Achieving Wellness in Restaurants

There's an Ayurvedic chef in residence at The Bird in Loring Park—and she wants you!

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This one is for the cooks and restaurant professionals in the audience: Have you ever felt like things are so hectic at work that you can't even breathe? And then have you ever felt like that every year, forever?

Believe it or not, Kim Bartmann, who now owns some 11 local restaurants, and so seems a lot bigger than someone back in the walk-ins who can't breathe from all the stress, has been there. "I've been fired from two jobs in my life," Bartmann told me. "The first time was for burning my hand in a restaurant, and the second time was for going to a friend's funeral. When I got fired that time I vowed to never work in a restaurant again." Instead, she decided to work in a restaurant and change things from the inside, and was one of the first local spots to offer employees health care. Now she's pushing ahead in a new way: There are free breathing and meditation class for restaurant workers at The Bird on Loring Park every Monday from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Go!

The classes are being led by Nalini Mehta, an Ayurvedic chef who has lived in New York and Atlanta and has been 'in residence' at The Bird since August, and will be there for a few more months, on a grant provided by the Women In Culinary Leadership program of the James Beard Foundation. 

"I’ve been teaching culinary programs for the past 10 years," Mehta told me. "I had always dreamed of having a restaurant, but concluded it was a good dream that wasn't right for me, because I didn't really think food could be made at mass-scale with any spirit of nurturing that addresses wellness. I saw over the years so many chefs who were not well—there was so much depression, and it's such a physically and mentally tough career. But I could never stop thinking about it: How can you bring physical, emotional wellness to restaurants? And then I met Kim, and she was living it and making it happen."

And now here we are. Mehta and Bartmann report the free Monday "Recharge Your Mind" series has been going really well, though it's not widely known about, so spread the word! 

For the next step, Mehta will be co-cooking an Ayurvedic dinner with homegrown Indian celebrity chef Raghavan Iyer, on December 4th. The pop-up is $50 for a three-course Ayurvedic vegetarian dinner with mocktail. "I tell people who aren't familiar with Ayurveda that it's an Indian medicine form and an alternative lifestyle based on wellness and sustainability," says Mehta. "It's about you, as well as your food. We'll give everyone a questionnaire—if you're a firey personality you should have foods that are calming. If you're very grounded, then foods that will perk you up. People who are like me, who are all air, our foods should be more grounded. It's not just about the taste of the food in your mouth, which should be delicious, but also about how the food sits with you after the meal, emotionally and physically." 

Bartmann and Mehta are also hoping that this pop-up can be a big meeting place for everyone who is interested in boosting wellness in restaurants. Bartmann told me she has been in touch with the owners of PinKU Japanese and The Lynhall, who are interested in bringing some of Mehta's meditation and breathing work into their own restaurants.

"How do we, as people who feed people, stay healthy ourselves?" asks Bartmann. If you want to be part of that conversation, head down to The Bird.

Mpls.St.Paul Daily Edit

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