

Despite what is suggested by the name of the café, however, coffee is certainly not the most exciting feature of the menu, being dwarfed in comparison to the café’s delicious, brown, wholegrain pancakes.

Made of seven different grains, including black teff, aja (emmer wheat), and barley, the two-pancake meal is served with honey instead of maple syrup, making it “healthier and more organic,” in Robel’s words.

The organic food stores common in Western countries, such as the US Whole Foods Market, inspired them to follow the theme, Robel explained.

“There is a growing culture of sugar consumption, and we want to change that,” Robel said.

While the café does offer sugar with hot beverages, it does not provide soft drinks or cakes, which are common in many cafés. Similarly, the injera provided is made of black teff instead of white, because it is more nutritious.

An uncommon feature of the café is that it does not serve animal products, such as meat, milk, and eggs, making the menu a vegan one. But, such a menu is not unusual to Ethiopian customers, because of the already existing fasting culture followed by members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, who adopt a vegan diet on certain days of the year. What makes it unique in Green Arts Coffee, however, is that it is the only option available.

In the Western world, however, veganism, much like vegetarianism, is a way of life for those who are ethically opposed to the slaughtering of animals for meat as well as those who follow it for health purposes. Unlike vegetarianism, however, vegans choose not to ingest any animal products, including milk and eggs.

While vegetarianism and veganism are not particularly popular in Ethiopia, the vegan population in the US is approximately one million, according to a survey by the Vegetarian Times.

Hiwote Eshetu, 24, was a first-time customer at the café, visiting upon the recommendation of a friend.

“It tastes powdery,” she said of the macchiato she was drinking, unaccustomed to the non-dairy taste of the drink.

None of the customers who talked to Fortune, in fact, seemed to have shown an interest in the organic theme of the café, a fact that does not come as a great surprise due to the country’s already organic cuisine, which Ethiopians have reason to take for granted.

While “Green” symbolises nature and health, “Arts” is an indicator of the café’s artistic vibe, with traditional art and photography stretched across its walls and bamboo-crafted partitions, bookshelves, and chairs making up the furniture. The owners have plans to include regular poetry readings and art exhibitions towards developing this theme, the latter being an already existing feature in some Ethiopian restaurants, such as Makush and Serenade.

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