A tastier, healthier meatless world from Chimara

To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana. – Siddhartha Gautama

Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. – Albert Einstein

The Buddha and a scientific genius could not have been wrong when they expressed their views about the vegetarian lifestyle, at least not as far as Chimara Neo Vegan Cafe owners Annie Tanchanco and her son JP are concerned.

"I wanted to leave something, like a legacy for a better world," says Annie Tanchanco, "making the dream for a better world possible."

And to make sure that these aims remain in the consciousness of anyone who comes by to sample the food at their cafe, Annie and JP put on their thinking caps and embarked on choosing a name for their restaurant.

It was a younger son who suggested the name chimera (pronounced kymera). Annie liked it, but JP felt that it sounded like a name that would be better for a bar. "Chimera means impossible dream. But it also has a second meaning, which is incongruous monster," Annie shares.

JP points out that in the movie Mission Impossible, it was the name given to a virus. It was Annie who thought that it would be good to use ‘"chimera" but drop the "e" and replace it with an "a" to produce the word chimara. "By doing this I believe that we have now made the impossible possible," says Annie.

Thus, Chimara was born at the fourth level of Greenbelt 3.

It remains the dream of this mother and son tandem to make the world a better place through healthy eating.

"But it is not just healthy eating that we serve at Chimara. We want to promote a neo vegan lifestyle, one that includes not only a vegetarian diet but also promotes a sustainable and harmonious life," adds JP.

That’s saying a lot coming a from 21-year-old Applied Economics senior at the De La Salle University.

Aren’t young people his age more concerned about having a good time even if it means living not-so-healthy lives?

"You would be surprised at how many people in my generation are opting for a vegetarian lifestyle," says JP. "I guess it is because many of my friends and other people my age work out at the gym. But they have begun to realize that working out is not enough, they need to make sure that their diets are also healthy."

This could be true, because it is now common to hear about twentysomethings these days going semi-vegetarian, opting to eat seafood and veggies and staying away from meat.

Both JP and Annie are hands on when it comes to making sure that the items on their menu will be pleasing not just to vegetarians but also to people who are willing to give their fare a chance.

And their menu is indeed loaded with dishes that are both healthy and delicious.

There are the Vegan Wraps, one of which offers a vege-hotdog (made from vegemeat), served on a whole wheat pita wrap and served with organically-grown lettuce, tomatoes and other mouth-watering fillings. The wrap costs P95.

I sampled the Mucho Amino, which is a high protein blend of tofu, soybeans, nuts, cucumber and sunflower seeds (P85). Just the perfect meal for me since I had just come from the gym and was looking for my protein fix for the day.

The Dippin’ Pitas, which are warm slices of pita bread, come with crunchy vegan sticks and can be had with either a Tuscan humus dip or a tomato-pesto dip (P55).

I also liked the Meat-less Taco, which is a combination of lettuce, diced tomatoes, onions and mango and topped off with soy beans, corn and cottage cheese (P99).

There are also sweet treats like the E-bars (P50), which are chewy, high-fiber, energy in a bar. The Muffin bites (P32 for two pieces) are bite-size cups of baked low-sugar treats made from flour, muscovado sugar and honey, and topped with choice fillings. Try out their Lite Cookies (P25), home-baked cookies which are also high in fiber and low on sugar.

As we enjoy our meal, JP shares with us his plans of adding vegetarian sushi and an option for protein shakes for the health buffs who have made Chimara their regular stop after working out at the gym.

But it is not just the vegetarians and the health buffs that Chimara has been attracting.

"People come here out of curiosity. We had one mother and her son who came to eat here. The mother asked us not to tell her son that the hotdogs were not really meat. We came up with a sandwich that the kid really enjoyed. That made us happy," Annie relates.

Annie and JP give us their guarantee that their food has no preservatives – and that they don’t use plastic bags.

"This one is for the environment," says Annie. "After all, making our world better is not just putting healthy food into our bodies – it is about caring for the environment, too."

Annie recounts that there was one customer who asked for a plastic bag and was told that the cafe did not have any because that was their way of saving the earth. Pleased with the answer, the customer said that she, too, would like to help save the earth. "Don’t give me a napkin anymore," the customer said.

Although JP admits to not yet being an all-out vegan, he says that he limits his meat intake to only "once in a while" and he also has that occasional cigarette. After all, he says he is just an average young person who sees people who opt to go vegetarian as being really cool.

"Hayop ’yung response. People my age approach me and tell me that they heard about Chimara and that they like the resto. I guess word has been getting around," he says proudly.

"I guess it is because we are offering something that is finally different from what is out there," Annie adds.

Finally, a place where people can cross gaps across generations (as Annie and JP have) as they share a good vegetarian meal while they take steps to make this place a better world. And when it comes to these aims, age is of no consequence.