As the Peñafrancia Fiesta season draws near, I decided to go back to food, dining and restaurant reviews. My first article for the series brings me to 3rd Street of Soriano Avenue at Villa Sorabella Subdivision (Naga City) in a cute but comfy place called GREEN EARTH CAFÉ. By its name, you get a hint of what it offers. But let me first describe to you the place. With the café just at the street side and corner of another street, you’ll find a small but home-styled food joint. What greets you at the entrance is a trellis-type garden of ornamental plants.. Actually, the café is just beside the residence of the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Arnel Obias. The place, though small, looks roomy and airy because of the large-sized windows around. The old wood and unpolished stone materials used for the interiors rather give it a more laid-back and relaxed ambiance. The café has five tables, three of which can seat two to three people, while the last two are for family or group size from five to eight.
Though opened for business in February 2006, Green Earth Café’s story goes back as far as when the owner-couple were then working in a non-government organization. Because of their busy schedules, they found it hard to attend to the growing needs of their twin-children, particularly with food. The children had to be content with eating the synthetically grown and commercially processed food like meat, fish, soup noodles, juices and all. Later, they found out that the kids were becoming low in disease resistance. Even Mr. Obias himself had acquired arthritis based on high uric acid accumulation.
Due these, the couple resorted to finding a cure by focusing on alternative food as a way to fighting disease and building good resistance. Through the advice of an oriental medicine-influenced doctor, the couple believed that the body could cure itself if you give it the proper food to heal itself.
With his wife still maintaining a job with an NGO, Mr. Obias decided to learn, sometimes by himself and at times through short-term courses, vegetarian and healthy food cooking; including growing the plants themselves.
Making much of the effort in growing the plants and cooking them for the family’s consumption, the couple decided on putting up what is now is GREEN EARTH CAFÉ. Incidentally, the café has actually been featured in the Philippine Daily Inquirer lifestyle section last July 2006.
On the menu, you’ll find a lot of choices from rice to vegetables, to soup, to bread and beverages. But remember, all these are plant- (or vegetable) based, (meaning, as their main ingredients) and the only source of protein (or as meat substitute) is tofu (or tokwa as locally known) or the beans and mushrooms.
Written also on the menu is their explanation “why green earth café is the healthy choice!” It goes to say that it uses all natural ingredients and spices, fresh fruits and vegetables, unpolished organic rice, whole wheat flour, homemade sauces, dips and dressings. The breads are egg and dairy free, have no molds killer, synthetic sweetener and dough improver.
In the meantime, the café also offers health seminars, cooking classes. It also sells organic vegetables and rice, homemade tofu, dips, dressings and sauces.
By the way, the vegetables and other natural ingredients are organically grown in their small farm at Carolina, Naga City. Accordingly, even the farming style or system has to be alternative: the Obias couple do not use inorganic fertilizers; the vegetables and plants themselves are grown and cultivated in an intensive multi- and inter-cropping way.
To return to the menu, some interesting entrees are: Iraqi fried rice and Pad Thai rice. There is also lemon grass (locally known as tanglad) tea, and cucumber and lemon juice (which I tried for myself). There are also some pasta choices of Puttanesca and Pesto.
When I asked about one of their specialties, I was offered Buritto special which is (as explained in the menu) curried chickpeas in a bed of lettuce, topped with red rice, tomatoes, peanut and hummus-basil pesto, and then wrapped in homemade tortilla. Well, for me, the experience was worth the try. (As I enter the age of late thirties and going into forties, I think, I should start accommodating this kind of food in my lifestyle. And speaking of lifestyle, living solo in my house really tempts me to avail of these synthetically grown and commercially processed foods that I have mentioned earlier. If there is one avid fan of canned goods, quick and instant noodles, juices, soups and the rest, it is me that you’ll find in the grocery store having all these stuffs in the push cart.)
When I asked Mr. Obias how business is going so far, he readily says it is doing fine except that customers complain of the café’s distance from where most of the food joints are or from where the business districts of the city are located. He is quick to add, however, that if he transfers his café somewhere there, he could not have the same homey and comfy ambiance it has in the subdivision.
By the way, written also on a separate menu are some food and meal choices where orders have to be placed at least a day ahead to give time for the harvesting of the ingredients (from the farm in Carolina) and cooking them in a health-friendly way (which may take some three to four hours)
Green Earth Café’s number is 4755018.
Enjoy vegetarian dining and live a healthy life.