Farmers Market's Newest Vendor Welcomes the Greenbelt Difference

When chef Alisa Plaza first set foot in Greenbelt, she welcomed the difference. The other places where she and her husband work, demand meat along with their vegetables, she said. But she feels Greenbelt is different, the people are excited about vegetarian food.

"Oh we love Greenbelt, from the first time we came," Plaza said.

Vegan and vegetarian cuisine is what Plaza is all about, and adding her own flair to reflect her background and culture. Hailing from Trinidad and Tobago, with an Indian mother and a multicultural father, she cooks up dishes influenced by India, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She also puts a hint of American soul in some of her specialties.

The foods at Sunrise Catering's booth in on Sundays provide a glimpse into the history of chef Plaza and her husband, Selwyn Mungo. They serve dishes like roti, "bussupshut", curried potato and chickpeas, vegan mac and cheese, pineapple sweet and sour soy "chicken", vegan collard greens, broccoli tempura and fried plantains—rotating out the food choices week to week.

Plaza and Mungo got their introduction to Greenbelt when they saw a newspaper ad about the Green Man Festival. It was a welcome discovery, after having unsuccessfully tried to go solo vegetarian with their food businesses in the Washington area and eventually adding meat, Plaza said.

She hoped that at a place like Green Man, she could follow her dream of serving healthy, organic, vegetarian dishes. Thus began a love affair, that continued with the Labor Day Festival in Greenbelt, and eventually landed Sunrise Catering as Greenbelt Farmers Market's newest vendor.

Plaza is quick to say that she is not the only chef in the family. It was Mungo who taught her how to cook. He also changed the way she thought about food.

When she met him, 24 years ago, she noticed he never got sick or went to the doctor, and he didn't eat meat, she said. That made her curious. So she tried to follow suite. She said she noticed when eating vegetarian, "You lose a lot of weight and you feel much better."

Sunrise Catering also has a carry out and catering business on 107 Kennedy Street, in Northwest Washington, and two kiosks at Union Station.

When asked about the compliments she receives for her cooking, Plaza laughed, recalling some young men she met this week who were interning in Washington. They said she had the best food they could find on Capitol Hill and asked her if they could take her back with them when they returned home.

It will be two weeks before Plaza returns to the Greenbelt Farmers Market, but that won't stop her from cooking the food for that will be in Sunrise Catering's booth on Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in . And it will be her favorite—vegetables.