Hello again,
I’m happy to see you here. Thank you for taking interest in my work. My name is RG Enriquez-Diez, the person behind the recipes of this website, Astig Vegan. As mentioned on the homepage, my goal is to prove that Filipino food can be vegan, healthy, and delicious without losing its soul.
The last part may sound bold, even ambitious. After all, most people usually think of Filipino food as notoriously meat-heavy like in adobo, lechon, menudo -you name it, there’s an animal-based product in it. If not void of meat, it will have some bits of tiny shrimp or a hint of fish sauce. It seems there’s no escape from the inevitable. Yet as ludicrous as it may sound to some people, veganizing Filipino food is something I cannot shake off. Because deep down, I firmly believe that it is possible, even delicious, to make something completely plant-based and traditionally Pinoy. But what’s the deal with my passion to preserve its traditional essence?
typical palengke scene in the Philippines
As a Filipino immigrant in the US, I was all about preserving the nostalgia of my childhood. I grew up in Bacoor Cavite, Philippines, until I was 15 years old. Looking back, I think it’s safe to say that no one could have predicted I would give up meat eventually. I loved my tocino too much, and I considered vegetables bland. If someone were to serve me carrots, I would assume that person was mad at me.
My love for (meaty) Filipino food even intensified when we moved to the US. As a teenage Filipino immigrant in a foreign land that I had never visited, let alone lived in, my adjustment period was challenging. So, to cure my homesickness, I relied on my mom’s bowl of sinigang soup or tocino, both always drenched in lard. Every bite reminded me of who I was and where I came from. It reminded me of home.
Sinigang soup
Fast forward to my college years, and I found myself assimilating better. I was more confident to take on new challenges, including my love for theater arts and television broadcasting. But it wasn’t my artistic passions that brought me to veganism. Instead, it was an unassuming nutrition class. The class barely talked about the vegan diet (this was light years ago and people including nutritionists haven’t fully yet recognized its benefits). But every time I learned about what was in my food, I grew fascinated about what I put in my body, and eventually started leaning toward eating more vegetables.
My plunge into going full-on vegan was when I started feeling horrible about eating meat. A strange feeling of repulsion and guilt came over me one random day, and since then, I vowed never to eat meat again –but that didn’t mean to also stop eating Filipino food. Or did it? I felt stuck in a dilemma of having to choose between being vegan and being Filipino. Until I realized that I did not have to choose after all. With the blessing and support from my parents (much to my relief), I learned that dishes like menudo, sisig, even dinuguan could be vegan without losing their soul. Since then, I’ve been on a mission to share this revelation with everyone.
Hence, Astig Vegan was born.
At first, I was sharing recipes as a guest blogger on my friend’s site, tsinayblogspot.com, until she invited me to co-blog with her. Eventually, she decided to give up blogging and gave me her blessing to take over. Because I wasn’t a tsinay or Filipino Chinese, I suggested renaming the website to astigvegan. “Astig” means gutsy and is a Tagalog word to denote something Filipino. The second word is pretty self-explanatory.
My former co-blogger, TJ Basa, and I at a community event.
That was more than ten years ago. And the road to get here led me to exciting opportunities such as speaking and cooking at various vegan festivals including at the San Francisco World Vegan Festival and Vegfest Pilipinas, teaching at different workshops across the US and the Philippines, participating in panel discussions on Filipino food, and appearing on several media outlets both in the US such as Live Kindly, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mic, VegNews, Buzzfeed, and Bon Appetit, and in the Philippines such as CNN Philippines, ABS-CBN, The Beat Manila, and GMA TV.
It also led me back to my homeland, here in the Philippines, with my husband Chris and adopted cat, Luke Skywalker. We went here to further immerse ourselves in what it means to be a Filipino in the Philippines and learn the rich diversity of our cuisine, and share our discoveries with you. We hope you join us in our journey. Please feel free to browse the recipes section or drop us a line to say hi, ask questions, or collaborate with us. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
Feel free to say hello:
(you can also email me at rg@astigvegan.com)