Excel V. Dyquiangco

Alexander Orlina, owner of Latasia Fusion vegetarian restaurant in Diliman, QC, was a meat lover when he was born and it was only last June 13, 2006 when he changed his diet to become what he calls “a vegan.”

True to his newfound lifestyle, he wanted to spread the word to help others realize the importance of fruits and vegetables to the consumers and to denounce the cruel treatment of animals.

And so, Alexander , together with his wife Fortune (who, incidentally, is a vegetarian) decided to put up the only restaurant with strictly no meat involved. Found at the heartland of UP Diliman in Quezon City, Latasia Fusion (a mixture of latin and asian meals) serves shawarma, leche flan, nachos and tuna fish, among others, without meat, milk, bread or anything that can be found in animals.

How is this possible?

Alex replied that instead of using meat, they use meat substitutes instead such as gluten, which is a protein coming from wheat, and textured vegetable protein or soya. For condiments such as margarine and mayonnaise, which use milk products, they make their own margarine and mayonnaise by using substitutes like soya. Coincidentally, they make most of the meals they serve.

“And it does taste like the real thing,” he adds. “Right now, we’re also in the middle of experimenting dinuguan without the blood. We’re planning to use black beans and it does add the black flavor to your dinuguan.”

Another thing they want to experiment right now is making bulalo. “But of course, it’s a bulalo without the bone,” he jokes.

And aside from all of these dishes, consumers can also choose from several meals such as menudo, afritada, pochero, sinigang, corned beef, sausage with mushrooms, tokwa’t baboy, kare-kare and many others – all without the meat, milk or any dairy products.

The daily special consists of a choice of two meals plus a turmeric rice (there is no special ring to this – it’s just a rice with turmeric powder) and which would cost a customer for PhP45 only. For the special meals, a customer can have a choice of vegan seafood, barbeque squid, cod fish fillet and a fish steak – served with turmeric rice and fresh vegetable salad, all for PhP60.

Customers coming here are of various backgrounds, too – some are vegetarians, some are just curious consumers who would like to taste a vegetarian meal and others eventually become vegetarians.

For Alex and his wife, the pros of being a vegan outweigh the pros of eating meat. “The problem with us is that we look at things from our own perspective,” says Alex. “We should look at things from the perspective of animals.”

It is hoped that putting up a restaurant like Latasia Fusion would make people see the real issues hounding the animals and environment nowadays. But of course, even Alex admits that this is a farfetched idea since the majority of the country couldn’t care less what happens to animals and some are already used to eating meat, without thinking of the end result of the meal.

But as long as many people are supporting the campaign against cruelty to animals, Alex is sure that such vegetarian restaurants like his will still be hounded, and he hopes that more would sprung up – not only for the people’s sake but for the animals as well.