First Impressions & Eating Vegan in the Philippines (not easy, but not impossible!)

“Despite our problems, we still find a way to smile.”
~Philippine adage, according to Lester, one of our very nice cab drivers in Cebu City

Based on my experiences, interactions and observations so far, the Filipino lifestyle is relaxed and friendly. I have been here in the Philippines just about 10 days, traveling with my long-time friend, Lindsey :)

BFFs

It has been so great to reunite. We have been close since we were in 5 years old, but she was in Taiwan teaching English for a couple of years. Now we get this amazing opportunity to travel SE Asia together!

We have already had many light-hearted interactions with locals while we’ve gone from island to island... Cebu to Bohol to Bantayan, and then back to Cebu for our flight to Siargao!

Today I want to share a bit about the vegan food options in these areas of the Philippines.

Despite what I had heard about the meat and dairy heavy Filipino diet, it actually hasn’t been that hard to find delicious and nutritious vegan food. It also helped that I met a Filipino on my layover in Singapore who told me the Filipino names of some things I could eat, or ask for without meat, eggs, or cheese here.

It does appear that typical Filipino food is mostly meat, cheese and rice, but I was pleasantly surprised to encounter several vegan/vegetarian restaurants.

Here are my top 5 vegan restaurants in the Philippines so far (in order by delightfulness, in my opinion)

1. Shaka (in Bohol)
   This is my number one because of the AMAZING menu. I wanted to try EVERYTHING!!! Although I didn’t because we only went here twice, it was realllly good. Vegan burgers and delicious smoothie bowls :) ...the lights went on and off a couple times, but it was worth it.

1. Wellnessland Health Institute (in Cebu City)
   I love this place! The food was pretty good, but I especially love that it is a local organization that also has yoga classes and spa treatments. It seemed to be a place where many young locals liked to eat good food after yoga.

2. The Buzz Cafe (in Bohol)
   We actually went to both the large restaurant by their Bohol Bee Farm, as well as their other restaurant right on the beach. Both had very nice feels and the same menu with delicious food. However, the one at the beach inevitably means being approached on your way by many locals trying to sell you random jewelry and sunglasses. And sometimes for five times the price of their competition a bit further away from the beach (I learned this the hard way).

1. Lunhaw (in Cebu City)
   This was a good place to try some traditional Filipino foods, vegan style! They also have “vegan wine”... we didn’t get a very good answer for what exactly made this red wine “vegan”, but the restaurant owner swore by it.

2. Savoura (in Cebu City)
   The ambiance here is nothing special (in a strip mall of sorts) and it was hard to find... it was down a different street than google told us, but the food was worth it. We got was a veggie stir fry and Pinakbet from the vegetable portion of the menu. This got us a substantial amount of veggies, with a side of rice.

Between these and other options, and very emphatically asking for “no cheese and no meat” (and no chicken or pork either) on things like sandwiches and pizza, I have only had to resort to a meal of rice or fries a couple of times :)

Overall, I am loving this adventure and so grateful to be exploring the world, spending time with a great friend, and sharing my experiences in this way!

Health-full and wonder-filled days to you!

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