Whole Foods Market is offering customers an early taste of its soon-to-openTunnel Road grocery store: An old cargo-container-turned-mobile-kitchen will whet Asheville appetites for eight days — Monday, Aug. 18, through Monday Aug. 25 — at the store site at 4 S. Tunnel Road in anticipation of the grand opening on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
The week kicks off with a Community Giving Day on Monday, Aug. 18, during which nonprofit organization Brother Wolf Animal Rescue will be the sole beneficiary of all food sales. And the proposed fare for the day will have Asheville’s vegan and vegetarian populations wolfing indeed! The mobile kitchen will be cranking out vegan soft corn tacos with a choice of fillings, including Memphis-style barbecue beets, chopped barbecue “chick’n” and tomatillo cilantro tofu. Southern-inspired side options will range from vegan collard green slaw to pickled red onions and black-eyed pea salsa.
Meat lovers can join the party starting on Aug. 19, when the menu will begin rotating between a “Mexicue” taco menu and a slider menu, although vegetarian meals will be served for the duration of the campaign. The mobile kitchen will operate daily for lunch (11 a.m.-2 p.m.) and dinner (4-7 p.m.).
Whole Foods obtained the cargo container, which was formerly used to ship commodities to and from Asia, at a landfill in Tacoma, Wash. The container was renovated with hydraulic, power and plumbing systems and now houses a fully functional kitchen.
Upon opening their 35,000-square-foot grocery store, Whole Foods will offer Asheville residents one more place to enjoy a fresh brew — an upper-level beer garden dubbed the Tunnel Road Tap Haus. Shoppers are invited to experience a sneak peek of the new market Aug. 22-23, by registering here. Donations collected during the preview tours will benefit local nonprofit organization Muddy Sneakers.
