The story below is from our November/December 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Fruits & Roots is providing your daily servings of fresh fruits and veggies in delicious new ways.
Layla Khoury-Hanold
Owner Christy Dilcher slices a banana for the fan-favorite Banana Bread Bowl.
It’s 8:30 a.m. on a Wednesday and downtown Roanoke is humming to life. Part of the buzz is emanating from Fruits & Roots, a juice bar and smoothie shop on Campbell Avenue SE, where owner Christy Dilcher is slicing bananas for a Banana Bread Bowl while answering a customer’s question about the benefits of turmeric. The shop is just steps from the Roanoke City Market where Dilcher first began selling her organic juices last May, growing a following for signature flavors like Beet Vitality and Sweet Green. Since officially opening its doors on June 13, 2023, Fruits & Roots has firmly cemented its status as the go-to spot for juices, smoothies and wellness bowls in downtown Roanoke.
1 of 3
Layla Khoury-Hanold
Fruits & Roots’ cheery space includes cafe tables and window nooks.
2 of 3
Layla Khoury-Hanold
Two early favorite signature juices include Beet Vitality and Sweet Green.
3 of 3
Layla Khoury-Hanold
Owner Christy Dilcher blends up a creamy base for a wellness bowl.
What makes Fruits & Roots’ juices stand-out is that they are made with all organic ingredients using a cold-pressed commercial juicing machine, which is vital for retaining nutrients (heat diminishes them). “From the beginning to the end everything stays cold, so it extends the shelf life and gives a better quality juice,” Dilcher explains, who produces the juices with her husband, Jimmy Dilcher. In addition, the juices are made without the addition of water or artificial sweeteners, letting the natural sweetness and flavors of the produce shine through. The Carrot Refresh, for example, features an earthy-sweet mix of fresh carrots, apple, lemon, ginger and turmeric, while the fruit-forward Mango Tango stars mango, pineapple, apple, orange and lemon.
Layla Khoury-Hanold
Juices, smoothies and wellness bowls await at Fruits & Roots in downtown Roanoke.
The use of top-notch ingredients extends to the smoothies and wellness bowls too, which are made without ice and are chockful of nutrient-rich ingredients such as organic fruits, veggies or plant-based proteins. Most smoothies and wellness bowls have at least one superfood, like the Blue Wave smoothie which is crafted with blue spirulina, a detoxifying algae with anti-inflammatory properties, or the Chocolate Peanut Butter bowl, which contains maca, good for regulating hormones and a good source of vitamin B and fiber. There’s also a menu of add-ons, like the popular ashwaganda, a root and adaptogen that Dilcher says relieves stress and boosts cognitive functioning.
The genesis for Fruits & Roots started with Dilcher’s sister, Tracey Bryant, who also eats a plant-based diet and founded the original Fruits & Roots shop in Pennsylvania four years ago. Inspired to learn more, Dilcher spent the last couple years voraciously consuming articles about plant-based eating and documentaries like What the Health and The Game Changers. “The more educated I became, the more I wanted to change my eating habits. And I became more aware of how much the food that we eat impacts our health,” Dilcher says. “I thought, well, this area needs a place like that.”
When Dilcher started testing the waters at the Roanoke City Market, she was thrilled to discover that locals were just as excited about the prospect of a downtown juice bar as she was. Since opening the doors to the juice bar, the customer base so far has ranged from vegans who know about the plant-based menu, active folks stopping in for a smoothie pre- or post-workout, families with small children, college kids and locals of all ages seeking healthy options. “It’s a mixed crowd for sure,” Dilcher says. “We have gotten nothing but positive feedback. We have at least 80% of customers so far that are repeat—some come in daily.”
Layla Khoury-Hanold
All juices are made without water, letting produce like this carrot-forward number shine.
Dilcher also saw that there was an untapped niche for plant-based dining and healthy food alternatives downtown. Though vegetarian and vegan options exist downtown, most of the restaurants in the immediate vicinity don’t offer a quick-service model or grab-and-go options. And Fruits & Roots’ vegan menu is completely dairy-, egg-, soy- and gluten-free, making it easy for vegans or those with dietary restrictions to find options. In addition to the juices, smoothies and wellness bowls, Fruits & Roots’ other breakfast and snack items include a rotating roster of muffins (don’t miss the double chocolate), overnight oats, granola bars and energy bites. Dilcher has also teamed up with a local vegan caterer to offer ready-made lunch items like a black bean, rice and vegan cheese wrap and side salads with scratch-made dressings such as rosemary-balsamic. In the future, Dilcher hopes to add hot food items and a small coffee menu too.
“We’re making people more aware of how the food they eat impacts their body and how food is healing,” Dilcher says. “People are learning that and asking questions about that. So just having this option for them…it’s very rewarding and it’s fun to see people excited that we are here.”
Layla Khoury-Hanold
Banana Bread Bowl
5 to Try
Sip: Give your morning ritual a shot of sunshine with a bottle of Key West Zest. This sweet and tangy sipper features a blend of apple, pineapple, lemon and lime. Blue spirulina imparts an oceanic hue and is full of nutrients. It’s a good source of plant protein, rich in antioxidants, chockful of B vitamins and is said to boost immunity and lower blood pressure.
Slurp: With its Instagram-ready Barbie-pink hue, the Pink Flamingo smoothie is ready for its close-up. It features a fruity, refreshing combination of strawberry, pineapple, banana, coconut milk and pitaya, aka freeze dried dragon fruit, which is responsible for the saturated pink shade and a bevy of benefits. It’s rich in antioxidants and magnesium, high in fiber and vitamin C, and helps promote gut health.
Layla Khoury-Hanold
Pink Flamingo Smoothie
Spoon: The fan-favorite Banana Bread Bowl eats like the breakfast of your wellness influencer dreams. It’s anchored by a creamy blended base of bananas, oats, dates, chia seeds, cinnamon, almond milk and almond butter, then festooned with sliced bananas, chocolate chips, house made gluten-free granola and a nut butter or raw honey drizzle.
Snack: Whether you’re heading to the office or hitting the greenway, Energy Bites are a sure-fire way to banish mid-morning hunger pangs or tide you over till dinner. Chia seeds, oats, ground flax seeds, peanut butter and honey are rolled together to create a tasty, fiber-packed snack. Grab a few for the road or stock up for the week.
Stock: Now you can take home the same oil-free, gluten-free Granola that tops Fruits & Roots’ wellness bowls. A mix of oats, coconut, almonds and hemp seeds are bound together by almond butter and brown rice syrup, sweetened with maple syrup and coconut palm sugar and seasoned with cinnamon and vanilla.
The story above is from our November/December 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!