Mia Stainsby
Sun
PHOTO BY PHOTGRAPHER NAMEHYRE
Aaron Ash
Chef/Owner: Gorilla Food
I mainly became interested in organic and vegetarian food when I was 19 — I’m 30 now. At that point I started to think about animal rights and about the benefits of vegetarian food. I started cooking vegetarian for myself.
My jobs in a record store and health food store in Regina connected me to Mike D, the drummer with Beastie Boys [a seminal hip-hop group]. His wife, a film director, was shooting there.
I went to L.A. to visit and stayed friends with Mike. He drew me into the music scene. I feel like he’s a mentor insofar as learning how to be a hard working, focused and a determined person. I became their personal chef and cooked vegan food for them four times a week. I’d make the food and we’d eat together. They had a baby.
All I needed was yoga each day and I got to do that and explored my passion for music. I play everything from horns to percussion and keyboard. I grew up in a musical family. I got to do a vocal snippet with Mike on a Playstation game.
What kind of music do you play at Gorilla Food?
Mostly reggae and world. I guess reggae for me is all about positivity. Hip hop as well. Both have a materialistic side but a humanitarian side, too.
Where did you learn to cook?
I taught myself. When I was in Regina, a guy opened the first vegetarian restaurant and I worked there. He had travelled the world and studied all kinds of vegetarian cuisines. Then I met this raw food lady in L.A.; she was the first strictly raw foodist I’d met. She’d written a couple of cookbooks.
And you’ve also cooked for Woody Harrelson?
My friend had an art gallery on Commercial Drive and hired me to open a raw food cafe within it.
Woody was in town. I met him when he came to eat. It was called Living Source. It’s not there any more. He came back a couple weeks later to shoot a film and we connected. Then I ran into him at a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. He’d hopped on their bus heading to Vancouver when he was shooting in Seattle.
His assistant came down for juices because he was on a 30-day fast of just juices. Then the next couple of weeks, I took catered meals to his hotel.
You operate out of a hole-in-the-wall with a takeout window. What’s that like?
Well, since it’s been sunny, sales have tripled. But people still came out in the rain and through the winter. When it’s rainy and cold, I feel bad for people having to stand outside. I guess I feel like my goal is to have a sit-down restaurant and then also get into packaged foods.
I’ve already started selling unbaked cookies — cinnamon almond raisin cookies, orange walnut spice cookies, with dehydrated sprouted seeds and no flour. I bake them at 108 F.
What’s next?
I’m planning a sit-down raw-food restaurant.
Is Vancouver ready for that?
In the right location, it’s definitely ready. I don’t think it’s ready for a super high-end, expensive one, but definitely for a casual one.
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GORILLA FOOD
422 Richards St., 604-722-2504.
Gorilla Food serves organic, vegan raw food cuisine. Dishes include Thai Fresh Wraps using collard greens; Kale Tossed Salad; Ital Pizza, healthy juices, smoothies and shakes.
Most popular dish: Veggie burger (right). Made from walnuts, hemp seeds, hemp protein, sunflower seeds, carrots, tomatoes, onions, dehydrated at low temperature.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
