Otium with gluten free options

Here it is one nice discovery I made in Paris last month: Otium Paris.

Veggie Cuisine that is good to eat and beautiful to see, with many colourful, cold-pressed juices to drink.

Otium is the brainchild of two people passionate of healthy food and mindful eating: Charles and Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn told me that the two of them met while they were working in the fashion business.

Their common passion made them get closer and one day they started thinking about a project to run together.

One year ago they launched their juices range, they imagined the beautiful bottles and a name, Otium, a Latin word that evokes a different time mostly for study and meditation. Close to the art of slow living that we hear so much talking it about these days.

Little by little they decided to couple this project with a new one and three months ago they opened a lovely coffee shop and juice bar in Paris 9^th arrondissement.

I went there twice last month: once for breakfast, I tasted the matcha latte that I so much love and the breakfast bowl with fruit, soya yoghurt, homemade granola, and a poached pear in red wine, it was very good !

Another day I went back there for lunch with my dear friend and famous French cookbook author Clémence Catz.

We both took the lunch formula which included the veggie bowl and an Otium freshly cold-pressed juice.

The juices alternate delicate and more intense notes from different fruits and vegetables, and I did like mine a lot.

The veggie bowl was a generous portion with both raw and cooked vegetables, lentils, delicious veggie spreads, and a poached egg for me and goat cheese for Clémence. We both liked it very much.

Before I left, I just couldn’t resist the chia pudding with coconut milk!

I bought one to take away and enjoyed it later in the afternoon.

Kaitlyn told me that in Canada where she comes from, her family used to cook all the fruit and vegetables they cultivated in their farm. She grew up with the love for fresh, great tasting food and even when she moved to Paris and she was often working like crazy in fashion, she always found the time to cook something delicious for herself. Cooking relaxes her and it’s passion she has been nurturing for years.  Today she shares it with us at Otium where she imagines all the recipes and the daily menu while Charles is in charge of the juices range and deals with the administration part of the project.

Otium proposes food with gluten but there are also gluten free options, so cross contamination is possible. I wasn’t sick though but the choice is completely personal.

I have to confess that I am very happy that many of the new coffee shops and restaurants opening up in Paris today are proposing gluten free options on their menus.

As I have celiac disease and I have been confronted with some many difficulties during my life, to me proposing a gluten free option echoes with having an open-mind and being tolerant towards people who have healthy issues but their only wish is just to enjoy great tasting food like everybody else’s.

Dulcis in fundo, to finish this post with some Latin words as per the beginning of it, a big thank you to Robin who is part of the Otium team: his kindness and smile contributed to make this one a special place where I like to go back.