Lower Lonsdale resident Alison Scholefield is a regular customer at Café by Tao, so it didn’t take long for her to get to know café owner Agathe Mathieu.
“She’s honestly one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. She goes out of her way to get to know everybody who comes in,” Scholefield says.
Scholefield, who does sales and promotions for Okanagan Crush Pad winery in Summerland, B.C., got chatting with Mathieu and discovered their philosophies regarding food and the environment were quite similar.
“They really promote organic cuisine and the idea that food is medicine and it’s important to eat healthy and also be kind to the environment,” Scholefield says of the raw vegan café. “We definitely feel the same way at the winery. Our vineyards are all organic, or they’re in the process of becoming certified organic, and we work really hard to make sure that our farms are really healthy environments.”
When the café started serving wine this past summer, the two women decided it would be a natural fit to team up and host an event. Their inaugural holiday grazing evening takes place Thursday, Nov. 30, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the café. Unlike other festive-season gatherings that tend to be heavy on the meat and rich desserts, this one will focus on nutritious plant-based cuisine and organic wines.
Guests will enjoy tasty bites created by Mathieu and her team, along with beverage pairings from Okanagan Crush Pad’s organic Haywire Winery.
In the spirit of the giving season, proceeds from the event will be donated to North Shore Women’s Centre, a local non-profit organization based in the Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood that supports women and girls in the community.
Café by Tao is located at 210-150 Esplanade West, North Vancouver. Tickets to the holiday grazing event are available for $10 through Eventbrite.
