fast food noun: unhealthy, lazy meal option.

Synonyms: Greasy fries, artery-clogging meats and sugar-infused beverages.

Antonym:  Café Juicy Lotus.

Located on trendy Monkland Avenue, Café Juicy Lotus is a family-owned café offering healthy, homemade vegetarian to go. Mother-daughter duo Gigi Cohen and Jessica Watters have brought vegetarian meals to the masses. Due to Watters’ severe allergies to meat protein, the two have been cooking up unique meat-free dishes for years and have now made them accessible to the public.

The key to their tasty treats? Variety.

The pair is out to prove that lettuce-based salads are not the only way to go veggie. The menu changes daily, and includes a multitude of fresh soups, salads and sandwiches.  Feature items like the Kamut penne with vegetable stirfry, vegetable miso soup, or tofu chicken wings with spicy and sweet garlic sauce makes vegetarian eating an exciting affair. Selections of baked goods – try the Sunshine Cookie (a chewy, gooey melange of grains and dried fruits) – are also a quick nab.

Want to know what’s cooking for the day? Check out “Living La Vida Lotus”, the restaurant’s daily blog.  Should you care to venture into some veggie cooking of your own, a variety of spreads and spices are also available for purchase.

They’re changing the definition of food on the go.