Looking for a Vegetarian Store

I have been on a not-so-strict no meat diet for some time now. and i have been having some trouble looking for food to eat. when we're eating out, i can opt for seafoods and veggies. sure, there are a lot of restaurants out there that offer alternatives to pork, beef and chicken, but what if i'm home? a girl can take is so much canned tuna you know... i also tried stir frying veggies then i moved on to having tofu blended with other regular viands like adobo and afritada, so that it can soak in the flavors. but time came when i felt that my food choices were very limited. i bought a Filipino vegan cookbook and called for some meat substitutes, aside from the usual tofu. i decided to take it to the next level. i will try and cook using meat substitutes! i started looking for health stores that sold veggie meat. i went to the supermarket, but all i got was tuna tocino, which was yummy by the way and has since been branded as a FAVORITE! by our family.

i surfed the net. i looked for stores that catered to the vegetarians of the Philippines, but came up with nothing. it was really frustrating! here i was, trying a lifestyle change, and yet the net universe seems against me! (drama queen!) i just felt that it was simply not possible! i'm sure there are a lot of vegetarians here in the country, where do they buy their supplies? i mean, there has got to be a vegetarian store here in manila, makati or quezon city.

one time, as hubby and i were buying our dinner from Bodhi, the vegetarian restaurant found in SM Megamall's foodcourt, i asked the one serving us whether she knew where we could buy vegan goodies. she then said that Bodhi was not only a restaurant, they also sold vegan stuff in their manila branch. yipee! hubby got the address and we promptly made plans to go.

when we did finally get to go to Banawe, we just couldn't find their store! hubby drove slowly and we looked at every store along the street but we couldn't find anything! that was until we reached Banawe corner Calamba Street and that's where we saw the Daily Veggie Cafe. It was a restaurant that sold yummy vegetarian dishes, and they also sell uncooked veggie goodies that you can cook to your heart's content.



I was so happy! they had a lot of vegan goodies in that store! and they had really reasonable prices, the sales lady even gave us a discount!

our loot: a vegetarian ham, vegetarian chicken nuggets and meat chunks!







mission accomplished! even though we didn't find our original target, Bodhi, we were able to find a vegetarian food store nonetheless.

and for those looking for a vegetarian store, here are some of their branches:

Daily Veggie Cafe
540 Banawe St. Corner Calamba St. Quezon City
711-8209 and 711-3214

Happy Veggie Health Food Store
Unit C-4A G/F Gilmore IT Center
8 Gilmore Ave. New Manila QC
723-3854

Happy Veggie Health Food Store
958 Masangkay Street
Binondo Manila
245-9257

I'm really grateful that we were able to buy some meat substitutes, because of them, i was able to survive the holidays! thanks too to hubby for fixing up my veggie ham, it tasted so good, it tasted like the real deal. during our christmas eve dinner, i didn't feel left out at all. here's a pic of our christmas feast, with my very own veggie ham (encircled). yummy!