Local food that nourishes for Everlasting Life

Dr. Baruch Ben-Yehudah started Everlasting Life Health Complex and Organic Market in 1995 in the garage of his Temple Hills, Md., home with five regular customers. Word of mouth generated a lot of buzz for the business, and about five months later, Dr. Ben-Yehudah had to look for another location. He found the perfect location in 1996 in a former rat-infested home of a shooting gallery. Shortly after signing the contract with the property owner, he and several of his brothers rehabbed the place. After six months of working around the clock, Everlasting Life was ready for serious business. But borrowing for the renovations left Dr. Ben-Yehudah almost penniless.

"We didn't memorialize the first dollar bill in a glass case," Ben-Yehudah recalls. "We needed that money to pay for the building process."

Dr. Ben-Yehudah's store and juice bar are solely based on all natural and organic vegan foods. Some of the more popular dining specialties are the eggplant parmesan, cheesy cauliflower, orange tofu chicken and the Garvey burger named after Marcus Garvey. His restaurant gets hefty competition from fast food establishments like as McDonald's, China Wonder and Five Guys. But that is alright for Ben-Yehudah, who says he just wants to provide an alternative to food choices that cause health problems such as high cholesterol and diabetes.

Five years after he opened his first store, Dr. Ben-Yehudah was ready to expand. He opened his second restaurant in 1998 this time in Capitol Heights, Md. He calls the Maryland store the main location because it is bigger and has more services, like nutritional consulting and cooking classes. The store also sees between 250 to 300 customers a day, he said.

Concerns about vegetarian foods being high-priced, not tasting good or causing digestive problems don't seem to bother Ben-Yehudah.

"We put nourishment first and taste second," said Dr. Ben-Yehudah. "We want people to come to Everlasting Life with a conscious choice to eat food that will nourish the body."

Dr. Ben-Yehudah has a large base of returning customers who are keeping the Washington, D.C. and the Maryland stores busy. He now has his eyes set on Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles. However, his bigger dream is to get more involved in the international food industry.

"My ongoing dream is that we would be able to create a sponsorship opportunity for local national and international businesses to market themselves through Everlasting Life, and we would be able to make our food costs drop below that of traditional fast empty calorie food," he said.

Until then, Dr. Ben-Yehudah is keeping it local. "We need to be there to shine a light in the midst of darkness, to give our people hope," Dr. Ben-Yehudah said. "They know they are safe in and around Everlasting Life."

Address: 9185 Central Avenue, Capitol Heights, Md.; 2928 Georgial Avenue NW, Washington, DC.
Phone: 301.324.6900