Holy Plants is a vegan fast food restaurant in the Miraflores district in Peru’s capital, Lima. The eatery’s concept is based on whole-food and health-conscious meals, offering customers an alternative to traditional fast food. Its unique menu includes recipes made with vegetables, legumes, seeds, cereals, and nuts without refined ingredients.
Nicolas Pereira, the founder of Holy Plants, noticed that the fast food market didn’t have healthy vegan options and decided to create a restaurant where “speed and nutrition” converged; a place where fast food was not synonymous with low nutritional value, he told El Comercio.
Holy Plant’s vision emerged when Pereira, a vegan himself, decided to learn more about plant-based diet and its benefits, taking a course on nutrition at Cornell University. “It was there that the theme of Holy Plants arose, with a real focus on nutritional value and environmental awareness,” he said.
More than vegan
The restaurant opened in mid-2021 with a menu created in close collaboration with a nutritionist specializing in plant-based foods. Its dishes are not only vegan but high in proteins and other important nutrients.
Holy Plants’ menu highlights each dish’s protein and other nutritional benefits. For example, hamburgers have over 13g of vegetable protein, while pasta dishes have around 25g. Its cauliflower wings, battered with chipped flour, are also a good source of macronutrients. Other plates, such as salads and healthy beverages, also indicate their antioxidants and vitamin content.
Furthermore, at this vegan and healthy fast food restaurant, all the plates, cutlery, and packaging are biodegradable and compostable to be in “correct harmony with the environment.”
The first to serve Beyond Burger
As in many fast food stores, hamburgers are the protagonist of the menu. Holy Plants features six whole-food burger varieties served with different bread buns: sesame or whole wheat with sunflower seeds.
Holy Plants, which claims to be the first vegan restaurant in Lima to serve Beyond Meat, offers customers looking for “other experience” the option to swap its vegan patties for the famous plant-based burger. Holy salad, combining Andean grains, lentils, and chickpeas; and Miraflowers salad — avocado, tomato, mango, and cashews, served with sweet and sour teriyaki sauce — are available as burger sides.
Aside from burgers, the healthy menu encompasses snacks like pita chips, cauliflower wings, burritos, and various pasta dishes (mac and cheese, bolognese and chestnut pesto) using pasta alternatives to semolina durum such as whole wheat or quinoa. It also features a special menu for children and healthy desserts, including Lucuma (a highly valued local fruit) ice cream with brownies and different flavors of wholesome cereal bars.
“We are a plant-based conscious food company that uses inputs with high nutritional value generating great health benefits in addition to being sustainable with the world. From day one, we have worked tirelessly generating responsible gastronomy with the purpose of offering creative dishes that will make you feel good after eating; this recognition fills us with joy,” says Holy Plants on its social media.
The Holy Plants menu is available for delivery across the city.
