Zia's cafe: wallet-, eco-, health- friendly

If Tuesday's Earth Day activities have you in the mood to go green, there's good news for you: you can apply your eco-friendly efforts to your diet without sacrificing taste, and save green while simultaneously saving the planet and your health.

Where, you ask?

Zia's cafe and juice bar, located at 13 Allegheny Ave., has dubbed its culinary offerings as "feel good food and drink." Certainly, it will leave you feeling good health-wise and conscience-wise.

Zia's offers a variety of sandwiches, soups, salads, juices and smoothies containing all-organic ingredients from local farms and a full menu of fair trade organic coffee products. That means no antibiotics, no growth hormones and no factory farming, as labeled in bold on their menu.

Crisp vegetables, naturally sweet fruit juices and all-around fresh ingredients are a refreshing alternative to the fried and processed foods that dominate most students' diets.

On a recent visit I had a smoked salmon sandwich-smoked salmon, red onion, lettuce, low fat dill mayo on rye bread. I paired it with a spiced peach smoothie-with peaches, yogurt, milk, agave, cinnamon and Allspice.

Zia's juice bar includes mixes of orange, carrot, grapefruit, apple, beet, celery, red cabbage, cucumber and other fruit and vegetable juices.

Zia's also offers several vegetarian and vegan options. If their pre-made options don't suit your palate you can build your own sandwich with your choice of organic meats, veggies and other toppings.

My light dinner didn't put any sort of dent in my wallet. The small smoothie was less than $4 and my sandwich was less than $7.

The only thing that can rival the coolness of Zia's menu is the cafe's atmosphere. The casual "California-style" interior is the epitome of hip.

If you want to extend your efforts to be kind to the environment beyond Earth Day, while being kind to your health and your wallet at the same time, pay a visit to Zia's cafe. You won't be disappointed.

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