Vegan Soul Food Cafe in Orlando, FL
Donation protected
Help us create Orlando's first Vegan Soul Food Café!!
Alexandrah Love and Veronica Santiago have been making delicious vegan recipes together for nearly a decade. After becoming vegan in 2002, Alexandrah began looking for a new variety of health-aware and more diverse vegan options. While local health food and produce markets were great places to start, Alexandrah still found herself "“ and her friends "“ looking for vegan meals with an even wider range of flavor and style. After learning about all the ingredients that were available to her, she decided to try her skills with vegan cuisine. Beginning with food for herself and close friends, it was soon clear that her culinary creations appealed to more than the vegan community alone. People began asking for more opportunities to enjoy her meals, and Alexandrah would set up food tents at festivals and cater small events when she had the time. A singer by trade, she would cook and bake whenever her group, Solillaquists of Sound, was home from tour.
With strong knowledge and education in business management, along with unparalleled cooking and baking skills, Veronica is the kind of essential partner that only comes along once in a lifetime.
After their initial meeting in 2002, Veronica and Alexandrah knew they'd be working together for a long time to come. Their first cooking adventures, all those years ago, sparked a business idea that is now ready to come to light; a Vegan Soul Food Café in Orlando, Florida.
Active in their local, creative, and progressive Orlando community, Alexandrah and Veronica are so excited for this opportunity to present the Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food Café. Calling Orlando home, both ladies are excited to add their love-infused and deliciously unique element to the rapidly emerging culture of Central Florida's fastest growing city.
The Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food Café will be a modest size space for people of all walks of life. A place where everyone is welcome, this café will offer an alternating menu, including Soul Food main dishes, sides, drinks, and desserts. Entirely vegan, we aim to create foods that taste great to people of all dietary preferences. The Love is Love Vegan Soul Food Café will also carry some menu items that cater to people with special dietary needs such as gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free requirements. While some of the more traditional soul food recipes can be high in sodium, fats, cholesterol, and starch, Alexandrah and Veronica have studied and created healthier alternatives without compromising taste.
Some menu items include:
(all vegan, naturally!)
The art of the café will be local, and be represented in both paintings and wall murals. Seating for up to 40 people will be available both inside and on our small outside patio. Natural light will be complemented by a streamlined modern furnishings. There will also be as many natural elements as possible, like an organic indoor herb garden, and seasonal flowers.
All to-go utensils and containers will be compostable and/or easily reusable/recyclable. There will be ample parking, and also space enough directly outside the café to have gatherings of the arts, music, and both day time and late night events for people of all ages.
The entire foundation of the Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food Café rests on unconditional love, and the knowledge we all hold of this love, no matter our age. The name comes specifically from a conversation between Alexandrah Love and her then 2 year old goddaughter, Nevaeh, at Stardust Video and Coffee in 2004.
Alexandrah: "Nay, what is Love?"
Nay was sipping an Orangina, her favorite drink. After just a few seconds of thought, she put down her drink, her face slightly skewed in an adorable twist of contemplation. Nay replied, "Love:. Is Love."
This is a Love we all know. That limitless love that encourages us, makes us better people for having known it, changes our lives and changes our minds. The Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food Café hopes to bring people together in the spirit of this Love and Acceptance.
The ideal opening for the Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food Café is spring of 2015.
The Mills/50 District of Orlando, Florida.
This will be the first of its kind in the Orlando area. Both Alexandrah and Veronica know firsthand the importance of a strong community, and the ability of good food to bring people together in fortification of that strength. As Orlando is becoming more and more a place of limitless, burgeoning culture, these women hope to provide a space where people from all walks of life can come together and know they are accepted for who they are.
Some of the most profound shifts and conversations can happen when people come together to enjoy delicious food, and Veronica and Alexandrah dream of creating a space where these leaps in unity can happen. "The time is now," smiles Alexandrah Love.
It's more and more becoming clear that a new paradigm is being created in the definitions of community. This café can happen with your help! The time IS now! Alexandrah Love and Veronica are ready.
After nearly a decade of practice and growth, these ladies are dedicating all the time they have to this delicious pursuit, and would love for you to join them in the journey. If this cause resonates with you, please help these ladies by donating today to the Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food go fund me site. You can also share this page, which helps immensely as well!
Through word of mouth and social media, this café "“ the first of its kind in the Mills/50 District of Orlando, Florida "“ can not just happen, but really flourish. Both Alexandrah and Veronica are also in talks with a myriad of local business owners, strengthening the platforms by which we can connect with and help one another, more and more as our city grows. Local funding, materials, food ingredients, and art will be the foundational building blocks of this café, as both ladies truly respect and are excited by the power of people in cooperation toward a unified vision.
Love is how we will succeed!
Ps. If you've got an event coming up and would like Love Is Love to bring some delicious vegan soul food meals, drinks, or desserts, please contact us at [email redacted]
Pps. We are bottling our SORREL TEA!! Keep in touch with us at www.facebook.com/LoveIsLoveOrlando for the latest on where we'll be, what we're creating, and how Love Is Love is ready to WORK IN LOVE for this amazing Vegan Soul Food Café.
After their initial meeting in 2002, Veronica and Alexandrah knew they'd be working together for a long time to come. Their first cooking adventures, all those years ago, sparked a business idea that is now ready to come to light; a Vegan Soul Food Café in Orlando, Florida.
Active in their local, creative, and progressive Orlando community, Alexandrah and Veronica are so excited for this opportunity to present the Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food Café. Calling Orlando home, both ladies are excited to add their love-infused and deliciously unique element to the rapidly emerging culture of Central Florida's fastest growing city.
The Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food Café will be a modest size space for people of all walks of life. A place where everyone is welcome, this café will offer an alternating menu, including Soul Food main dishes, sides, drinks, and desserts. Entirely vegan, we aim to create foods that taste great to people of all dietary preferences. The Love is Love Vegan Soul Food Café will also carry some menu items that cater to people with special dietary needs such as gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free requirements. While some of the more traditional soul food recipes can be high in sodium, fats, cholesterol, and starch, Alexandrah and Veronica have studied and created healthier alternatives without compromising taste.
Some menu items include:
(all vegan, naturally!)
The art of the café will be local, and be represented in both paintings and wall murals. Seating for up to 40 people will be available both inside and on our small outside patio. Natural light will be complemented by a streamlined modern furnishings. There will also be as many natural elements as possible, like an organic indoor herb garden, and seasonal flowers.
All to-go utensils and containers will be compostable and/or easily reusable/recyclable. There will be ample parking, and also space enough directly outside the café to have gatherings of the arts, music, and both day time and late night events for people of all ages.
The entire foundation of the Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food Café rests on unconditional love, and the knowledge we all hold of this love, no matter our age. The name comes specifically from a conversation between Alexandrah Love and her then 2 year old goddaughter, Nevaeh, at Stardust Video and Coffee in 2004.
Alexandrah: "Nay, what is Love?"
Nay was sipping an Orangina, her favorite drink. After just a few seconds of thought, she put down her drink, her face slightly skewed in an adorable twist of contemplation. Nay replied, "Love:. Is Love."
This is a Love we all know. That limitless love that encourages us, makes us better people for having known it, changes our lives and changes our minds. The Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food Café hopes to bring people together in the spirit of this Love and Acceptance.
The ideal opening for the Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food Café is spring of 2015.
The Mills/50 District of Orlando, Florida.
This will be the first of its kind in the Orlando area. Both Alexandrah and Veronica know firsthand the importance of a strong community, and the ability of good food to bring people together in fortification of that strength. As Orlando is becoming more and more a place of limitless, burgeoning culture, these women hope to provide a space where people from all walks of life can come together and know they are accepted for who they are.
Some of the most profound shifts and conversations can happen when people come together to enjoy delicious food, and Veronica and Alexandrah dream of creating a space where these leaps in unity can happen. "The time is now," smiles Alexandrah Love.
It's more and more becoming clear that a new paradigm is being created in the definitions of community. This café can happen with your help! The time IS now! Alexandrah Love and Veronica are ready.
After nearly a decade of practice and growth, these ladies are dedicating all the time they have to this delicious pursuit, and would love for you to join them in the journey. If this cause resonates with you, please help these ladies by donating today to the Love Is Love Vegan Soul Food go fund me site. You can also share this page, which helps immensely as well!
Through word of mouth and social media, this café "“ the first of its kind in the Mills/50 District of Orlando, Florida "“ can not just happen, but really flourish. Both Alexandrah and Veronica are also in talks with a myriad of local business owners, strengthening the platforms by which we can connect with and help one another, more and more as our city grows. Local funding, materials, food ingredients, and art will be the foundational building blocks of this café, as both ladies truly respect and are excited by the power of people in cooperation toward a unified vision.
Love is how we will succeed!
Ps. If you've got an event coming up and would like Love Is Love to bring some delicious vegan soul food meals, drinks, or desserts, please contact us at [email redacted]
Pps. We are bottling our SORREL TEA!! Keep in touch with us at www.facebook.com/LoveIsLoveOrlando for the latest on where we'll be, what we're creating, and how Love Is Love is ready to WORK IN LOVE for this amazing Vegan Soul Food Café.
Organizer
Alexandrah Love
Organizer
Orlando, FL
