Bloodroot at 48

Selma Miriam & Noel Furie, partners in life & in Bloodroot

When you first walk into Bloodroot in Bridgeport, you will undoubtedly be greeted by one striking Gloria Steinem. Gloria Steinem the cat, that is. The purring feline presence just beyond the door is quite apropos since so much of what Bloodroot is and stands for, the Gloria Steinem proffered the masses.

Tucked along the edge of the water, down a quiet residential street, the restaurant has stood for nearly 48 years and continues to be brought to life four days a week by founders Selma Miriam and Noel Furie. And, as they’ll remind you at every turn, there’s a host of women they treasure who keep the kitchen humming.

Bloodroot Vegetarian Restaurant & Bookstore began in 1977 as a feminist establishment, one of hundreds across the country then. Today, however, it is considered the last of its kind. Almost five decades after the two friends began their venture—from leaving husbands to devoting themselves to supporting women and creating a community—what opened the door then is the same powerful spirit and belief system that swings the door wide open today.

“The most important thing that we have done here is to be true to ourselves,” mentioned Selma at the restaurant on our recent visit. “It is what we believe, and we do not cut corners in that. Yeah, we’re lesbians, but that’s not the important part. We care about people, we care about food, we care about the earth and kindness,” she added.

They were eager to create a safe haven for women. They wanted Bloodroot to be an environment where women could support one another and thrive, while celebrating delicious, seasonal food that nourishes without harming the environment or animals in the process.

When edible visited Bloodroot, Noel, at 79, was working with Carol Graham and Lailla Osman in the kitchen and Selma [who will have turned 90 at time of print] was on her way. Carol and Laila have worked at the restaurant for many years and have added to the menu with dishes from their diverse backgrounds – Carol is from Jamaica and Lailla is from Ethiopia. In addition to working on the latest dishes for the fall menu, like a minestrone soup or a Cambodian Kanji, pots with steamy stews were being stirred, beer deliveries were stacked, and veggies were being chopped and sautéed, all in preparation for the Harvest Feast Bloodroot holds every year. Held on Thanksgiving night, the feast at Bloodroot sells out quickly.

Left: Marinated tofu salad; Right: a wall full of history

UOTE “I’m alright as long as I can come here once a day” —Selma Miriam

Noel added that despite the national Holiday, they have always called it Harvest Feast. It was essential to them to not have any tie, “to the memories or connection to how native people were treated,” she stated. “Instead, we prefer to celebrate the actual harvest of the time,” she continued while chopping. They visit the Westport Farmers market nearly every Thursday for seasonal finds like squashes, apples, and pears, which are just a few of the ingredients prevalent on their current menu and would be highlighted at the Harvest Feast.

“Eating food is so many things, from the smell of it to how it looks, to who sits around your table. People come to the feast from all over,” Noel mentioned. She explained that there’s even a couple joining from Scotland who have attended many of the feasts over the years every time they are in town.

Selma and Noel join the Harvest Feast in the dining room too. As a matter of fact, they’ve dined together almost every night for fifty years. If it’s not at the restaurant just before the doors close in the evening, then it’s nearby on Bloodroot’s off days at one of their favorites like Pink Sumo or Jeera Thai in Westport.

When we met with them at Bloodroot, it took mere moments to see how the two long-time friends not only finish each other’s sentences but share the same orbit of purpose. Noel helped Selma get cozy in a chair in one of the nooks amidst the bookstore which sits adjacent to the kitchen and faces the dining room. Selma would start to share a thought and Noel completed it; Selma eyed the kitchen, and Noel knew the meaning behind her gaze. There were numerous instances when, even without words, the two had a conversation, and the moment transpired in perfect harmony.

While nestled in her chair with Gloria Steinem the cat, Selma noted that one of the things she is most proud of is how peace and community have reigned supreme in the Bloodroot kitchen. Having women from around the world with their cuisines represented, has been a signature of the restaurant, in addition to Selma’s perpetual culinary curiosity, since the very beginning. Despite the diverse cultural and religious backgrounds of everyone in the kitchen, differences are set aside to make way for connection and celebration over food and friendship.

Clockwise from upper left: A kitchen still-life; Our writer enjoying Lima bean soup; Imagine all the women on the wall talking to each other: a staple dish, mushroom pate

“The most important thing that we have done here is to be true to ourselves” —Selma Miriam

The array of diversity and friendship captured in the kitchen and on their menu is also captured in the many photographs dotting the walls of Bloodroot. Hundreds of women, including some from Selma’s and Noel’s families, serve as captivating imagery for the restaurant, but more symbolically, a nod of allegiance to those women who came before them, most of whom did not have a gathering space like Bloodroot where they could feel free to be themselves. Being authentic and free and establishing a community of equals is also what plays a significant role in the very dining structure of the restaurant. “No one is a servant,” Noel said fervently as she wrote in chalk to update the menu board.

When you walk into Bloodroot, you’ll likely say Hello to Gloria Steinem, then check in at the little desk by the door with Noel. She’ll write your order down, then the rest is up to you. You bring the order sheet to the kitchen window where you’ll also return to pick up your meal. “You grow a relationship that way,” Noel noted. “And people get used to it.” Diners also bus their own tables bringing used dishes and flatware to their corresponding bin. Each step along the way there’s an opportunity to say Hello to Noel and Selma, the cat, the women in the kitchen, or glimpse the photos on the walls, and the many books lining the shelves.

Even amidst a walk to and from the bathroom, diners may feel a surge of that community spirit, be called to action, or be asked to access their power within. Tiny stickers with words like RESIST are at eye level as you leave the bathroom; quotes from Andrea Dworkin like “I’m a radical feminist, not the fun kind,” or statements like: “In order to even begin to understand what’s going on in the world right now, you have to be open to the idea of unlearning almost everything you were taught” are in sight. Small notes with a mighty mission, the belief system Selma and Noel enact every day, is everywhere on display.

Everything Bloodroot stands for is also now on display on the big screen. Like many before her, filmmaker Annie Laurie Medonis was swept away by the women of Bloodroot and how Selma and Noel continue to keep the kitchen and the community they’ve built running. A friend first brought her to Bloodroot several years ago and she was not only hooked on the spirit of the place but, like many regulars, on Selma and Noel too.

The patio on Ferris Street leads to the entrance of the restaurant and bookstore overlooking Brewster Cove.

Gloria Steinem, the cat, watching over the Bloodroot cookbooks

“There’s just so much love there,” she said. “The space, the warmth, the love of the women; I had never experienced a place like that before.” She was so taken by it all that she has spent the last four years creating a documentary, A Culinary Uprising, that screened briefly in Bridgeport in November. The film is currently making the rounds at film festivals near and far, with the goal, of course, to become stream able and available in theaters.

When asking Selma and Noel about the film, which received standing ovations at the November screenings, they seemed quite pleased. “It’s such a close look at how we function here. It’s feminism in action,” Noel mentioned. “We’re excited for people to see how women of all cultures work together,” added Selma.

The director noted that with the 48th anniversary of Bloodroot on the horizon (in Mid-March but always on a Wednesday) she hopes to have more local screenings in order to celebrate the film and all Bloodroot means to women everywhere.

As the kitchen continues to hum with vegan and vegetarian dishes from around the globe, Noel and Selma know that there’s a question mark regarding the future of Bloodroot. At 79 and 90, they’ve more than laid the groundwork for a particularly special place, and as we’ve learned, quite likely the last of its kind. But as we left the cozy nook in Bridgeport, Selma said, “Wouldn’t it be a shame to see this end? Well maybe it won’t….”

Bloodroot 
85 Ferris Street 
Bridgeport
www.bloodroot.com

Cookbooks (By Selma Miriam and Noel Furie with Lagusta Yearwood on The Best of Bloodroot volumes)
 

• The Perennial Political Palate
• The Second Seasonal Political Palate
• The Best of Bloodroot: Volume One
• The Best of Bloodroot: Volume Two
• The Bloodroot Calendar Cookbook