Tribe, get it? It’s hip, in an agrarian, non-industrialized ironic kind of way. An upscale organic deli, whose name hints at a pre-state society, where everyone trades freshly-picked berries and eats super grains.
In the East, as well as the West, tribal societies remain indelibly bound – for better or worse – to varying notions of savagery and mysticism. They are enigmatic worlds beyond our ken, untouched by modern civilization. To understand them is to be a sage. The fact that cafes and restaurants are now in the business of selling that concept – specifically the idea of ultra-healthy, exotic foodstuffs – back to urban consumers at premium prices is telling. Beijing, a city in thrall to environment-be-damned urban development, has become home in recent months to a number of eco-friendly organic delis – each with its own pseudo-aspirational message of culinary redemption.
But how do you know if you belong in the tribe – what are the signifiers? And more importantly, how do you go about joining? (Is there a special handshake, or an initiation ritual that sees you leave polite society and wonder semi-naked and alone through the edges of Fengtai District awaiting the Vision?)
Photos by Noemi Cassanelli
Having ventured into Tribe – a two story New York-style wood paneled salad bar cafe and loft space – it appears that induction involves spending somewhere in the region of RMB100 on a kale salad and a freshly pressed juice, while basking in the warm, conceited glow that comes from knowing that you are Eating Well.
But what are you eating, precisely? The large menu – handwritten in white chalk, on a large black board – is split into three distinct sections, salads (RMB48 to RMB68), wraps and sandwiches (RMB45rmb to RMB78), and noodle and grain bowls (RMB48rmb to RMB68).
We tried the Tribe house salad, a well-proportioned, colorful mix of Peruvian quinoa, kale, orange, fennel, hummus and pistachio, with chili citrus vinaigrette (RMB52), alongside the sizable lamb meatball sandwich, with feta cheese, hummus and carrot-slaw on “sprouted seven grain” bread (RMB68), a dish that, according to Tribe’s ‘Glossary of Goodness’ contains a ‘Vitamin Load’ (of what exactly, we’re not sure).
Both dishes proved wholly satisfying, though as is the case with so much ‘healthy food’, it’s often easier to say what it wasn’t – greasy, processed, sugary – than what it was, exactly. But, perhaps, that’s the point. Tribe, like its namesakes the world over, stands in opposition to the other – in this case, mass produced, prepackaged foodstuffs, and that – by most measures – is no bad thing.
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