Fresh healthful ingredients, diverse cuisine, and gastronomic delight. Those are the three main characteristics that Whitney Zora Stetler feels food should offer, and so that’s what you will find at her Cocoa Yoga Café.
“I learned about the health and wellness aspects of food from a young age,” says Whitney. “My family was health conscious. We cooked meals from scratch, and my mom made us fresh juices to drink before school with ingredients like apple, carrots, and celery.”
That was before juicing was ever popular or well known, she adds. “If any of us were unwell, she would put garlic in and say, ‘you will drink this!’”
Whitney’s penchant for global cuisine started with the Hispano Spanish and Mexican fare of Southwest New Mexico, where she grew up, and its flavors are alive and well at Cocoa Yoga Cafe. She was back in her hometown and craving an old, favorite dish: a butterfly burrito. "Then I realized that the only place I could get one now would be in my own kitchen.” Thus, Cocoa Yoga Café’s breakfast burrito, which features fresh pico de gallo and pepper jack cheese, was born.
After she attended culinary school in New York and Italy Whitney's tastes turned truly international. So, when developing Cocoa Yoga Café’s menu, she set out to create dishes that reflected the global flavors that she loves the most.
“I took aspects of different cuisines that I appreciated and found a way to make each one shine in an individual dish,” explains Whitney. The result is a trifecta of salad choices from around the world, including a Greek salad with feta, walnuts and a creamy raspberry vinaigrette; an Italian caprese salad with fresh Buffalo mozzarella; and the Thai and stop me salad, which comes with a yummy peanut dressing.
“When I came back from in Italy and started working in restaurants in the U.S., I became very disenchanted with how many pre-prepared ingredients they used," she explains. Instead of making sauces from scratch, “they would just open up a three-gallon tub of sauce.”
Cocoa Yoga Café is the complete opposite. The salad dressings, pico de gallo, and much more is made fresh in house. “I want to be enchanted by my food, and I want to feed people the same, healthful way I would feed my family,” says Whitney.
Helping people get and stay healthy was also the impetus behind deciding to offer a line of supplements designed to help the body function properly.
“Whether it is caused by stress, or our lifestyles, sometimes we literally aren’t able to get the nutrients we need,” she explains. “These products were developed by friends within my inner circle. I trust them and stand behind them.”
13843 Tamiami Trail, North Port
941-800-3399
cocoayogacafe.com
