History
Country Life Restaurants is an outreach ministry the Seventh-day Adventist church. It's unknown how the name “Country Life” was chosen, but the original [SDA] restaurant (in Grand Rapids [MI])was first called Lifeline. The restaurants were an attempt to implement the counsel of Ellen Gould White(1827–1915), a prolific author and an American Christian pioneer. She emphasized the relation of physical health to spirituality, and advocated a vegan or plant-based diet. She wrote: “... hygienic restaurants are to be established in the cities ... the patrons can be invited to lectures on the science of health ...”
Country Life Restaurants continued to multiply in the U.S. and other countries through the remaining years of the 20th century despite there never being any unifying organization.
Ellen Gould White envisioned her restaurants to address the need for advocacy and guidance for plant-based nutrition. In the 20th century, Country Life Restaurants were created and proliferated as a resource to meet that need. In the first decades of the 21st century, other resources are proliferating - text media by many secular authors such as the Campbells; films such as Forks Over Knives; and organizations such as Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
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Present day
Currently (2015) there are Country Lives in Columbus GA; Keene NH; Marsielle France; and four in Prague, Czech Republic.