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IN THE BIZ RASTA LEMONADE
Rasta Lemonade is bringing good vibes and an all natural lifestyle to the Boardwalk. Text by Paige Benedetto & photos by Pam Leypoldt
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OLD lemonade is tangy, sweet, and thirst quenching; it goes together with summer like peanut butter and jelly and it has remained pretty much the same each year... until now. Rasta Lemonade on the Boardwalk has all natural ingredients, no pesky preservatives, hails from Jamaica, and has no lemons. That’s right, this lemonade has no actual lemons in it… and you’ll be happy about it. Michael Vita and Audley (Colonel) Anderson opened up Rasta Lemonade on 13th Street on the Boardwalk a couple months ago, but these two businessmen met 15 years ago and have been very close friends ever since. A friend of Mike’s took him to Jamaica to meet his friend Colonel, an indigenous Rastafarian, and the two hit it off. Mike, who grew up in the Catskills and spent most of his life in the New York City food scene was intrigued by the Rastafarian lifestyle that Colonel led. “The first day that we met I found Colonel to be the most interesting person I have ever met… and that was how our relationship began,” Mike said. According to Colonel, the Rastafarian lifestyle constantly surrounds the concept of natural living. It's the reason Colonel grows his hair long and eats only the things he grows on his farm in Jamaica; Colonel lives organically and from the Earth. “You're talking about everything vegan, and that was something I had never thought about in my life,” Mike said. “Years later, I developed a love
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AUGUST 2016
affair with Jamaica and natural living and fruits and vegetables.” The two friends soon talked about making food together. “That is the way we live at home, all natural with fruits and vegetables,” Colonel said. Inspired by the Rastafarian lifestyle, Mike and Colonel started Rasta Ade Refreshments and Vegan Food Café on the beach in Negril, Jamaica one year ago. So, how did the friends go from owning a cafe in tropical Jamaica to owning another business looking out over the Atlantic? Mike spent some summers as a child in Ocean City, and because Mike and Colonel are so passionate about spreading their message about natural living they decided to give it a go. They brought the first thing they ever made together, an all natural and delicious lemonade to the Boardwalk. Colonel and Mike want to make sure Rasta Lemonade stays true to its roots, so there are hats, necklaces and other Jamaican items for sale in the shop. All of the decorations represent Jamaica and different artists living there, and reggae music is playing so
Got to have Rasta Lemonade now... located at 1322 Boardwalk.