Bloodroot Closes After 48 Years as Bridgeport's Feminist Vegetarian Landmark
The legendary feminist vegetarian restaurant and bookstore closes on the winter solstice after co-founder Noel Furie decides to retire following nearly five decades of radical hospitality.
Bloodroot, the legendary feminist vegetarian restaurant and bookstore that served Bridgeport’s Black Rock neighborhood for nearly half a century, closed its doors on the winter solstice after co-founder Noel Furie decided to retire.
The closure ends one of Connecticut’s most distinctive dining establishments—a place where the politics were as carefully considered as the seasonally changing menu, and where generations of women found community, conversation, and remarkable food.
Founded in 1977 by the Bloodroot Collective with explicitly radical and lesbian feminist principles, the restaurant operated as a worker-owned cooperative throughout its existence. Co-owner Selma Miriam’s death in February 2025 left Furie, now 81, as the last of the original founders.
“This has been my life’s work, and I’m deeply grateful for everyone who made it possible,” Furie said in a statement. “But it’s time for me to rest.”
The restaurant occupied a modest building on Ferry Boulevard overlooking Long Island Sound. Inside, books lined the walls, political pamphlets sat near the register, and hand-lettered signs explained the collective’s philosophy alongside menu specials.
The food itself earned devoted followers far beyond activist circles. Bloodroot’s seasonal, vegetable-forward cooking anticipated trends that wouldn’t reach mainstream restaurants for decades. The changing menu, posted on a chalkboard, featured dishes drawing on global cuisines long before “farm-to-table” became a marketing catchphrase.
“They were doing in 1977 what chefs in Brooklyn are trying to do now,” said New Haven food writer Sarah Kaltenbach. “Except they were doing it for political reasons, not Instagram.”
The restaurant’s bookstore section focused on feminist literature, and the collective published several cookbooks that achieved cult status among vegetarian cooks nationwide.
Long-time customers filled social media with tributes. Many shared memories of first discovering vegetarian cooking at Bloodroot, of feminist awakening over bowls of soup, of finding chosen family in the crowded dining room.
“Bloodroot wasn’t just a restaurant,” wrote one commenter. “It was a statement that another way of living was possible.”
No buyer for the business has emerged, and Furie indicated the space would likely close permanently. The building’s future remains uncertain.