By Betsy Scheinbart
The green liquid smells like summer in the park and tastes like grass. People are coming from all over Queens and Long Island to get their hands on this herbal remedy at a health food store in Laurelton.
Wheat grass is sprouted, grown in stalks and ground up into a liquid that reportedly works wonders on a person’s digestive and vascular systems, among other things. It is one of the hottest items Larry Dawson sells at his Health Conscious Natural Food store at 231-22 Merrick Blvd.
“A mix of people come as far as Valley Stream and far out on Long Island,” Dawson said of his clientele. He said the store serves people from all racial and ethnic backgrounds and it is friendlier than an average grocery store.
Among the strip of fast food restaurants, beauty parlors and other businesses, the bright green awning of Dawson’s store stands out as the only source of vegetarian and organic groceries on the Laurelton boulevard.
Offering everything from soy ice-cream to natural deodorant, the store serves a community which Dawson believes needs healthier food sources.
“The African-American peoples suffer from high blood pressure, arthritis and diabetes mainly because of their diet,” Dawson said. “This area also has a lot of people from the Caribbean who mainly eat meat.”
A native of the Caribbean nation of Jamaica, Dawson has been a vegetarian for 25 years, the same amount of time he has lived in the United States.
He said he made the change from eating lots of fried meat to no meat at all mainly because of his high blood pressure and stomach problems.
“Everybody has a weak area,” Dawson said, “and can learn about ways to heal themselves.”
After working at a friend’s health food store in Los Angeles, Dawson returned to New York, where he lived when he first came from Jamaica, and opened the store.
About a year ago he started out only selling herbal medicine in pill and herb form, but when customers began asking about where they could get vegetarian food, Dawson expanded his inventory to include organic vegetables and hot Jamaica dishes.
“Once we added food, that was it,” Dawson said, describing how his business picked up.
The store also carries a wide variety of natural corn cereals, teas, rice, beans, and organic spaghetti as well as books on nutrition.
The Jamaica influence goes further than Dawson himself, who wears long dreadlocks and speaks in a light Jamaican accent.
A large Jamaican wall-hanging ads color to the wall above the kitchen, where the wheat grass is ground and Jamaica dishes like ackee patties, wild rice and plantains are served up. Coconut water from the tropical island is also stocked on the store shelves.
Another hot item Dawson sells is Co-enzyme Q10, which he said supplies oxygen to every cell in your body, acts as an anti-oxidant and helps prevent cancer. “It sells itself,” he said.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 138.
