After all was said, done and eaten, about 300 people had passed through the doors of Nature’s Temptations on a rainy Saturday.

The health food store was celebrating its 18th birthday and its one-year anniversary in its new(ish) Prospect Street digs.

Grocery Manager Daniel Pereira called the turnout “incredible. There were more people than we anticipated.” Marketing Director for the store, Claudia Haas, let visitors know about the event via direct mail, e-mail, cable advertising and through the town’s Chamber of Commerce. Apparently, her strategies worked.

“We saw familiar faces but lots of new ones as well,” Haas said.

The store has much to celebrate. They expanded from 2,000 to 6,000 square feet last year. They’ve added prepared foods (everything from organic chicken burritos to curried tofu burgers, an array of salads, sandwiches and a dessert case), a juice bar with cafe seating area, wild seafood and local meats.

Shoppers are pleased with the new arrangement. Regular visitor Carolyn Arredondo hugged many of the employees when she entered the store on Saturday. 

“This store provides things that no other store provides—not just the produce but the groceries as well, and they will bend over backwards for you. They work so hard to get things you ask for," Arredondo said. The Ridgefield resident noted the raw milk as something she truly loves and is especially glad that the store stocks.

In addition to live music by Rob Silvan, the anniversary celebration included tastings, raffles and over a dozen representatives from health food companies offering samples and talking about their products. Smiling representatives from Red’s All Natural Burritos, High Country Kombucha, Hint Water, Heaven’s Whey high protein granola and Hudson Valley Milk, among others, attended the festivities.

The store’s chef, Liz Gagnan, is trained as a vegan chef and has worked as a personal chef to celebrities and for the Saudi royal family. She noted that the store focuses on serving “clean, sustainable and organic foods.” From what I sampled on Saturday, I wasn’t surprised she had such an illustrious career before settling in at Nature’s Temptations.

For the anniversary, Gagnan made samples of vegan kabocha squash cakes with plum ginger relish, Plainville roast turkey, mini asparagus and mushroom quiche, North Salem Angus beef, pulled pork and grilled local Hudson Valley pork sausage. For dessert, she crafted Valrhona hot chocolate with Chantilly cream and Chocolate Genoise.

As Haas, the marketing director, said of the tasting menu, “What wasn’t she serving? It was quite a spread.”