Food is medicine at Bare Roots Farmacy
In 2012, Brandi Whitney started Bare Roots Paleo, a meal delivery service. The idea was to serve honest, healthy food to CrossFit gyms, yoga studios, teachers, et cetera. When Brandi met Olivia Amos, through CrossFit, Olivia’s dream of opening an organic market, and background in restaurant management, was the perfect marriage to Brandi’s growing business. They shared a vision, one of a community location that offers healthy, organic and locally sourced food to Columbus. The project would require connection, a thread of cooperation that, as Brandi and Olivia explain, “runs from local farms, to the community, and, ultimately, to the tables at Bare Roots Farmacy.”
BareRoots Farmacy is a farm-to-table restaurant with a mission. Brandi and Olivia have taken Hippocrates’s invitation and turned it into an imperative: food is medicine. The menu at Bare Roots Farmacy provides diners options for clean eating with locally sourced food. Whether you’re Paleo, Whole30, vegan or gluten free, Bare Roots Farmacy has delicious options that fit your lifestyle. As Brandi and Olivia explain, “Our mission is to provide clean, organic, non-GMO [genetically modified], delicious food that is convenient for our hectic lifestyles in a fun and laid back environment.” And at Bare Roots Farmacy, that’s exactly what you’ll find.
The reality is, Columbus needs Bare Roots Farmacy, and has for a long time. When Brandi and Olivia first opened, they were anxious that there might be a learning curve, that it might take time for many people to ditch the thirty-day fad diets for clean eating. It didn’t take long, however, for Brandi and Olivia to realize just how important their new restaurant could be for the community. They were pleasantly surprised to see how many people were already committed to clean eating, people whose dinning out options had been so limited. A healthy lifestyle is no fad. The internet has brought more information to more people than has ever before been possible, and anyone with access can investigate for themselves what’s in the food they eat, and what they need to do to live a longer, healthier life. A restaurant like Bare Roots Farmacy is more than a trendy eatery with excellent food; Bare Roots Farmacy provides a community service, not only by servicing those who already eat mindfully, but also by being a resource to those who are interested in learning more about clean eating.
Brandi and Olivia say that their favorite customer is one who is at first hesitant to come. Maybe they don’t believe that healthy food can taste so good. “Usually a friend or family member persuades them on coming for the first time,” say Brandi and Olivia. “The best part is when they leave saying they had no idea healthy food could be this delicious!”
To the hesitant, the fence-sitters, and the uncertain. To the busy, the forgetful, and for those who say no simply because it’s new and not something to which they’re accustomed. The verdict is in. Clean eating is delicious, and you can find it at Bare Roots Farmacy.