Our Story

Founded in 2005, Cafe Evolution and the Natural Selection Bakery has been the Pioneer Valley’s original entirely vegan restaurant and bakery, known for our award-winning vegan baked goods, including cupcakes, scones, bars, cookies, and Star’s Sunflower Oat Bread, as well as savory foods like our Evolution Peanut Sauce (think steamed veggies, noodles, or rice dishes), Vegan Chili (perfectly piquant), unique salad dressings, and Chef Heather’s daily specials. For nearly 16 years, we devoted ourselves to nourishing our community with cruelty-free home cooking, served with love in a casual, friendly environment.

Like most restaurants, we were hard-hit by the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and operated on a shoestring budget with just two of us running the entire operation for 18 months. In late-September, 2021, we closed our doors permanently. However, you will be happy to know that a new vegan cafe, The Wild Chestnut Cafe, run by friends of ours, has opened in the same space. Myssie and Rosalie are first-time business owners who need the community’s support. Please do make The Wild Chestnut a regular on your tour of cafes, and tell all your friends to stop by too.

Our family is immeasurably grateful for the many loyal years of patronage by our community members; thank you.

Peace, Love, +Justice,

Star, Trish, and Rain