TASTE OF THE TREASURE COAST
Cafe owner Amber Eichling has been passionate about vegan-friendly
options for over a decade. Her café has been well-received and has stood
strong even through a pandemic.
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As people settle into the new year, many are trying
to be healthier versions of themselves. Some may
incorporate a new exercise routine while others
drop a serious television-watching habit. But
one of the most popular things Americans are doing is to
switch to vegetarian and vegan-based diets to lose weight,
diminish chronic disease or lessen damage done to the
environment.
When Amber Eichling was a teenager, she made a conscious
effort to follow a pescatarian or vegetarian lifestyle
and continued to do so for several years. After winning
a scholarship to be part of a foreign exchange program
upon graduating high school, her views would change yet
again.
“When I was 18 years old, I spent some time in Germany
completing an internship and work program,” Eichling
says. “During that time, mad cow disease was happening
there and the family I lived with didn’t eat any red meat. I
already was not eating most animal products but that sort
of catapulted me to stick to a vegan lifestyle.”
Eichling became vegan and only looked forward, creating
new dishes in the kitchen with plant-based ingredients.
She experimented with new flavor profiles and
crafted a unique menu of her own.
“I was raised in Cocoa Beach and moved to Stuart
around 2009,” Eichling says. “I had always worked in the
restaurant industry, usually front-of-house positions, so I
was familiar with that world.”
After following a vegan lifestyle for several years while
living in Stuart, Eichling noticed there was a lack of vegan
food options. She decided that opening a small café and >>
The café has a wide variety of salads
to offer. including a hearty Spinach
Sunflower Salad. Ingredients include
spinach, quinoa, mushrooms,
sun sprouts, oranges, apples and
sunflower seeds, tossed with a crisp
tomato citrus ginger dressing.