Omar Abou-ismail: Food Alchemist

Sugarhouse has long been the home for unusual, provoking and environmentally conscious businesses, but rarely do all three come together as beautifully and perfectly as in Omar’s Rawtopia, Salt Lake City’s only raw food bar which is located just a block away from QSaltLake’‘s offices.

Instead of such regular lunch fare as soups, pizza, sandwiches and soda,  diners can enjoy such inspired dishes as crème de broccoli “soup,” hummus pizza, sweet basil seaweed rolls and thick, hearty hemp milk chai — which, although served cold like all of the food at the restaurant, is the perfect spicy drink for the winter holidays.

The restaurant is owned and managed by Omar Abou-ismail, who also works as its head chef. Although he has no formal training in the culinary arts, his mother worked as a chef in Lebanon (both she and her son are members of the Druze tribe), and growing up in this country and in Nigeria, his knowledge of Lebanese food and of Indian spices (which he first encountered among West Africa’s Indian population) rivals that of any master. Other than that, he says most of the restaurant’s menu items have come to him in dreams or during meditation.

“To be honest, I meditate a lot,” he says. “I do kinesiology, so I energy test everything [we make]. I follow spirit when it comes to making food. I’m like an alchemist.”

Before Abou-ismail and his staff of 10 became Sugarhouse’s resident food alchemists, Abou-ismail himself was leading a very different life. As a geophysicist working for a company contracted with the U.S. Navy, he specialized in UXO, or unexploded and exploded ordinance control—meaning that it was his job to recover bombs the Navy had planted to test bombs on. While on this contract he lived in Hawaii where he says he first began living the raw lifestyle—that is, eating uncooked, completely vegan and organically-grown foods for their health benefits and environmental-friendliness.

When the contract was up, Abou-ismail returned to Salt Lake City to help his mother care for his father, who had just developed cancer. After his death, Abou-ismail said he didn’t want to go back to his former job. Rather, he wanted to bring the benefits of the raw lifestyle to the city.

“I felt there was a definite need for a restaurant that has absolutely 100 percent healthy food, from the salt to the olive oil to the quality of ingredients in the food,” he said. “[I wanted to make] something very purse so that people who are sick, or people who understand food well and only eat amazing, healthy food can be allowed the opportunity to have a good meal at my place.”

Like many start up businesses, Abou-ismail didn’t have a lot of money, so he says he was fortunate to share a store space with Herbs for Health, a herbal supplement store located on Highland Dr. When the shop and other businesses were torn down as part of the neighborhoods still-incomplete renovation, Omar’s Rawtopia moved into the building located just a few paces to the south, where it has remained ever since. While many businesses might have folded among such turmoil, Abou-ismail credits customer support for being able to make it in his own place.

“People just loved the food so much,” he says.

And in return, Abou-ismail says he not only loves his customers, but the environment, both of which he is dedicated to serving. Unlike many restaurants, his business generates very little trash each day; most materials are recycled or, if they are leftover food, composted. It also supports the community by shopping local; Abou-ismail grows many of the herbs used in the food in his own garden and buys the vegetables, nuts and seeds used in his creations from local farmers.

“I think right now it’s so important,” he sys of shopping local. “A lot of people don’t support so may of these people [local farmers], and they’re like our fathers. They’re taking care of us. They’re taking care of the plants. It’s so amazing to have an organic grower being able to be supported.”

“We need more gardens,” he insists.

The business’ emphasis on shopping and eating local, and on eating well, also ties into the raw food lifestyle, he explains.

“I feel like it’s important that we understand this package foods are basically contaminating our planet,” he says, noting that trash from these packages, as well as from the chemicals used to preserve food, are polluting landfills, waterways, and ultimately people’s bodies. “In a sense I feel like it’s important for us to wake up and make a difference in our world and in our lives. We are the elements of this earth, so if we’re dumping crap into this earth, that means we’re dumping crap into our bodies, and when the earth is in pain, our bodies are in pain “

“I feel like this restaurant symbolizes peace through food, by telling people there’s a way to create peace in our world, and it’s through watching what you eat,” he says.

But overall, he says that his food is just his way of serving humanity. Along with running the restaurant, Abou-ismail also teaches classes in preparing and cooking with raw foods and has taught nutrition classes for the Utah AIDS Foundation. He is especially excited to help gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, he says, because he feels like “the gay community needs to get closer together.”

“I’m definitely putting myself out there for my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, so we can all reach out and love each other,” he says. “I love people and the universe loves people, and this is like Mother Earth loving people, and saying you get to eat this, the most amazing food ever from me.”

Omar’s Rawtopia is located at 2148 Highland Dr. in Sugarhouse. It is open from 12–8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 12–9 Friday and Saturday. Learn more about the restaurant’s menu and raw food in general at omarsrawopia.com.