Concessions That Won’t Kill Your Diet

If the yellow sludge — ahem, “butter flavoring” — at the local Cineplex leaves you queasy, or if you’ve started stashing healthier snacks like a shoplifter to avoid the bucket-size sodas and the 1,200-calorie popcorn, take heart: Date night at the movies no longer needs to be a disaster for your diet.

Cimema 16:9 in Lansdowne opened this past March, and their local, organic treats make the sodium-filled, sugar-saturated junk at the mega screens look as stale as their weeks-old nacho chips. You’ll find everything from nitrate-free, organic hotdogs to vitamin-C-packed vegetarian gummies. And much of it — like their just-made, minimally processed nachos served up with fresh pico de gallo — comes from vendors as close as the Mexican restaurant a few blocks away.

“Our first goal was reducing our carbon footprint,” says Dave Titus, a video editor who opened the 41-seat theater with his wife Phoebe to showcase independent films and offer healthier fare to patrons. “There’s a ton of great organic food being grown and made here in Pennsylvania, and we wanted to take advantage of that.”

The better-for-you popcorn simmers in a mixture of organic ghee and coconut oil, and is tossed lightly with sea salt—“It has a nice, light butter flavor, and there’s not one bit of chemicals,” says Phoebe — and their lightly sweetened concessions (think Honest Teas, Boylan's Cane Cola and organic juice boxes) are refreshing treats that won’t leave you swimming in processed sugar.

Their prices are a lot healthier on your wallet, too. A small popcorn goes for $1.99 and a bottle of water will only set you back a buck. For these prices, you may not even have to share.

35 N. Lansdowne Ave, Lansdowne, 484-461-7676, cinema169.com