Karyn Calabrese (born April 20, 1947) is an American

raw foodist Raw foodism, also known as rawism or a raw food diet, is the dietary practice of eating only or mostly food that is uncooked and unprocessed. Depending on the philosophy, or type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include a ...

and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

. Her first restaurant, Karyn's Raw Bistro, is the longest-standing gourmet raw food restaurant in the United States.

Early life

Calabrese grew up in Hyde Park, a South Side neighborhood of Chicago. Calabrese worked as a professional model in her teens and into her twenties, and was featured in national magazine and television

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

Career

Calabrese became a

with the impression that eating uncooked foods improves health. In the early 1980s, she hosted a

support group In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping str ...

at her home. Calabrese decided to transition careers from modeling to cooking and

consulting A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

about the raw and vegan lifestyle. Calabrese has opened three restaurants (Karyn's Raw Bistro, Karyn's Cooked, and Karyn's On Green), a market (Karyn's Fresh Corner), a meal program (Karyn's At Home), a holistic therapy center (Karyn's Inner Beauty Center and O2 Day Spa), a branded line of food, a cookbook, a cleanse guide, and a natural make-up and skin care line. Karyn also teaches workshops and promotes raw foodism, holistic therapies, and natural

longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always d ...

. Calabrese began having financial problems in 2012 after her restaurant in Lincoln Park burned down and business at her other locations stifled; in 2015 and 2016 she had been sued four times, for failing to meet accessibility standards for disabled persons at her restaurants, not paying rent for the spaces of her restaurants, and not paying condominium fees where she lived. She started a

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

campaign to help keep her business afloat, but faced accusations of fraud and unsanitary practices. In 2017, her flagship restaurant in Lincoln Park also closed down.

Restaurants

Calabrese owns and manages three restaurants in Chicago:

Karyn's On Green

According to the 2014

Zagat Survey The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, coveri ...

, Karyn's On Green was the top-rated

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

restaurant in Chicago and the most formal of Karyn's restaurants. Karyn's On Green is located in Chicago's

West Loop The Near West Side, one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, is on the West Side, west of the Chicago River and adjacent to the Loop. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started on the Near West Side. Waves of immigration shaped the history of th ...

. The restaurant closed in 2015.

Karyn's Raw Bistro

Karyn's Raw Bistro is the longest-standing gourmet raw food restaurant in the United States. Also connected to the restaurant is Karyn's Fresh Corner, a raw and organic market, and Karyn's Inner Beauty Center and O2 Day Spa, a holistic treatment center. Karyn's Raw Bistro is located in Chicago's

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

Published works

*''Cleansing With Karyn: Secrets for Inner Healing and Outer Beauty'' 2011 *''Karyn's Conscious Comfort Foods: Recipes for Everyday Life'' 2013

Awards and recognition

Calabrese was the 2013 winner of the Harper's Bazaar Fabulous at Every Age competition for the 60+ age category.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calabrese, Karyn 1947 births Living people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women African-American businesspeople Alternative detoxification promoters American chefs American cosmetics businesspeople American restaurateurs American women in business American veganism activists Life extensionists Raw foodists Vegan cookbook writers Women cookbook writers Women restaurateurs