GreenChef Sarma Melngailis Got Answers

Photographer: Erica Michelsen

About 1 month ago Welikeitraw.com asked their readers if they had any questions for restaurant owner + chef + entrepreneur and guest blogger, Sarma Melngailis. Today, on her 36th birthday, we excited to bring you Sarma’s answers. 

But, before we do that, we’d like to take a moment to say: Happy Birthday Sarma! Thank you for everything you’d done for the raw food community. Your work is an inspiration and your friendship is always appreciated. Here’s to changing the game!

 Much Love from Anthony, Shannon, Philip and Dhrumil.



Ask Sarma

Andie asks: “What’s your favorite/least favorite parts to your job? is it overall enjoyable or do you ever get really stressed out? plus, what’s your favorite snack?”

Sarma: My favorite parts to my job? First, it feels weird to even call it a “job.” It’s just me, it’s what I do, it’s what I am, and I wouldn’t do anything else. But that’s exactly one of the best parts… having all the certainty imaginable about what I’m doing. Another favorite part is getting to work with ridiculously lovely talented people. And I love meeting new people at the restaurant and making people happy. I love when new dishes, desserts, ice creams or cookies are developed at the restaurant. I love finding really cool new products to add to the oneluckyduck site. Except… right now we have a huge backlog of things I want to add to our inventory and we can’t yet add them. So, this brings me to a less favorite part of what I do.  It would have to be that I still feel that my hands are somewhat tied. This will change soon, but for now it’s challenging. I want to do so many things and not being able to do them can feel frustrating, but I’m working on that! I would love more space and resources. Sometimes I wish I could forget about it all for a while. That part is hard. Building a big business is maybe a little bit like having kids. You can’t put them back, or walk away from them. And you wouldn’t ever want to, because it’s so great and you love them (it) with all your heart and they are a part of you. But, still… sometimes my soul longs to do something mindless and without weight and responsibility. My work and home are combined into one, so there isn’t much separation, which is okay. But I really do want to take a true vacation one of these days. No laptop, no blackberry. Some of my favorite parts of what I do are also the hardest parts. Being in charge is great. But sometimes I don’t want it all to come back to me, and I wish I could just defer to someone else and go take a nap instead. Sometimes I actually do this. I have good support all around me—that’s really nice too. People I love and trust who know the overall vision, so if I need to take a mental break and run off, I can in fact sometimes do that. I should do that. Hmmmm. Continue Reading / See Additional Photos

Raw Food Chef Sarma Melngailis | G Living Interview 2006

A look back to the beginning of G Living 2006

G Living started with a handful of volunteers, who help conduct interviews, book guest and even donated their homes for us to use as a studio. The G Living studio was actually the home of Architect Whitney Sander. The house is a beautiful modern home on the Venice Canals in California.

This interview was with

Raw Food Chef and restaurant owner Sarma Melngailis. Sarma owns a pretty famous restaurant in New York City called Pure Food and Wine. Sarma, who has many recipes and articles on G Living was kind enough to stop by with Dhrumil from Welikeitraw.com to talk about her life. Our host included now famous author Rory Freedman, who wrote the New York Times best seller book, Skinny Bitch, and Boise Thomas, who co-starred on Discovery’s Planet Green show Alter Eco with Adrian Grenier. Continue Reading / See Additional Photos