MiHungry - Whol'-Some-Food
Published:Thursday | September 30, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Nashauna Drummond, Lifestyle Coordinator
The Courtyard at the Market Place along Constant Spring Road is packed with restaurants. Whether you desire Chinese, Japanese, Mediterranean or French cuisine, you are bound to find something to satisfy your craving. But tucked away beyond the boundaries of the courtyard is a unique little eatery in whose kitchen you will not find a stove. But, you can still enjoy a burger, pizza, bowl of soup or slice of pie.
Mihungry Whol'-Some-Food is a raw-food restaurant that moved to Market Place in May. Its proprietor, I-Wara Mamher-Tafari, is a computer programmer by profession and has been a vegan since he was a teenager. His change in diet began after he developed acne at 16. His doctor told him it was just a case of teenage bumps. Not satisfied with the explanation, he began his sojourn into raw food, with inspiration from raw-food specialist Dr Tori Hudson. He recalled seeing an interview with the 63-year-old and thought, if he looked so good at that age, then raw had to be the way to go.
However, it was Dr Aris LaTham - whom the 2004 Oxford Encyclopaedia of Food and Drink in America credits as the father of gourmet ethical raw-food cuisine - who is responsible for Mamher-Tafari finally going raw. He hasn't had a cooked meal in almost five years. After returning from studying in London, he got the opportunity to do a number of shows (such as Rebel Salute) with Dr LaTham. Mamher-Tafari told Food that learning about raw food is not about recipes, but principles. "Once you learn the principles you can come up with your own recipe."
Birth of mihungry
Mamher-Tafari never intended to open a raw-food restaurant. Fabian Graham, who had an office on the same block as he did, had high blood pressure and asked Mamher-Tafari to prepare a meal for him.
"He began calling me up and he would ask what I was having for lunch because whatever I was having, he would be having."
Graham started taking a friend along, who would then take another friend, and a circle developed. Then they would start making contributions towards getting the ingredients. "That made me fix food every day," Mamher-Tafari notes. Then he began working from home.
One day, while getting some nuts to make a pie, he met I-Kofi, who started helping him prepare the meals. "At seven o'clock in the morning, he would be knocking on my door. He would say, 'Just tell me what to do'." One day, while they were walking through Market Place, I-Kofi said to him: "This is where we are going to have a place."
Unfortunately, I-Kofi died of liver complications.
"I continued because he was the one pushing for it," Mamher-Tafari remarked. It's a sort of homage to his friend and the name came out of a brainstorming session he had with Sly Dunbar. He did not think it necessary to put raw in the name, as it speaks for itself. Mihungry Whol-Some-Food not only serves raw dishes, but also does gourmet meals, taking raw cuisine to a level where meat lovers can appreciate and enjoy the flavours of a meal with all the natural enzymes to nourish the human body.