Mother Earth Food Vendor Highlight: Rosetta’s Kitchen Written by: Rosa Linda Fallon
Born and raised in Western North Carolina, founder of Asheville’s Rosetta’s Kitchen Rosetta Star grew up as a vegetarian, a lifestyle she describes as unheard of at the time. “It was pretty radical back then, and it was hard to find good food in restaurants,” Star recalls. During her childhood, Star remembers her parents frequently hosting friends and family members in their home. So, cooking for others became something she enjoyed doing, eventually leading her to a career in the food industry.
Star’s career began with her first job at Hardee’s when she was fifteen years old. After that, she worked at various other restaurants, from fine dining to sandwich shops. While working in the restaurant scene, she discovered that most food options available to customers were of low quality. “I started reading labels, seeing how things were made,” she says,” and it seemed like, no matter what, even in fine dining places, the food quality was pretty subpar.”
When Star was in her early twenties, she was a single mom with no career plan. So, she decided that owning her own restaurant was her best option. In 2002, Rosetta’s Kitchen in downtown Asheville, NC was born. Star and her team have been serving their creative vegetarian and vegan soul foods ever since, recently celebrating their 20th anniversary. Star describes their food as “clean comfort food,” since they pride themselves in maintaining wholesome ingredients and providing ingredient transparency to all customers. “We use a lot of organic and local ingredients,” Star states. “Along with that, we share what is in the food. If it is organic, we’ll tell you. If it has gluten, we’ll tell you.”
Star has food allergies herself, and she understands that many restaurants do not (or cannot) tell customers what is and isn’t in their dishes. “That’s not us,” Star says. “We are very careful about having all of that information available to our customers.”
Rosetta’s Kitchen is a top choice in downtown Asheville for healthy, vegetarian and vegan food. The restaurant serves lunch, dinner, and the late night crowd. Rosetta’s maintains an inclusive philosophy, having fed the homeless, the wealthy, celebrities, and everyone in between. “We have nourished everyone who passes through our doors,” Star says. “We exist to nourish.”
Rosetta’s Kitchen has also partnered with Mother Earth Food, the local grocery home delivery company based in Asheville. The missions of Rosetta’s Kitchen and Mother Earth Food align, as both businesses maintain the vision of bringing healthy, local food to people in the mountains of Western North Carolina and supporting local farmers. On the Mother Earth Food website, customers can purchase Rosetta’s Kitchen’s infamous veggie burgers and their peanut butter baked tofu, and have the products delivered directly to their front door. This created an opportunity for Rosetta’s Kitchen to reach more people with their food. During the COVID-19 pandemic when Mother Earth Food experienced exponential growth, Rosetta’s Kitchen had to produce more products to meet high customer demand. They have been, and continue to be, a loyal purchaser of Star’s products. “It gave us the ability to reach a market that we otherwise would not have reached,” Star says.
Rosetta’s Kitchen recently moved to a new location at 68 North Lexington Avenue in downtown Asheville, just a block up the street from their former location. Star is excited about this transition because they will now have more space to produce food and serve more customers. When visiting Rosetta’s Kitchen, you can expect to be treated like a member of the family. “We strive to create a friendly inclusive environment that is respectful of everyone from all walks of life,” says Star. “And to honor the needs of all our customers.”
For more information, visit www.rosettaskitchen.com