When Juana Manahan-Yupangco was a child, she would sometimes cook dishes for her father, the famous director and talent manager Johnny Manahan. At nine years old, Manahan-Yupangco was already developing a love for the culinary arts—one that she would later apply in creating Mesa Ni Misis, an online web platform, and now also a cookbook, that celebrates plant-based dishes and healthy living.

But the impetus for Mesa Ni Misis came much more recently, when her husband Rick was diagnosed with high cholesterol. That’s when Manahan-Yupangco, who had already been cooking for her household, decided to make a change in her family’s diet. By gradually transitioning to plant-based dishes, removing meat, then dairy and eggs, she discovered all the associated health benefits, and the joy of cooking plant-based.

She has since decided to share that joy with others through Mesa Ni Misis, which functions as a blog and as an all-around platform that advocates for healthier eating. Manahan-Yupangco has also published a recipe book of the same name. Today, the organisation also works with different communities and creates programs that make healthy eating more affordable and accessible to Filipinos.