Pure Grub serves excellent food with a side of excellent deeds

Asanté Bierria does not just want to nourish your human body with Pure Grub, he wants to feed your soul.

The enterprise, which is dependent out of a professional kitchen area in Mt. Washington, sells (and gives absent) natural, plant-dependent, gluten-absolutely free health and fitness meals and probiotic beverages at several places through Pittsburgh.

“Every bite you choose should really have wholesome benefit,” Bierria suggests.

Lately, at Trace Brewing in Bloomfield — where by Bierria is stationed every single Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. — he was slinging merchandise this kind of as veggies and rice in a mango jerk sauce, spicy Japanese sweet potatoes and warm cornbread.

Earlier in the 7 days at the Lawrenceville Farmers Current market — his household base every single Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. — consumers experienced the selection of Pan-Asian stir-fry or spring salads with papaya dressing. Check out Pure Grub’s whole schedule online.

In an effort and hard work to assist battle food insecurity, Bierria and other volunteers inventory a cooler and pantry at Millvale’s Tupelo Honey Teas. Bierria dispenses 150 nutritious meals a 7 days, which everyone in want is welcome to just take, no issues questioned. You can donate supplies or ship income by Venmo to puregrub412.

Each individual winter by way of early spring, Pure Grub takes more than the support widow at Tupelo Honey Teas. This summertime, on the 1st Thursday of each individual thirty day period from 5 to 9 p.m., Bierria and his crew will set up shop on the company’s patio for its VBQ, a vegan barbecue collection.

The menu changes weekly, but it’s usually packed with nutrient-abundant objects built with seasonal substances from nearby farmers’ markets or the East Finish Food Co-Op.

Pure Grub staples incorporate Balls of Goodness, which are floor tree nuts and maple syrup coated in cocoa or ginger cinnamon. 5 yrs back, Bierria served these protein-packed snacks to seniors at a nursing dwelling and they came up with the title.

A wellbeing-conscious person with a sweet tooth can also enjoy Ice Cream Sandwich Bites (coconut milk ice cream in a tree nut sammie) and a Blueberry Jam Parfait that consists of coconut cream, blueberries, chia seeds and cacao.

Bierria jumped on the superfood bandwagon after a health and fitness scare just about a 10 years ago. The expertise produced him know that fad eating plans don’t get the job done to see real improve, he suggests, you have to incorporate healthier meals into your life style.

“It’s a way of lifestyle,” he claims. “Quality foods enabled my physique to be potent plenty of to ability again and move forward. Immediately after Portland, I decided to see how I could generalize it to the masses.”

Bierria uncovered culinary inspiration in his Cuban and West Indian track record, an early profession in the company business (he was a bartender at the Firehouse Lounge and the Shadow Lounge) and his partial possession of Heirloom Superfood Marketplace, which at the time occupied the previous 31st Street Pub creating on Penn Avenue in the Strip District.

With assist from chef Jon Beck, Bierria started out hosting holistic pop-ups in partnership with people who focus in wellness, such as yoga instructors, reiki masters and acupuncturists. The pop-ups offered a harmless put the place people could master and mature.

Bierria now features catering and meal options for individuals who want to eat effectively on a price range without the need of sacrificing style. He’s also expanding his superfood empire to consist of wholesale to area businesses. You can now buy Pure Grub at Café Conmigo in Wexford and Café Cravings in Mt. Washington. Bierria also has aspirations to get his merchandise into college cafeterias and Pittsburgh International Airport.

And, if any community institutions have coolers, he’d be joyful to fill them with donated meals.

“The food items I make is built with intention,” Bierria describes. “It’s my way of expressing, ‘I love you, we share the air, now take in. The reward is a stomach filled with good food.”