History

In the mid-1970s, a number of women felt the influence of feminism strongly enough to put their beliefs into effect, by starting feminist businesses. We were among them. We wanted to create a feminist community for men and women that was self-sustaining. A lot of feminist bookstores were cropping up all over the country, but, Selma had always been interested in cooking and the way that food seemed to bring people together. So, opening a restaurant seemed the logical choice.

Our vision included offering ethnic foods, we wanted to serve food that represented a diverse group of people from all over the world. We also didn’t want to use meat, as we don’t believe in exploiting, dominating or eating animals. From our first cookbook, The Political Palate, “Feminism is not a part-time attitude for us; it is how we live all day, everyday. Our choices in furniture, pictures, the music we play, the books we sell, and the food we cook all reflect and express our feminism.”

Now, approaching our 30th year, Bloodroot is thriving. Someone came by the restaurant the other day and told us they had thought that there must be new owners, because we have a web site now. Rest assured, little has changed since we began this journey. We are still Luddites. We recently bought a touch tone phone because we had to, the old rotary phone suited us just fine, but, to order some of our supplies meant we have to go through those awful automated voice systems, our rotary phone just wouldn’t work.

Two of the original collective members still provide the foundation for Bloodroot today. We are Selma Miriam and Noel Furie. We look forward to meeting you.