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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Vegetarian cafe goes completely vegan with new menu

Book Lover's Cafe will soon be the first restaurant in Gainesville to offer a completely vegan menu to its customers.

Amid the din of clinking coffee cups and worn-out silverware, co-owners Jason Gottfried and Carlo Besozzi sketched out the plans for the transformation of one of Gainesville's oldest vegetarian eateries into a full-service vegan cafe.

Gottfried, 32, of Nashville, Tenn., recognized the interest and need to provide a more complete dining experience to the growing vegan community in Gainesville.

Through the reinvention of the Book Lover's Cafe menu, he and Besozzi hope to meet that goal. Unlike many other restaurants in Gainesvillle that offer both vegan and vegetarian options, Book Lover's Cafe will have an entirely vegan menu.

Veganism is the practice of avoiding the consumption or use of any products derived from animals, including foods containing dairy and eggs.

Book Lover's Cafe, located at 505 NW 13th St. in the same building as Books Inc., has been serving vegetarian cuisine to area residents since 1979.

Before moving to Gainesville to assume ownership of Book Lover's Cafe, Gottfried served as general manager of The Wild Cow, a vegetarian restaurant in east Nashville, Tenn. Both he and Besozzi practice a vegan lifestyle.

"After leaving Nashville and working here for a year, I was blown away by how many vegans and vegetarians I met," Gottfried said. "The changes we're hoping to make will help bring the restaurant into this decade and cater to people's desire for fresh food without the need for microwaves."

In recent years, adopting a vegan lifestyle has gained popularity among students and other members of the Gainesville community, particularly creating awareness for animal welfare and human rights reform.

"One of our main goals is to become more community-oriented," Gottfried said. "I hope that the vegan community will enjoy and support us and help us transform this place into something fantastic."

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