Each year, more people look for more sustainable ways to eat. Driven by a desire to improve their health and by personal conviction, thousands continue to join the vegan movement in Puerto Rico.
The restaurants show it
Over the past 8 years, the number of vegan restaurants in San Juan, its surrounding municipalities and some towns in the west has grown significantly. One of them is Bori Vegan , which opened in 2016 to fill a gap in vegan dining in Santurce. With an initial investment of $150, a family of three joined forces to plant the seed of something new.
"Everything happened at the same time. When I became vegetarian, after a while I switched to being vegan […]. I realized I couldn't find many places to eat, so I turned that issue into the idea of maybe building a long-term business […]. It happened that I didn't have much work, and out of that need to make money, I combined my ideas with those of my daughter and my son," Waleska Rodríguez, the restaurant's co-founder, told Platea from its location in Guaynabo.
Few options in Santurce
At the time, vegan restaurants in Santurce were scarce. Some restaurants offered vegan alternatives to their dishes, but according to Rodríguez, friction was common because of a lack of awareness about vegan food and how to prepare it.
See our guide to vegan restaurants in Puerto Rico
Around the middle of the last decade, however, a vegan boom took hold, and it was on that wave that Rodríguez brought her idea to life in Santurce: no business plan, no formal training, but plenty of inspiration and a $150 starting investment in beans and compostable containers. Those first customers she served in the sun became the engine behind what is now her life's work.
The first vegan festival in Puerto Rico
In that context, Rodríguez and other vegan organizations launched the first vegan festival on the Island: the Puerto Rican Vegan Fest (PRVF), in 2016. Beyond what anyone expected, thousands of visitors came to the Plaza de Recreo de Fajardo, where educational talks ran throughout the day. The growing interest in veganism laid the groundwork for restaurants like Bori Vegan to flourish.
Bori Vegan's first three locations were in Santurce. By 2019 it was operating two, in Santurce and Guaynabo, but operational difficulties led to the closure of the Santurce location, and it now operates exclusively from Guaynabo.
A hometown menu
Today, Bori Vegan offers a menu of Puerto Rican cuisine adapted with vegan recipes, serving breakfast, lunch, coffee, smoothies, desserts and meal prep. Some of its specialties are avocados stuffed with different plant proteins, including grain salad, vegan tuna and sautéed mushrooms, a vegan holiday plate and camionero burritos filled with rice, grain salad and refried beans.
What enriches the experience most is hearing how the food affects her customers' health:
"I have a juice here that we make that is very popular, a pineapple-ginger juice, and many people who suffer from arthritis have told me, 'Since I've been drinking this juice, I feel better, I'm not as inflamed anymore' […]. Knowing that a plate of food is doing good, that's the greatest reward."
The growth of veganism in Puerto Rico
Since 2016, when Waleska started Bori Vegan, the presence of vegan restaurants in Puerto Rico has grown. San Juan and its surrounding towns, along with some towns in the west, are the areas where they are most concentrated.
According to El Vocero, one of the most common vegan brands in local supermarkets, Daiya Foods, saw a 60% increase in sales in 2021. This year, the vegan supermarket V-Market opened in Aguadilla; it had started operating virtually during the pandemic.
Although the PRFV has not been held since 2020, other similar initiatives have emerged to educate people about more sustainable ways of eating. One example is the VegFest Puerto Rico, which will hold its second edition this Saturday, Nov. 18, at the hotel Royal Isabela.
With live music, dozens of vegan restaurants, and a schedule full of educational talks, the event's organizers expect a large turnout.
Those interested in learning more about veganism can get tickets for the event here. Or, if you're left wanting to try a vegan dish, we already have a guide to places with vegan desserts.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
