Steven Whittaker believes that supplying your body with the right foods will not only make you function properly, but you will actually feel better.
The correct foods, he adds, makes a person realize the benefits of being fit, strong and young. Whittaker is into the cooking of biogenic and alkaline foods.
“The foods that people are accustomed to eating have so many chemicals, food colours and toxins in them that they have jagged the taste buds, so they cannot really appreciate the more natural taste of the organic produce,” he said.
Whittaker has been operating the Lion’s Share Café in Warrens, St Michael, for the past two years and ten He uses organically grown herbs and vegetables to prepare foods aimed at keeping the body at its optimum.
“My objective was to prepare delicious alkaline foods, or biogenic foods that would help you to not just live longer but reduce or eliminate from your body [things] too acidic,” he explained.
At his café he prepares foods so people could be healthier, with less acute and chronic diseases, but he advises that along with eating the food there must be some form of exercise and meditation. He does not use meat or any animal products. However, his foods are not ital but biogenic.
Whittaker said he was always into health and wellness, training and fitness, having worked at various gyms across the island. However, getting people to start healthy eating was difficult at first because many were not familiar with biogenic and alkaline foods. So Whittaker started educating customers of their benefits.
Though he loved exotic cooking, when he started the business Whittaker never intended to do the cooking; he just wanted to show customers healthy options.
Whittaker gained his qualifications as a vegetarian chef and started to grow some of what he used. He has as a concept, from the garden to the plate. In his kitchen garden he grows all the herbs and some vegetables free of chemicals and preservatives.
“I grow organic herbs and organic greens. They need no fertilizers to grow because they are wild and natural. They are not genetically modified; they grow just as wild as the grass. Ultimately they are more nutritious than the herbs in the supermarket,” he said.
If he does not grow it, the produce is sourced from organic farmers across the island.
Whittaker has in his garden, among others things, moringa, dandelion, blue vervain and kale – one of the most alkaline herbs that can be found anywhere.
He said his elevated mini-greenhouse system, set up specifically for the herbs, guarantees quality. He also specializes in hydroponics, growing particular plants in the water solution.
“What I wanted to demonstrate to people is that it can be done. They can say I don’t have to be in a garden toiling to reap but there are other ways to grow the things you need in a sophisticated and economical way,” the part-time farmer said.
On a diet prepared from his menu, those who want to be weaned off animal products can do so. He explained that transitional foods were not too high on the acidic level but not alkaline. Those foods, which were raw or living organic greens, helped to lead the person to the biogenic foods.
Whittaker said some of the specialties at his cafe included steamed sweet potato wedges, moringa soups and the hemp shake, a shot of high-quality protein.
