“An allergic food reaction can be life-threatening,” says Leonnie Merinsca who, four years ago, with husband Fajar Jasmin Sugandhi founded Beyond Treats, purveyor of safe snacks for people with food allergies.

The life-threatening issue arised during dinner when Fajar and Leonnie invited friends to their residence in North Jakarta to introduce Beyond Meals, the couple’s new venture. It is a subscription-based safe food service offering gluten-free dairy-free, and egg-free meals cook in a gluten-free kitchen.

Food allergy, as defined by the Mayo Clinic, is an immune system reaction that occurs soon after eating a certain food. Even a tiny amount of the allergenic food can trigger signs and symptoms such as digestive problems, hives or swollen airways. In some people, a food allergy can cause severe symptoms or even a life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis.

There is certainly a huge market for allergy-free products as even back in 2013 we already had a blog post on the Vegetarian, Vegan, Allergy & Free From Show in London.  

What interested me most, however, was what Leonnie and Fajar kept saying during dinner about not compromising taste, as allergy-free food is known for its unusual flavor.

Dinner was really special with culinary connoisseurs in attendance, including Sri Murwati, creator of Mamadii Cupcakes, Glenn Marsalim of Nasi I. Am, Suzy Hutomo CEO of The Body Shop Indonesia, and Yoesi Ariyani, a certified plant-based practitioner. We were invited to review a table full of colorful and mouthwatering dishes such as quinoa tofu with arugula, minced beef on lemongrass stalk, sweet carrot soup, steamed fish with tamari sauce, curried string beans with onions and tomatoes, silk tofu with avocado, and creamy chocolate cup cakes as the finale.

Although we threw in our two cents’ worth on the food ingredients, flavor combination, texture and taste, no words were necessary as all of us casually had second and third helpings of the delightful dishes.

Beyond Meals catered its food on a daily meal basis for a one-day, two-week or monthly-packages. Customers get two main dishes plus one side dish, delivered before lunch time. All the dishes contain no gluten, no dairy, no egg, low or no sugar at all, and free of MSG and other artificial flavor enhancers.

Through the pleasant conversation during Beyond Meals dinner I learned that as a certified plant-based practitioner, Yoesi Ariyani regularly holds classes at her home in South Jakarta. Information on her programs is available through Feed with Love.  

Basically, plant-based diet focuses on whole or minimally processed plants such as nuts, legumes, vegetables, fruits, whole grains and seeds while avoiding animal-derived foods.

According to the American Heart Association, many studies have shown that vegetarians seem to have a lower risk of obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and some forms of cancer.

Yoesi who is professionally certified in plant-based culinary arts, has explored the techniques of cooking vegetables, grains, legumes, meat and dairy alternatives and practiced a variety of recipes and flavors from around the world including menus that target specific health concerns.

Her previous class covered the basics of eating greens where participants learn how to prepare non-dairy milk, coconut yogurt, smoothies, green juice, and healthy salad. There was also a class for plant-based basic cooking such as making fresh vegetable bullion and how to cook it with other dishes, and raw and baked plant-based vegan dessert.

I was incredibly lucky as one week after the Beyond Meals dinner there was a class on Healthy Snack for Eid Mubarak. In the middle of the fasting month people are getting ready to prepare snacks for Eid when friends and families will visit each other and sometimes eat to their hearts’ content.

Yoesi showed us how to make healthy snacks through vegan baking that she said is not as complicated as contemporary baking. She also talked about what equipment is required in the kitchen and how each ingredient plays its role in the food as well as in our health.

There were 14 of us who attentively watched her demonstrating how to make chickpea flour chocolate chip cookies, pineapple carrot vegan muffins, and curried cashews pepita crunch.

An elegant recipe book and a bag full of vegan goodies are takeaways for our journey to plant-based life.

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In one week I have learned a lot from Leonnie, Fajar, and Yoesi, and hope to meet many more of Jakarta’s safe & healthy food crusaders. Please drop us a line at info[at]omarniode.org if you know any healthy food champion that we could contact.

Text: Amanda Niode

Images: Omar Niode Foundation. Cover: Nadezhda Andriiakhina/123rf.