PLANTING SEED FOR CHANGE

This new Mermaid Beach vegan pop-up is billed as Australia’s first – and only — plastic and waste free kitchen,

MOST of us know modern society’s way of consuming isn’t sustainable yet few of us do anything about it. A new Mermaid Beach restaurant is hoping to change that.

Mother Nirvana is a whole food, vegan eatery opened last month, a pop-up restaurant occupying Marie Anita’s Organic Cafe by night.

If you’re thinking “not another vegan restaurant”, rest assured, this is not just another vegan restaurant.

The plant-based kitchen is entirely zero waste, plastic, oil, preservative and gluten free, and owner Adam English says the only thing left at the end of the night is vegetable skins.

“The only rubbish is food scraps that are collected and put back in the garden and returned to the soil,” Adam says.

“It’s just a complete cycle that doesn’t impinge on or doesn’t degrade any system.

“It’s organic and gluten-free, no added sugar, no oil … no problem at all.

“It’s also a plastic free, zero waste kitchen, which puts it at the only one in Australia.”

The menu features pizzas, toasties, sandwiches and smoothies, made fresh onsite with ingredients sourced from Gold Coast farms.

Adam says diners have been intrigued by the melted “cheese” appearing atop of pizzas, a product made from four simple ingredients.

“People want to know what the cheese is all about,” Adam says. “It’s made from potatoes, Himalayan rock salt, yeast and untreated Currumbin Valley spring water. The water is mineral rich and it’s one of the four ingredients in the potato cheese.”

The dishes are named after popular films and television shows (the Home Alone pizza, Crocodile Dundee sandwich and SpongeBob salad), pairing with Mother Nirvana’s community loungeroom concept. A screen plays classic movies and docos in the dining room, and families are entertained while they eat. “It’s a pop culture kitchen. It has the first licence from Village Roadshow in Australia to screen movies, like a home-onthe-couch sort of vibe,” Adam says. “There’s a TV with a Super Nintendo, board games and educational games. Sunday night has happened to become David Attenborough hour. People have responded to that particularly well. It brings everything a bit closer to home and why and how we should eat better for our planet.”

Adam says he wants Mother Nirvana to be much more than a place to eat. He’s hoping it becomes a meeting place for earth-conscious people and starts a movement towards a more sustainable future.

“I’m hoping to start this planetarian movement and define a new meaning for it,” Adam says. “In time there’s going to be some guest speakers talking about farming and waste-free living (at Mother Nirvana). It’s beyond being vegetarian and vegan, it’s about looking after the earth.”

Mother Nirvana is open from 6pm Friday to Monday at 2364 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach (inside Marie Anita’s Cafe)

IT’S ORGANIC AND GLUTENFREE, NO ADDED SUGAR, NO OIL ... NO PROBLEM