Miami police Lt. Lillie Harris has had a ringside seat on the evolution of the vegetarian dining scene in South Florida.

Harris, 40, gave up meat for health reasons at 15 after watching her mother suffer with diabetes. It wasn't the most popular choice a Liberty City teen could make.

''It was not fashionable,'' she says. ``Those of us who were [vegetarian] were looked at as weird.''

Back in the '80s, Harris and others seeking healthier food and lifestyles ''had to find and connect with grassroots purists'' like Unicorn's Terry Dalton and Granny Feelgood's Irving Fields. ``They really laid the foundation for the movement.''

She even worked for a time at Dalton's landmark restaurant.

''It was excellent,'' she says. ``Unicorn was always packed. If you didn't make reservations, forget it.''

Harris isn't happy with the corporate nature of mainstream health-food products and purveyors.

''The products are bought by a manager who doesn't even eat the food,'' she says. ``The quality is not the same. It's harder to trust the source.''

She has become an enthusiastic regular at Om Garden and Lifefood Gourmet.

``They care about the source of the food. They're putting love into what they're doing -- you don't get that often anymore.''

And that level of care is something she craves as much as Lifefood's raw tacos and Om's vegan chocolate mousse.

''Cops gotta eat too, you know,'' she says.

-- ELLEN KANNER

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