Local Pedro Yanowitz checks out the Fuji apples at the Union Square Farmers’ Market. Photo by Aaron Adler

Maybe you want to eat right in 2013 but, like most New Yorkers, you’re always in a hurry, and making good nutrition a priority doesn’t come as easily as it should.

Fortunately, there are ways to turn that perception around.

Farmers’ markets, like those open year-round in Union Square, on Greenwich Street in Tribeca and other spots in downtown Manhattan, allow you to buy “clean, organically grown produce, which is not only good for overall health but also decreases your body’s overall exposure to toxins,” according to Mary Barbour, a raw food and vegan personal chef who has been frequenting the Union Square market since 1994.

“If your goal is to eat better or lose weight, then eating more fruits and vegetables will help you achieve that goal,” Barbour says of the market’s ample offerings.

“Adding more whole, plant-based foods to your diet is the healthiest thing you can do, and farmers’ markets make it easy,” says Maria Guadagno, a health coach and natural food chef.

While many of the markets’ offerings are already cheaper than what you would find at a health food store or regular supermarket, Barbour says that to get the best deals, you should wait until the market’s closing for reduced prices.

“Showing up week after week doesn’t hurt either,” she adds. Developing a relationship with growers also helps you understand exactly what you’re buying and what to do with it.

Guadagno says the markets are extremely accessible and most of the produce has been picked the same day or the day before.

People may have the perception that farmers’ markets are less prevalent—or have less bounty—in the winter, but Barbour says that’s “definitely not true.”

“It’s the time of year for heartier and root vegetables like cauliflower, cabbages, beans, potatoes, onions, parsnips and beets,” she explains. “You can get your dark leafy greens from collards. I like to think of it as comfort-food season, when you can make delicious soups, pot pies and roasted vegetables.”

Farmers’ markets offer many seasonal items that cannot be found in grocery stores.
“The market in the wintertime is magical,” says Guadagno, noting that leafy greens are a smart addition to any meal.

Barbour urges farmers’ market newbies to set realistic goals, as we should all do when it comes to new year’s resolutions.

“I like to tell people to not get too ambitious with the farmers’ markets,” she says. “It’s horrible to buy lots of perishables and then throw them out because they were unused.”

Barbour says if you’re pressed for time, juice bars can be a helpful, nutritious alternative to grabbing the whole foods yourself.

“One Lucky Duck, Liquiteria or Whole Green are great for juices,” she says. “It’s like having all your servings of daily veggies in a cup.”

Guadagno recommends the vegetarian restaurant Rawvolution on 12th Street.

“Have the Big Matt,” she says. It’s “a vegan take on the hamburger, made with mushroom.”

Guadagno also speaks highly of Maoz, a chain falafel shop, and Westerly, a health food store in Midtown.

You certainly don’t have to go vegan to eat healthy this year, but shopping farmers’ markets and increasing your general fresh-produce intake will go a long way toward facilitating better and easier nutrition.

By Elian Zach

When I was a little girl, I’d run straight to the kitchen after school, make myself a huge bowl of whipped cream from scratch, and eat it with a spoon. Granted, discovering that I was lactose intolerant in my early twenties really cramped my foodie-style. Since then, I’ve been forced to make a lot of compromises. With no lattes, cheesecakes or creamed-stuff to call my own, the future didn’t seem so bright.

This propelled me to look elsewhere for culinary excitement, knowing that conventional kitchens wouldn’t make an effort to change their existing delicious recipes just because some people couldn’t stomach them.

Hu Kitchen is a new eatery in Greenwich Village, serving “Food for Humans,” as indicated on the large banner welcoming the customers. They specialize in organic, unprocessed ingredients, and also offer many vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free options.

I was skeptical. I had given a lot of vegan restaurants a shot at impressing me, but alas, the food was mostly tasteless, had questionable textures, and was ridiculously overpriced. I often felt cheated after finishing a meal, and just couldn’t play the “it tastes just like bacon” game.

That was not the case at Hu. The friendly staff offered samples of everything I showed even a hint of interest in, and to my surprise I discovered an array of exciting new concoctions, made with simple, fresh ingredients.

My picks:

Almond Butter + Puffed Quinoa Chocolate Bar

Eating chocolate is an act of passion that should be relished, and never compromised over. It should never taste “just ok” or “good for what it is.” This bar is the real deal; with a solid, dark chocolate exterior, creamy almond butter filling, and naughty little pieces of puffed quinoa for a crunchy kick, this little treat is 100 percent vegan and 100 percent addictive. Seriously, I can’t stop.

Price: $7

Overall Grade: 97

Rotisserie Pineapple + House-made Cashew Cream

The vegan alternative for a Cinnabon, anyone? This thing is beyond compare; coated with cinnamon, sea salt and coconut sugar, and glazed with decadent cashew cream, the generous chunks of pineapple magically manage to maintain their natural juiciness and sweetness. It’s both tangy and comforting, and a true celebration of textures.

Price: $3.50

Overall Grade: 94

Hu Kitchen

78 5th Ave., btwn 13th & 14th St., 212-510-8919, hukitchen.com

Hours: M-F 7 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sat 8 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sun 9 a.m. – 10 p.m.

The Upper East Side just became a little crunchier.

Fernanda Capobianco recently opened Vegan Divas Bakery at 1437 First Ave. and 75th Street featuring items that are baked with love. “Our goal is to satisfy your taste buds by using healthy and fresh ingredients,” she said.

Capobianco said that the time is right for more health-conscious choices in the neighborhood since most of the vegan restaurants and bakeries are below 14th Street.

From an early age, Capobianco said she didn’t like the normal carnivorous Brazilian diet in her native country. After her father died from diabetes, she decided to become vegan. Capobianco, who is married to renowned pastry chef François Payard, said vegan cooking is all about using ingredients that are made without harming animals.

“Giving individuals the option to choose products that do not harm animals and do not cause harm to their own bodies is what we aim for here,” she said.

Before launching her bakery, Capobianco was a journalist as well as manager and owner of the Payard restaurant and pastry shop in Rio de Janeiro. Felipe Saint-Martin, Capobianco’s Brazilian cousin, manages the shop on the Upper East Side. Saint-Martin has a background as a chef, working as head cook at Gramercy Tavern as well as head chef in the pasta department at Eataly.

She said that the initial reaction from Upper East Siders to vegan cooking was one of suspicion and presumption that they wouldn’t like it. “They wouldn’t even take samples,” Capobianco said. But after inducing the locals to try the tasty treats, they’ve developed a regular clientele.

Dishes range from simple to eclectic; sweet treats such as chocolate chip cookies, doughnuts and muffins, and cakes of all varieties as well as various mousses have become best sellers. Chocolate cake is the most popular dish. Capobianco’s favorite is the tofu-based ginger-vanilla ice cream.

“Baking is a science—everything has to be precise. You mess up one thing, no matter how minuscule it is, and the whole recipe can get messed up,” she said.

For more information, visit VeganDivasNYC.com.

Using lotto winnings, owners Bart Potenza and Joy Pierson transformed their small veggie outpost into a vegan paradise with waitstaff.

Now that wholesome endeavor, which, according to their mantra, is “dedicated to bettering the health of the individual and the planet,” includes a second, fancier location, Candle 79, (the café is more a wooden chair-type place), a full scale catering operation and a best-selling cookbook. According to manager Mark Doskow, who also heads business development for this burgeoning meatless empire, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

“We’re looking to build the Candle concept further, with a retail food line and another restaurant,” he said.

They’ve even begun to send chefs into New York City school cafeterias as part of the Wellness in the Schools program. But on to the food.

Having surrounded myself with a fair number of sandal-wearing shunners of flesh back in college, the terms tempeh, tofu and soy are hardly new to me, despite my own fondness for a juicy burger. But what struck me about Candle Café was the diversity of flavors on the menu. Influenced by the backgrounds of a Moroccan bartender, a Latin American chef and all the international flavors of New York, diners will be anything but bored with the eating options here.

Though the whole wheat quesadillas ($10) smelled like the burnt tortillas I’ve been known to “cook” over my gas burner, the filling of bean puree, grilled vegetables and soy cheese was satisfying enough. Much better was the impressively creamy $3 side of guacamole, prepared, of course, without a hint of real dairy. And the faux creaminess hardly stopped there. Reluctantly opting away from a curried Indian plate (potato cauliflower curry, yellow split pea dal, yellow basmati rice, date raisin chutney and cabbage salad, $16), I instead dug in to a heaping mound of fungal risotto ($16). Nary a mushroom was missed in the mix, with trumpet royal, yellow oyster, maitake, crimini and porcini mingled with plump peas and distinguished by a richness usually reserved for buttered cooking.

Perhaps the most artistic dish I encountered was my calorie-counting sister’s Aztec Salad ($15), a Mesoamerican pyramid of barbequed tempeh, bi-color quinoa, black beans, spiced pumpkin seeds and mixed greens buried under it all. Surprisingly, it wasn’t dry even without the toasted cumin vinaigrette. My cousin Melissa, one of those health-conscious residency students, took a similar path with her Thai Grilled Seitan Salad ($16), a weird but appealing confluence of “wheat meat” (the seitan), curried grilled pineapple, spicy kimchee and toasted almond slivers.

Had we visited during another time of year, the menu would have reflected the seasonal climate: 250 miles is the radial guide for sourcing produce, but California farms do play their part when the wool hats come out. Happily, the alcohol list doesn’t seem to be affected by the mercury measuring. Organic wines and beers abound, but expect to pay more than you want ($10 average on grapes, $9 average on hops). Skipping the suds will be the ever-expanding celiac population, but there is a special gluten-free menu, with waiters carefully trained on the ingredients to accommodate all kinds of dietary needs.

Before you leave, be sure to sample one of the famously inventive desserts, like the sumptuous rice pudding ($6). In all, this progressive wax monument of an establishment was a more than satisfying change of pace for an omnivore like me.
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Candle Café
1307 Third Ave., betw. 74th and 75th streets
212-472-0970
Entrees: $15 to $20