I don't know if the claim that raw food cured this man's colitis is true, but the restaurant that resulted from his foray into natural foods is certainly nothing to scoff at. Organic Lives feels a little industrial at times -- cement floors, a full view into the shining, metal kitchen, the wait-staff in cooking jackets and hairnets -- but the food makes the awkward ambiance worthwhile.

"Ethicurian": It's a word now! I thought my socially concious/coincidentally beautiful friend Lisa had made it up to impress me, but it turns out that there's a real live movement (or at least a webpage) centered around eating sustainably and the humane treatment of animals. Lisa is my food hero, even though one time I went to her house and her dad was quartering a deer in their garage.