The past several months I have been patronizing (spending lots of $$$) the only 100% raw food place in Queens, New York. Exotic Superfoods (ESF) has a juice/smoothie bar as well as counter-service and tables for their own raw and living food menu. They are most popular for selling hard-to-find “superfoods”, a term coined for foods that have a lot of health and nutrition, or simply, foods with more bang for your buck. These are foods that if you just included several of them in your “not-so-great” diet, they can help soften the blow. The owners Matt, Fabian, Ming, and Li have been in business for about a year and a half and have consistently impressed me with their services. And because I love to support businesses that I believe can make a difference in the world, I made this list. Enjoy!
10. The Owners - Matt, Fabian, Ling, and Ming have great energy and you can tell they love what they do. It is all too common for people to have a job just for the sake of paying the bills, but when you see someone who is passionate and loves what they do, praise is called for. The passion can be infectious.
9. The Space - The place is filled with plant life that contributes to the friendly atmosphere. Living in an urban society, one tends to forget their relationship with nature and the symbiotic relationship we have with plants. They have plenty of tables where one can simply hang out, read a book from their bookshelf, surf the web with your laptop since they offer wifi, or enjoy their food or smoothies.
8. The Food - Their food is a great alternative to “eating out” at typical places and offers the convenience of being a “fast food” raw food place and can be assured of having food with great ingredients. They typically do not include grains or dairy in their menu and obviously nothing is cooked. I recommend the “Super Samba” sandwich.
7. The Juice/Smoothie Bar - Their juices and smoothies are awesome. They have a wide variety of choices and can also individualize your beverage to your liking. My favorites are the Chocolate Concoction and the House Smoothie (which is a powerhouse of superfoods).
6. The Monthly Lectures - They offer monthly lectures from experts in the raw and living food world. I was able to attend lectures by Paul Nison, Brian Clement, and David Jubb. They always have an interesting variety of speakers.
5. The Customers - Being the only 100% raw food place in Queens will attract, of course, people who enjoy eating raw food and who make health one of their main priorities. It’s always great to meet like-minded people and there seems to be a common trait of the customers who frequent ESF; everyone is so friendly and it makes one wonder if it’s the food. As in Reason #10, the customers are a reflection of the passion and vision of the four owners.
4. Cherimoyas – This is an exotic fruit that grows in tropical areas and is rare to find organic varieties in New York. But not at ESF. My wife grew up with cherimoyas falling off the trees from where she’s from in Peru and my parents also grew up with them in the Philippines. ESF is the only place I know of in NY that gets good quality cherimoyas when in season. My family loves them so much that we asked ESF to order us a case every time a delivery comes in.
3. Unpasteurized Almonds - As of September 2007, all almonds grown in the United States, regardless if they’re organic or not, by law are flash pasteurized in order to “protect” the public from getting sick. Pasteurization kills some of the nutrition of the almond. So much for living in a free country. But then again the government forces all its citizens to be vaccinated in order to go to school. I remember before this law was implemented, the almond milk I would make from unpasteurized almonds would last longer than the now heated version. Nowadays if I made almond milk it would spoil after a few days at best compared to a whole week previously. At ESF, they sell almonds from Sicily, Italy, where they DO NOT pasteurize their almonds. Only at ESF do they offer unpasteurized almonds (as far as I’m aware of) in the New York City area. This reason alone is why you should support them.
2. Organic Young Thai Coconuts (Fresh) – These aren’t the young thai coconuts you see at some supermarkets like Whole Foods Markets that are conventional. These are organic and most impressively flown fresh from Thailand overnight especially for ESF. They are absolutely the best, and most ripe young coconuts I’ve ever had.
1. Durian – The king of fruits, but unfortunately in order to get the whole fruit from outside the US, they must be sprayed with pesticides or something messed up like that before we get them; and they’re usually frozen and thawed out by the time you see them in the Asian markets. The other option is to get the durian pulp frozen without the seed (which is a decent option since this doesn’t require it to be sprayed). ESF has gone the extra mile by being the ONLY establishment on the East Coast of the US to have fresh, ripe durian flown in overnight from Thailand (just like the coconuts). The durian meat is scooped out and dry-iced when shipped. The variety they offer flown in fresh overnight from Thailand is the gradoom variety which is not as smelly as the mornthong type, which is the frozen pulp variety they also sell at ESF. I personally have grown to like the mornthong in my smoothies and the gradoom to eat alone. Both elicit an immediate feeling of euphoria and satiation that it’s no wonder why the larger animals of the wild such as the orangutan, elephants, and tigers love this fruit.
So there it is, my top ten reasons for patronizing Exotic Superfoods in Fresh Meadows, Queens, New York. I highly recommend you to make the trip to Queens to visit them. It will be worth your while and tell them I sent you. And no, I’m not getting any money or favors from them for writing this article. I’ve been so impressed with their service that I felt inspired to do so (as I do with any thing that I feel would benefit others, I tell the world about it).
