So first - the story. Yes! The story, who can i be without the story? A man in the wilderness sitting squatted in padmasana meditating about the self... Of course the story, once you succeeded, transforms into the path. The story is the funny thing we get to remember. The story is what puts bunions in the feet of our ego. The story, once expressed, is ether released into reality, and whoever gets to witness (if they are well enrolled) can help you reach the greatest goal. 

The Slow Money gathering aims to fix the economy from the ground up, one small food enterprise at a time.  At a time when the big business in town is a struggling stock market, disgraced investment bankers, and a market overrun with poisonous factory-farm produce – the Slow Money Gathering is bringing to bear a new kind of investing.  They call it natural capital, farmer capital, social capital, local capital, nurture capital & cheese capital (why not?).

In the last two years, the gathering has hosted more than 1000 people form 24 states, and more than $4.25 million dollars have been invested in 16 of the presenting small food enterprises.  The event has also given rise to local chapters, who have begun investing around the country.

The World Vegetarian Festival comes to San Francisco, October 1-2, 2011!

What better place for health-conscious, compassionate and animal-loving people from across the world to converge, than San Francisco? For twelve years now, the San Francisco Vegetarian Society has thrown its World Veg Festival, which celebrates vegetarianism as a means to become healthy, improve animal welfare and protect the natural environment. Held in the County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park, the fest invites anyone--vegetarian, vegan or neither--to come out for the weekend to experience delicious meat-free meals, learn to prepare heart-healthy dishes, explore the ethical dimensions of a vegetarian diet, and socialize. There will be guest speakers, such as veggie luminaries Colin Campbell and John Robbins, activities, vendors, and even speed dating! So however you want to approach or experience vegetarianism, or even if you want to get a taste of it for the first time, the World Veg Festival can offer you a fun and educational day in the city!

Date:        Saturday, Oct. 1 & Sunday, Oct. 2, 10am - 6pm
Location:    SF County Fair Building, 1199 9th Ave, San Francisco, California 94122
Tickets:     $8 at the door, or purchased through Eventbrite.
Phone:        (415) 831-5500
Website:    http://worldvegfestival.com/

Hi Everyone,

Yogaworks is not your average yoga studio.  YogaWorks is a school for the rest of your life. When you walk through their doors you will not only find all styles and levels of yoga, but also a wonderfully diverse, warm and welcoming community of students, staff and teachers. Their goal is to guide students to greater self-awareness, focus, and health through their full spectrum of yoga programs.

As their mission states,

Artisana is a company we believe in.  They are committed to healthy, sustainable, quality pure packaged oils, butters and blends. They offer raw and organic, power-packed, consciously harvested nut-butters, tahini and coconut butters with minimal packaging. We love their mission and motion in the raw world, especially their dedication to keeping it simple.  We know that we can trust Artisana to come out with the most innovative concepts and the most pure products.

On Wednesday Artisana (also known as Premier Organics) announced receiving a grant from stopwaste.org to create and implement an innovative technology for using reusable wrapping for their product facilities in Oakland, CA.

Happy New Year to everyone,

I am so grateful for how we can use the end of one year and the beginning of another to align ourselves with our mission, our passion, our opportunities to start again. 

We just got an amazing shipment in and just in the nick of time! If you are a last minute (or second) shopper, then you're in luck!  We've saved our best for last and have some beautiful items, able to ship to you for Christmas Eve delivery even if you order 10am on December 23rd!  (see more info about shipping times & special shipping opportunities below).

See our Veggie Wings shirts in white and blue.

See our new Toddler t-shirts. 

I am inspired  to write the story of LA YAPA and how this little quinoa company became part of the Café  Gratitude Community!

LA YAPA (meaning: a gift of gratitude) is a family-owned business, started by Tania Petricevic,  a Bolivian-Guatemalan.  Having resided in the US since she was 18, Tania always missed Bolivia and dreamed of going home one day. Life stepped in, however;  she married, had a child and finally decided that if she was really going to maintain the bridge that connected to Bolivia, she would  begin to promote Royal Quinoa into California. And that is how we, at Café Gratitude, met Tania and LA YAPA and decided to introduce the fair-trade, organic item.

Royal quinoa is power-packed super grain (it boasts the highest content of protein after amerynth). Quinoa  once fueled the Incan empire as it's main staple, along with Potato (potatoes originate from South America as well) The Incan Empire was the largest empire of the Pre-Colombian Americas so you can just imagine what the markets must have looked like so long ago! There are several theories as to how large the Incan Empire was, but at one time it bustled with  37 million people.

Come see our new line of beautifully crafted, sustainably designed and socially just gifts and goodies of our online store and our retail areas of the cafes!  We have gorgeous products hand selected from local earth loving and socially conscious vendors lining our shelves.  Come vote with your dollars and buy the gift of gratitude, awareness and beauty.  Pictured is our new tote:  Veggie Wings, made of 100% organic cotton union crafted in San Francisco and printed with soy-based inks by Social Imprints.  

Social Imprints is a nonprofit screen printing and embroidery shop based in Oakland which provides higher paying employment to ex-offenders and recovering drug addicts. By partnering with Social Imprints, we are choosing one more way in which we are directly contributing to social change. Believing that business can change community for the better, both like-minded companies are continuing to seek out innovative ways in which to continue our partnership. For more information about our partnership with Social Imprints, go to www.socialimprints.com.