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Clean Casual Manifesto

The following food philosophy comes from our Clean Casual Manifesto, outlined in greater detail on the Kitava Blog.

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A Clean Casual restaurant places a foundational focus on health, sourcing, and ingredient transparency by default, while serving delicious food in an approachable environment. 

We believe food should make us feel good, support our health, provide enjoyment through great taste and unique flavors, be approachable and accessible for everyone, and bring people together over shared experiences.

Kitava envisions a food system where supporting healthy people and communities is the norm, where it's not special or unique for a restaurant to embrace these attributes. Serving health-promoting meals should be the price of admission in the restaurant industry, especially since using real, fresh, and local ingredients makes food taste better.

Kitava's menu prioritizes these desires, while staying true to our foundational belief in serving real food everyone can enjoy. We hope you appreciate our efforts and can taste the difference!

Food Philosophy

We serve delicious and approachable meals made with real food from quality sources

Here are the values that define this food philosophy:

Real Food. Whole food ingredients centered around nutritious veggies, mindful proteins, and healthy fats

Great Taste. Hearty and comforting meals made with fresh and flavorful ingredients

Healthy by Default. Clean ingredients that just taste better, and are free from common allergens, chemicals, and unhealthy oils

Accessible. Relatable and delicious meals everyone can enjoy, including those with allergies and dietary restrictions

Consciously Sourced. Health-promoting ingredients sourced from trustworthy vendors, with a heavy emphasis on supporting local, sustainable, and regenerative practices

Transparent. Full insight into the ingredients and sourcing used to create every dish

Ingredients We Embrace

Nutritious Plants - organic produce aligned with the “dirty dozen, clean fifteen” guidelines

Mindful Proteins - grass-fed, free-range, pasture-raised, and regeneratively farmed

Healthy Fats & Oils - from natural sources, never industrial seed oils

Natural Sweeteners - low-glycemic options from real food sources (no white sugar)

Herbs & Spices - flavorful seasonings with functional benefits

Ingredients We Avoid

NO Feedlot Animals - factory farmed meat harms animals, people, and the planet

NO Seed Oils - research shows they’re bad for our health, and are resource-intensive to produce

NO Soy - a common allergen with suspect nutritional value, mostly produced with pesticides

NO Gluten - 30% of all Americans avoid gluten, and they deserve enjoyable food too!

NO Refined Sugar - real food ingredients support low-glycemic diets which improves health

NO Dairy - Two-thirds of the world is lactose intolerant, so we make delicious food without it

NO Peanuts - a common allergen we can avoid, so we do

NO Additives, Preservatives, or Chemicals - we avoid harmful additives in our cooking