August 2024 | Vol. 06 Iss. 8
FREE
Food Edition
RAWTOPIA UNLOCKS THE POWER OF CLEAN EATING By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com
O
mar Abou-Ismail hasn’t eaten fast food for 23 years, and he feels amazing. When he was 22 years old, AbouIsmail started a meditation practice that included conscious, clean eating. It put him on a path that has become his life’s journey: creating healthy food and educating consumers about the benefits of eating a sustainable, high-quality and organic diet. Now 45, Abou-Ismail owns and operates Rawtopia at 3961 Wasatch Blvd. in Millcreek, an award-winning restaurant committed to serving flavorful, clean gourmet cuisine. “We’re very particular about all our ingredients and where they come from,” he said. “We dry a lot of our herbs from our gardens and we support local farming and agriculture. Everything we do in the restaurant is very farm-to-table and a hands-on experience.” Abou-Ismail opened his first restaurant in Sugar House called Living Cuisine Raw in 2005, shortly after his father died from cancer. He was convinced a healthier diet could have extended his father’s life and he became passionate about introducing high-nutrient foods to consumers. His restaurant went through several
evolutions before he landed in Millcreek in 2017. Although he earned a geophysics degree at the University of Utah, his decision to move into the healthy restaurant business wasn’t difficult. His mother is a Lebanese chef and, with her help, his talent for creating clean cuisine became a fun challenge. Abou-Ismail worked with his mother in a local restaurant and what he saw there changed his life. “When I was working at the restaurant, I was looking at this gluttony, looking at how people would eat,” he said. “They were eating all these deep-fried foods, and they’re eating all this junk food, and there was no restaurant that had healthy food. I thought, wow, this is really, really sad.” Rawtopia is an innovative clean-eating restaurant where he hopes to revolutionize the way people think about food. Continued page 8 Farmers markets provide much of the food for the cuisine at Rawtopia in Millcreek. Omar Abou-Ismail sources local produce, meat and other ingredients for his gluten-free, dairy-free and organic menu. (Photos courtesy of Omar Abou-Ismail)
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