When it’s 100° outside, the thought of eating a full meal can feel frankly miserable. Even so, it’s important that we fuel our bodies for all that summer fun. So we’re turning to these light and energizing local eats, and encouraging you to do the same. 

Specialty Acai Bowls at Carioca Bowls

Northeast Alberta’s acai haven recently upped their game with a new slew of specialty acai smoothie bowls, each more deliciously decadent than the last. We’re dreaming of the Leblon, which sports a blended base of acai, dark cherry, peaches, and apple, and is topped with granola, banana, chocolate sauce, and your choice of toppings. (We always pick Honey Mama’s fudge!) Not your jam? Opt for the triple-coconut Copocabana or the peanut butter-packed Ipanema.

Pro tip: If all that fruit has you craving something savory, try out Carioca Bowls’s trio of Ayurvedic kitchari bowls, featuring wholesome ingredients like mung beans, millet, sweet potatoes, coconut milk, and yummy housemade chutneys.

Emeraled Eyes at Prasad

The beverage menu at yogi paradise Prasad runs the gamut from carrot-ginger “bunny” juice and basic strawberry-banana blends to smoothies packed with superfoods like marionberries, avocado, turmeric, and bee pollen. If you’re looking for a refreshing, balanced meal replacement, our money’s on the Emeraled [sic] Eyes, which blends banana, almond-hemp milk, coconut yogurt, cacao nibs, coconut oil, spinach, mint, almond butter, and hemp seeds into the city’s most nutritious mint chocolate milkshake.

The Daily Menu at Of Roots and Blooms

The family of geniuses behind this twice-weekly pop-up crafts tasty new dishes for each event, allowing them to match the menu to the day’s weather forecast. Portland’s most recent three-digit temps, for example, resulted in a spread of grilled peach salads, cold meatloaf sandwiches, tomato basil mac and cheese, and rave-worthy buffalo soy curl tacos. It’s the best vegan food in town, available exclusively at Culmination Brewing on Sundays and Bottles on Wednesdays.

Seasonal Salads at Blossoming Lotus

When the temperatures start climbing, salad often sounds like the only solid food worth stomaching. Luckily, plant-based stalwart Blossoming Lotus is plating up a number of summer-y creations; swing by for the cherry salad topped with candied hazelnuts, balsamic-mustard vinaigrette, and vegan basil farmers cheese, or try the roasted beet & blackberry salad with maple-glazed walnuts and house-made, dairy-free chevre.