Madre Planta, a cafeteria that promotes caring for the environment and oneself

Luisa Mantilla Vargas recounts that Raíces started five years ago at fairs and little by little, seeing the positive impact on its customers and how more and more people began to be interested in not generating waste with their purchases, the first physical store was born in San Borja. . Some time later, they looked for a larger space to continue sharing well-being in every way. This is how they arrived at La Paz avenue, in Miraflores. Where against everything– and a pandemic– they opened with more organic products.

“Believe me that people are much more aware, and the pandemic helped a lot; because people, as they began to do ‘home office’, began to take sustainable habits such as making eco-bricks, composting”, says Luisa.

The co-founder narrates that the Raíces community is very “pretty”. They are very grateful to her. “The community that follows us has always given us a hand, even at the strongest moment, for example, in the pandemic, when we had to sell by delivery and we thought: will they buy us? We have never had delivery. and they did”, he comments.

Raíces has everything in bulk. From personal care products to ingredients to make a vegan dessert. You can buy from 5 grams of a product to kilos. What you need, when you need it. This with the intention of not buying more and not generating waste; or worse still throw away food. You can bring your own glass container or your taper to place what you need directly. If you can’t, they will give you what you ask for in a glass bottle or in a paper bag, but always with the intention of composting, reusing or recycling.

mother plant

Luisa Mantilla changed her diet and lifestyle. She is a vegetarian and committed to the environment, and one day she realized that many clients asked to buy ready-made desserts and sandwiches, instead of supplies to make them at home. So she decided to create Madre Planta, a 100% plant-based space that she continues with her philosophy and that provides her diners with a healthy diet that does not put environmental care at risk. In this project, she is joined by her boyfriend and –now– partner Rodrigo Luna, who came up with new ideas.

“The sustainable store is Raíces, a sustainable market, and our new brand –let’s call it son– is Madre planta. And it was born as a result of the pandemic because customers asked us for ready-made food. I don’t want to buy the oatmeal, I want to buy the oatmeal cookie because I don’t have time or I don’t want to make a dessert. I want to buy it already made”, remembers Luisa.

“We like the name of Mother Plant a lot because it comes from Mother Nature, from Pachamama; and we wanted to depict a young mother, together with all the elements that give life, such as air, light, sun, earth and animals”narrates about the choice of name.

Most of Madre Planta’s desserts are sweetened with stevia, because for Rodrigo, Carla and Luisa it is very important that their desserts can be suitable for diabetics, a public that does not have many safe options in Lima. You will also find some desserts sweetened with organic panela.

Rodrigo explains that it is important for them that diners enjoy what they order, which is why they have focused on making everything delicious, but using good ingredients. “We want them to think that ‘I’m going to buy a rich empanada, but it’s also healthy’. Many are neither vegan nor vegetarian and probably not even looking to be healthy, but once they try it they love it“, Add.

The letter

If you are looking for something light but delicious, you can opt for their vegan empanadas. You will find three flavors: soy meat, vegetables or tofu. You can also opt for their chapla bread with avocado or something fresher like a satisfying fruit salad or a hearty parfait, made with soy yogurt, with organic black chia, fresh pineapple, and accompanied by vegan granola.

For lunch, you can order the Tropical Freshness Salad, which includes juicy mango, strawberries, avocado and purple onion, accompanied by mini burgers and nachos, with mango mayonnaise; or the Madre Planta sandwich, which has lettuce, tomato, zucchini, cucumber, avocado paste and pepper on sourdough bread. They also have a gluten-free pizza, made with cassava flour, accompanied with vegan mozzarella, mushrooms, thin strips of white onion, cherry tomato, purple and green olives, basil, and olive oil.

As for the desserts, they have a choice between gluten-free desserts or those made with wheat flour. Some recommendations are: Mini Lamington, Mini Cookie-Brownie, Red Fruit Cheesecake, Vegan Chocman, Apple Crumble and Chocoalfajor. To accompany it you can order any of their house kombuchas, which have the perfect acidity and sweetness. Now that you know a new ‘point’ in Miraflores, be sure to try 100% plant-based food that takes care of the environment. Advantage.