MNN - Mother Nature Network

One busy pre-Christmas activity-packed day, we decided to grab a bite to eat on the way to visit our local zoo in Portland, Ore. After some debate on the merits of different nearby restaurants and food carts, we decided to try a small food cart that had caught our eye called Cultured Caveman. (The caveman in the title is a reference to the paleo or “caveman” diet that avoids legumes and grains and refined sugars). After all, once we learned that they used old-fashioned, grass-fed tallow to fry their French fries and chicken strips, we knew it was going to be good.

 

And we were not disappointed!

 

Beef tallow fries are the best, hands down (pictured above). The most interesting thing to me about these delicious fries is that they were so much more satisfying than regular fries. You know how most restaurant fries can be sort of endlessly eaten if you aren’t paying attention? Well, I swear that these fries aren’t like that. You actually feel satisfied and full.

 

 

Of course the all-beef chili didn’t hurt either (I loved that it was made with shredded beef instead of just ground beef), or the beet salad that was scrumptious, or the mini meat loaves that were adorable and yummy. We liked their homemade broth too, but we admittedly had to salt it quite a bit.

 

All in all, I have to say that this was the best food cart experience yet for us. Not only is the food good, but I feel great about feeding it to my family too. I wish Cultured Caveman all the success in the world, and will definitely be back soon.

 

I also hope that food carts (or restaurants) like this become more common! Wouldn’t it be lovely to have many places that specialize in using organic, grass-fed ingredients without all of the junk? And wouldn’t it be grand if more restaurants stopped frying their food in hydrogenated and genetically modified vegetable oils, instead using traditional fats like tallow? Tallow used to be the fat of choice for places like McDonalds, and the company only changed to vegetable oils once fears about saturated fats became mainstream. With the saturated fat/heart disease connection being questioned more and more as the years go on, I’d love to see more restaurants ditching the vegetable oil.

 

We will see. Meanwhile, I know where I am getting my fries!