Fort Green makes healthy eating the new cool

Wanna be a clean, green-eating machine? Power walk on over to this healthy hub for a blast of wellness, where the recommended daily veg intake comes in one bumper-sized bowl.

“People can go out for brekkie, go out for lunch here, and not feel like shit afterwards,” says co-owner Bannie Williams, who’s a qualified nutritionist but no holier-than-thou hippy.

She eats meat, she loves “a few wines”, and she understands that many people think “having a green smoothie tastes like drinking a lawn”.

Fort Green, the cafe she runs with partner Nick Cooke, is about what you can have, not what you can’t, and nothing is over $20.

You want fish? Try the salmon bowl, a health-giving, meal-sized salad of house-smoked fish, loaded with crunchy, frilly seasonal greens (hello, kale), avocado, dill, and pickled veg.

Must-have dish

If you’re craving beef, then know that the slow-cooked, fall-apart version you’re eating here is sustainably and ethically farmed.

“If I’m feeling a bit dusty, I’ll have a macrobowl with an egg and sourdough,” Williams says, “It’s so nutrient-dense because of all the colourful, minimally processed, fresh veggies in one bowl.”

The couple’s first collaboration was The Smoothie Manifesto, a 50-strong recipe book that sent Vitamixes around the country whirring into overdrive. Grab a copy ($20), or try one of 10 on offer, such as “the Redeemer” or “Turmeric Defender”, names equally at home on a roller derby rink as a smoothie menu. Add-your-own “enhancers” include activated charcoal and acai powder.

On the sweets front, there’s Fort Green’s famed salted peanut caramel slice. Me? I thought I hated vegan sweets but, five minutes later: demolished. These squishy, sweet pucks, made with 99^th Monkey Peanut Butter, banana, carob, date, almond milk, sea salt, and organic maple syrup, are so, so good.

Yoga is Williams’ “side passion” and, upstairs, Fort Green’s studio runs classes for all skill levels.

“Healthy eating has become the new cool. It’s just huge at the moment,” Williams says. “There’s a shift globally to people wanting healthy food and I think it’s related to people having dietary intolerances.”

Williams has always eaten well. “My mum is very health conscious, and that swayed my healthy eating habits,” she says.

For those of us who grew up thinking cheese Twisties and a hotdog constituted a healthy school lunch, Fort Green is aspirational. If your springtime dream is to eat lean, this Fort is a stronghold of inspiration.

The house blend

• 202 High Street, Northcote, 9482 1318
• Open M-F 7am-4pm, S-S 8am-4pm