Superfood Me
Superfoods at Red Sugar
It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when the taste of food became irrelevant. When Gillian McKeith’s seeds, weeds and berries turned us into hamsters, the WAGS switched to vitamin milkshakes and Beyonce lived off "nutritionally balanced" lemonade, the media was quick to dismiss this flagrant disrespect for substantial grub as faddy.
Certainly new diets come and go depending on varying levels of celebrity endorsement, press coverage and the scientific-sounding jargon surrounding it. However, what has persisted throughout, and to an extent defines this generation of food stigmatists, is an inability and unwillingness to differentiate between food and medicine.
Whilst the focus on the healing, redemptive or energising qualities of certain foods is not a novel concept, what is particular to the last decade is the rampant commercialisation of such ideas. We receive the mantra of "superfood" from every glossy magazine and nutritionist around. Hailed as miracle foods because of their crazily high phytonutrient content—age-busting anti-oxidants, for example—the superfood heroes respond to a social disposition that desires the greatest possible benefits, in the smallest possible quantities; as many nutrients as possible without the pesky nuisance of substantial food.
The emergence of the juice bar is not an entirely new phenomenon. What is new is the shift in what the customer demands from it. No longer a refreshing spot to sample combinations of blended fruit, the customer now expects a prescription to come with their drink. From the "Fat Burner" to the "Energy Explosion," we are consuming more than a beverage: we are consuming a cure.
Adding a list of tasteless "booster" shots to the wholesome smoothies, such as the repugnant wheatgrass, aloe vera and acai varieties, we are effectively buying into a Mary Poppins approach to medicine. A novel idea, if a little over marketed. In Edinburgh, the relatively recent proliferation of such "super bars" reflects the gastronomique shift.
Red Sugar Superfood Café
We witnessed in horror as the Hanover Street Chinese buffet was replaced by a 'Juiced Up’ in 2007, losing sweet and sour delights to ginseng-infused concoctions. However, more recently, a super bar has emerged in Edinburgh that offers something slightly different, slightly charming and slightly less commodified. Attempting to tailor the superfood obsession to a local community of cynics who are unconvinced by the chains, Stockbridge’s Red Sugar certainly deserves a chance.
There is something perhaps a little obsessive about spending 24 hours making a cake. However, it is attention to detail that makes Red Sugar far superior to its competitors. Having just opened on Wednesday 13 February, this is Edinburgh’s newest addition to its health café scene.
Combining a devotion to Fair Trade with a commitment to organic produce, veganism and superfood recipes, Red Sugar initially appears to be too virtuous to be enjoyable. With chairs made from bamboo shoots, LED lights ensuring that electricity bills are kept at a crazy £30 a year, organic paint adorning the walls and recyclable cups holding their creations, the café takes "environmental friendliness to a OCD level" (their words, not mine).
But balancing the broad spectrum of superfood smoothies and boosters—all tailored, of course, to meet each customer’s requirements—is an array of what must be described as the most guilt free cocao (raw chocolate) experience around. Cocao, in its purest form, is fused with amber agave nectar (a sweet syrup from the cactus used in tequilla), gojo berries and hemp seeds and put in a dehydrating machine for hours, the result being one of the most delicious, health boosting chocolate cakes around. Trying to describe the taste is difficult. Imagine a nutty chocolate brownie with a piquant berry taste, moist but crunchy and then topped with a decadent layer of something similar to flour fre chocolate cake, rich, smooth and intensely chocolaty.
The crunchy under-layer balances the topping so well that one can imagine, and apparently some do, eating the cake both for breakfast and as a desert. At £3.99 for a slice, it ain’t cheap, but it is genuinely unlike anything you will have tasted. Furthermore—and this is where the science bit comes in—the Red Sugar team claim that the chocolate has more antioxidants than your body weight in blueberries, proving that raw cacao is the most antioxidant rich foodstuff in existence.
Following the Raw Food movement, which dictates that nothing is cooked in order to conserve as many nutrients as possible, the chocolate bars are put together without roasting/toasting of the beans. No dairy and no sugar mean that it is already considerably lower in calories. However, according to the owners, Steve Montgomery and former nutritionist Gillian, the MAO inhibitors in cacao act as an appetite suppressant and thus aid weight loss. In fact, one of their regulars is a slightly overweight boy whose mother is trying to wean him off the Mars bars and onto the Cacao ones, convinced of the veracity of the Red Sugar philosophy.
The most appealing of their bars is a tempting rum infused-one which apparently, perhaps due to the healthy sloshing of booze into the mixture, really does pack a punch. For those not crazy about chocolate, they offer a lemon cheesecake, with a base made from an assortment of ground nuts and a sizable, zesty, creamy top layer. At £4.99 this really is a bit steep but since the cashew nuts are imported from Peru at £11 a bag, you learn to savour every last bite of the thing (perhaps the crumbs too). In fact, much of the produce is imported from Hawaii and Tibet to ensure the best superfoods are obtained. The café itself, if you choose to sit in, has a minimalist white/cream colour scheme and is littered with information about the various ingredients on offer and their health benefits.
There is certainly a sense that the owners are keen to spread the dictum of the Raw Food movement around Edinburgh. However, despite the quality of their smoothies, the personal touch, the divine food and the all-round virtuous feel to the place, its food repertoire is a little narrow and the prices a little steep to merit steady regular custom. Whilst their health-obsessed approach to food makes sense and probably works, one still feels that there may be more to café culture than downing algae shots and musing on the merits of life-enhancing nutrients. For a novelty couple of visits, Red Sugar will not disappoint. However, with prices equaling or exceeding Starbucks, the promise of a Fairtrade skinny latte from the corporate machine is a habit too hard to break. The selling point of the products in these cafes is that they are surprisingly tasty for something so good for you. Similarly, Calpol is surprisingly yummy considering it is medicine. For health gurus, this place is a haven. For foodies, the gimic factor prevents regular patronage. Unfortunately, superfoods aside, I’ve tasted better.
Red Sugar Superfood Café
27 Raeburn Place
Stockbridge
07787 552 927
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