Brosia Bowl brings more vegan options to Brookings

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BROOKINGS – A new business is expanding local options for vegans, and for those who just want to work more healthy prepared-food dishes into their diets. 

Vegan-based Brosia Bowl was founded and is operated solely by Darcy Green.

Brosia Bowl – short for “ambrosia,” which is Greek for “food of the gods” – consists of three simple things, Green said: a cooked grain (rice, quinoa, etc.), a protein (all legume-based proteins, so beans, chickpeas, soybeans, etc.), and topped off with a vegetable medley full of peppers and leafy greens along with whatever sauce customers desire.

Green offers online ordering of her prepared plant-based bowls through Facebook and will deliver to anyone in the Brookings area on Wednesdays from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for orders received by noon on the previous Tuesday. She mans her booth at the Brookings Farmers Market from 9 a.m.-noon every Saturday and is also at the Lake Lorraine Farmers Market from 4-7 p.m. on Thursdays.

“I came up with the idea in, say, 2018. I was an interior designer and I was doing a lot of desk time – and I was going crazy,” Green joked. “This actually started as an in-home meal prep (business), but we were still pretty new to Brookings – I’m originally from Sioux Falls – but people were kind of weirded out by me coming into their home and cooking in their kitchen. 

“So then I just kind of thought – being vegan myself – how frustrating it is that I don’t have anywhere to eat, or if I do, it’s just like a salad and fries. So, I just decided to create my own.”

Green said she started Brosia Bowl this past fall, but as she was wanting to further her business venture, the COVID-19 pandemic hit South Dakota. So she came up with the idea that people could order their meals online, and she would prepare and deliver them.

“The Brookings community is just amazing,” Green said. “The minute I said I wanted to start my own business, the (Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce) and the Brookings Economic Development (Corporation) just kind of swooped in and asked, ‘How can we help?’”

Her inspiration comes from the emphasis she received in college of sustainability. That coupled with her passionate support for animal rights led her to transition into a vegan. Green wants to maintain an entirely organic and healthy lifestyle, and she said consuming meat went against her desire to be sustainable.

Green said she “could hardly boil water,” but she learned how to cook from a six-month online series of master classes from an company called Rouxbe.

An increase in orders meant she needed a much larger space to cook.

Currently, Green cooks out of the commercial kitchen at Good Roots Farm and Gardens and even picks from their gardens for the Brosia Bowls. She also uses bowls and utensils that are entirely biodegradable.

“When it comes to my motto, I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. I’m just trying to render it a different color. I don’t have an agenda other than good food, healthy food and environmentally sound practices,” Green said.

For more information, find Brosia Bowl on Facebook or www.brosiabowl.com.

Contact Matthew Rhodes at mrhodes@brookingsregister.com.