I used to work at a natural foods store, Earthbeam Natural Foods on the Peninsula in high school, which is how I first came to fall in love with my current lifestyle. I commonly could be found restocking the shelves, and this was my opportunity to learn about the products we sold. I read the labels of countless items, and noticed that a lot of organic and natural goodies were based in Berkeley, specifically on San Pablo Ave. The more products I saw that were located here, the more I thought how I must take a field trip and visit all of these places that deliver the things I grew to love. One of these items included the incredible sliced bread from Vital Vittles.
Years later I moved to Berkeley with my boyfriend and thought it was the craziest coincidence that we were on San Pablo Ave--the very place I wanted to venture to for so long! Sure enough, as we drove on that main street every day, we passed some of the landmarks that had made themselves famous to me back to when I was a natural foods store cashier. Some you couldn't really visit since they weren't store fronts, however I noticed that we would pass the Vital Vittles mill and bakery EVERY day on our way to our daily visit to the Berkeley Bowl grocery store (aka B-Bowl). We always said we were going to go, and when we never did, it kind of turned into a joke every time we passed it on the way to B-Bowl. Finally one day I had a irresistible craving for bread that Acme Bread wasn't going to fill. I wanted my Sesame-Millet bread from Vital Vittles and it just so happened that they were open at that very moment.
We walked through the gates and before we even went through the door, the smell was intoxicating. I have never smelled such a fresh scent of bread baking, along with fresh grains being milled. It was a such a warm, welcoming smell, which was also what we felt as soon as we walked into the bakery. The staff was also really welcoming and greeted us with samples of the Sesame-Millet rolls. They're no way to fully describe the perfectly chewy, nutty bread and the crunchy whole millet grains that stud the roll. Obviously I had to get some. And the Russian Sourdough because I needed a sourdough after I had just started reading about fermented breads in Wild Fermentation. Oh, and the lady also convinced us we needed a fresh fresh fresh cinnamon roll that just came out of the oven. She really had to pull my leg on that one.
We had to leave so I wouldn't pick out more. There is just so much to choose from, I already know what I want on my next visit. There's cookies, Honey Challah, Corn Bread, just to name a few. They're feel good breads, inside and out--completely 100% whole grain and organic from the beginning in 1976. They mill their grains every day; things couldn't be fresher, trust me I saw! I can't believe I finally had my Vital Vittles adventure just now, even though I literally live down the street. There's no doubt that I'm going to constantly be making field trips here for my regular dose of delicious bread.
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