Bliss, B-Corps, & Reishi Cappuccinos
Yesterday, I felt so alone and here I am now, sitting at Erewhon alone again and I’m in bliss. Why is every sip of this “reishi cappuccino” so pleasurable? I think it’s because it is sweet. Profoundly sweet. Like a hug from my best friend. And that could make me cry right now. It’s 6:30 pm and I’m having a mystical experience. I feel like I’m out of my body, turning into a cloud, floating high, around myself. A profound sense of peace. Warm, euphoric. Like falling in love, but it’s just me. It’s just me and everything else. Everything else to be fallen in love with — sound, shape, movement.
It’s funny how everyone looks familiar when you feel like this. The girl in front of me is eating a raw carrot (with skin on), dipping it in a fresh raw omega-3 dairy and gluten-free no soy, no canola dip. California women are the hottest babes under the sun. This woman is beautiful. She’s opening a box of Simple Mills Almond Flour Rosemary & Sea Salt crackers. The box reads, “Feel what good food can do. Food has the power to transform how you feel. To help you live your fullest life.” Is that what’s happening to me?
The girl has a bite of Honey Mama’s Oregon Mint raw cacao. She’s glowing. There’s an olive tree behind her. I wonder what her name is. She’s on her phone. Watching her is so pleasurable. She radiates health. She nibbles on another bite of chocolate and pulls out a kombucha — GT’s Alive Ancient Mushroom Elixir.
Somehow, over the course of 14+ billions of years of evolution, this woman and I are sitting across from each other, both drinking ancient mushrooms. I drink the last sip of my faux-cappuccino from my disposable cup, gazing up at the outdoor heaters. It’s June and it’s cold in Venice. So we heat the outside. Is this right? Is this wrong? Should we have ever left Africa? What took us? Boredom? Folly? The call of the unknown. Maybe that’s what it is — the mystical, the unknown. Maybe life is more than survival? Maybe life is more than surviving? Maybe life is sitting under a heater outside in June in Venice, California. Maybe evolution is pleasure? Why not? Someone had to decide to put clothes on and go north. And here I am, with my empty cup under the warmth of the heater. Me, her, and this little bird eating her gluten-free crumbs.
I love Erewhon. The name comes from the word nowhere. It’s an establishment. LA iconic. The founders Michio and Aveline Kushi started selling macrobiotic and organic foods out of a 10’ x 20’ stall below street-level in Boston back in 1966. They moved to Los Angeles in 1968. Erewhon was the first store of its kind in America. It was built upon the core idea that “if we fill our bodies with the very best that Earth has to offer, we can become our best selves.”
Their paper bags read, “We are proud to be a Certified B-Corp, using business as a force for good.” This reminds me of Angelina Jolie’s post on Instagram about her Atelier Jolie x Chloé collaboration. “It was important to me to work with Chloé, one of the first luxury brands to be a B Corp.” Ange cares so whenever she shares, I care to listen.
I look around and realize I am surrounded with the hottest babes in LA. A total of seven women are sitting around the patio. It feels so good to be around women. No need to talk or make eye contact. Just being in each other’s presence. Women are the salt of the earth. Maybe this is another key ingredient to my blissful cup. The girl two tables down has a sweater that reads, “A little slice of heaven” on the back. Feels like a great title for whatever I’m writing — “Erewhon Venice: A Little Slice of Heaven.”
Indeed, I feel bliss. I haven’t moved an inch. I sincerely wonder what is causing it. The reishi mushrooom? The cacao? A deeply satisfying day of work? The shower I took this morning? My hair? Maybe it’s being 32? Or the last 4.54 billion years? From the Big Bang to the reishi cappuccino, to think this moment is the culmination of 13.8 billion years is dizzying. I am here, sitting under the heater, writing in my notebook ordered on amazon.com. I love Amazon. Imagine if it became a B Corp. Imagine if every time we buy something there, we regenerate a piece of the Amazon. I wonder if some of our land is forever lost. Maybe lost land lives elsewhere. Somewhere in stories and songs? Somewhere in me?
The B Corporation might be one of the greatest economic revolutions of the 21st century. “B Lab Certification is a third-party standard requiring companies to meet social, sustainability, and environmental performance standards.” Accountability and transparency. Angelina Jolie shared a link to Chloé’s official page explaining what it means to them. I love when brands have a manifesto. “Women Forward. For a fairer future.” “To bring positive impact to people and the planet. This is our purpose guiding all we do…” “Women as change agents.” You bet. “We are proud to be part of this community of leaders, driving a global movement of people doing business as a force for good.”
I wonder what’s next for us — Homo sapiens. Sustainable capitalism and reishi cappuccinos. I feel the warmth of the heater on my cheeks. This is millennial existentialism — fast lives in ancient bodies. Absurdly beautiful.
