“It’s almost as good as the real thing,” I say, chewing thoughtfully, a serious look on my face. My girlfriend, Kristin, puts down her slice of the day—local organic broccoli, roasted garlic and tomato—and gives me an “I can’t believe you just said that out loud” look.
We’re at Peace ‘O Pie, Allston/Brighton’s newest pizza place, and the chairs are filled with customers happily chowing down on local, organic, sustainable ingredients nestled in vegan cheese on a variety of crusts including whole wheat and gluten-free. And though it’s possible that not all of the customers are vegan and would resent the “real thing” comment, the staff is, and so are the owners, and so is every single item on the menu. My joke falls flat. It doesn’t matter though; I’m quite happy with the slice I’m eating—same toppings as Kristin’s—as I am with all of the options on the Peace ‘O Pie menu. I’ve been here before and, the next time I’m in the mood for something “gourmet,” I’ll be here again.
That’s the idea at Peace ‘O Pie, started last year by Eric Prescott and Miguel Danielson: gourmet food you can be proud to put in your body. All ingredients adhere to a strict code, and are either vegan, organic, local, sustainable, or some combination of the four. Everything is prepared and assembled in-house, save for the extensive selection of drinks (Honest Teas, Edensoy milks, Maine Root sodas) and some other products (Sjaak’s peanut butter cups, Liz Lovely cookies, Daiya “cheese,” Dandies “marshmallows”), and every item is tested for quality and taste. The taste, in fact, is quite important to Miguel, who is both an owner and the head chef.
“[W]e would consider it a colossal failure if anyone dined at our shop simply because of our principles and despite the quality of our food,” Miguel says. “It serves our ideals the best if we have a product that is so fantastic that even people who have no knowledge of our ideals are drawn in to try us out and start asking questions. That is what we’re shooting for.”
As someone who’s been skeptical of “veganized” food in the past, I’d say they hit their mark. Peace ‘O Pie is first and foremost a purveyor of delicious pizza; it’s something I can order for a party or Monday Night Football and not consider junk food. The produce is fresh, the sauce—a secret recipe like nearly everything else—is smooth and tangy with just the right amount of sweetness, and the vegan “meats” and “cheeses” have wonderful flavor and texture (characteristics I’ve found lacking in lower-quality substitutes). In fact, the premium toppings and cheeses at Peace ‘O Pie shouldn’t even be considered substitutes. That would be missing the point. These gourmet pizzas and calzones aren’t simply copies of standard pizza fare. This is a whole other kind of pizza.
But lest you should think that Eric and Miguel don’t care about why you’re eating their food, know that the philosophy is what got Peace ‘O Pie started in the first place. Eric is originally an actor, director, and producer, and Miguel runs his own boutique law firm—hardly backgrounds that would predict success in the restaurant business. But both are also concerned with animal rights, environmentalism and health, and that’s what got them into slinging pies. “Quite simply,” Miguel says, “Eric and I are in the restaurant business because we are passionate about veganism, and we think creating lots of good eating options for vegans, aspiring vegans, and people who might be aspiring vegans and just don’t know it, is an important part of that.” The apple sage “sausage” doesn’t only taste good. It’s also healthier for you, the environment, and it spares pigs from slaughter.
Though only 0.5% of the population is vegan (according to Vegetarian Times), it is thought to have the most potential impact on environmentalism. Considering the immense amounts of CO2 and methane produced by factory farming and worries about overfishing, it’s easy to see why cutting out meat is so earth-friendly, and it’s no wonder Peace ‘O Pie is strictly vegan.
Peace ‘O Pie, in sticking to its idealogical guns, assures not only environmental- and animal-friendliness, but also human-friendliness of its products.
“We work with a number of suppliers that operate exclusively in the organic and natural food marketplace. Our produce comes from an exclusively organic distributor and they make great efforts to include as much locally-grown produce as possible in their catalog.” They’re doing their part to keep us healthy and ethically sound, but it’s more than just an ideology being dished up at Peace ‘O Pie. After our slices, I hang around to talk to a few customers. When I ask Dave and Jackie (two non-vegans unaware of Peace ‘O Pie’s ethical foundations) why they came here instead of one of the four other pizza shops near the intersection, they say they’d gone elsewhere, but those guys “didn’t know how to make a great pizza.” I couldn’t have put it better myself.
Joe Pierandozzi is a freelance writer and editor currently living in Boston while he pursues his MFA at Emerson College. He likes food and philosophy and is happy to argue about both.
