Local and authentic: Conversation with Biljana Milosevski from the Skopje vegan restaurant "Paradise food"

paradise food
Paradise food / Photo: Free Press / Printscreen / Instagram

In June, we asked followers on our official Instagram account @slobodenpecat to share with us small, authentic local businesses that deserve visibility and are unable to budget for advertising. We set only one condition: the followers to have a personal positive experience with the proposal they will share. Thus, through today's conversation we introduce you to Biljana Milosevski from the Skopje vegan restaurant "Paradise food", the manager of this small business that has been proposed several times.

"Paradise foodOr "Paradise Food" is a vegan restaurant in Skopje opened by great enthusiasts, whose goal was undoubtedly to improve general health and quality of life with their healthy meals.

We visited the restaurant and realized that this place, among the large selection of healthy food, has its own production and processing of food of plant origin. This restaurant offers a variety of delicacies every day - Asian, Mediterranean, Mexican, Russian, Eastern and European cuisine. Among other things, they produce their own vegan sausages, tofu, seed and nut butter, as well as unleavened bread.

 

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A post shared by Paradise Food (@paradisefoodskopje)

The news that this vegan restaurant is facing a financial crisis and will close its doors to its customers on July 1, 2022, made us go and talk to the team.

Biljana Milosevski comes from Serbia, she is married to a Macedonian and has lived in Macedonia for almost 10 years. When we asked her what her role was in the restaurant, she smiled and replied: "I am the manager of this place, the Bible says that whoever runs it cares, well, that's me… I take full care of this place, "I also work in the sales department."

paradise food
Paradise food / Photo: Free Press

When we asked her how their story about this small business started, Biljana answered with a smile and sad eyes: “We are just big enthusiasts. We have existed since March last year. Already in April, unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, we had to close the restaurant. "Well, until June or July we were blocked because of the restrictions, the certificates… But we came back again."

That it is very useful for many people that there is such a place in Skopje, speaks the fact that after the news of the closure was announced, many people on social networks have committed to help and do everything to convince them of the idea.

"What thrilled me when we said we were closing the restaurant is that people just don't come to terms with the fact that we probably won't exist. People do not allow us to close. These days we are in negotiations what and how to do next, all options are being considered for a new location, a smaller restaurant… People offer us all sorts of alternative solutions, just to continue our work. But it is not known yet. "Maybe we will be able to convince the owner of the restaurant to reduce our rent… We really built this restaurant with great love," she said.

paradise food
Paradise food / Photo: Free Press

But, regardless of everything - it is a fact that undoubtedly make a difference in the lifestyle of many people striving for healthy food.

"A lot of people are happy with the food, the thing is that people are aware that we are not a business, we do this out of love. We held lectures in several places in Macedonia, we offered tasting and education for healthy food. People were thrilled with the idea. But it simply failed, the pandemic did its thing. Everything we do, we do with a lot of love, this is not just a business, we did not even think about profit, but to be at some "positive zero"…

We are facing an increase in the prices of almost all groceries, electricity, cooking oil. They do not use margarine and palm oil, but olive oil.

 

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A post shared by Paradise Food (@paradisefoodskopje)

Besides the financial challenges, Biljana says that something that is especially important, and they underestimated it, is the good marketing and recommends that more attention be paid to that segment.

"We try to prepare vegan food in the healthiest way possible. We have kept the same prices for a year, recently we have slightly increased them only on certain dishes and we do not want healthy food to be a privilege of the rich, we want it to be available to everyone. "That was our idea," Milosevski said.

 

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A post shared by Paradise Food (@paradisefoodskopje)

It is interesting to note that the same restaurants have existed for several years in Montenegro, Budva and Podgorica. The owner of the restaurants is a man named Aleksandar, who comes from Ukraine and Montenegro, but lives and works in Montenegro.

"However, Macedonia is more accessible for fruits and vegetables, that greatly facilitated the whole thing. We did not want to get rich, we just wanted to cover the costs. "We had the idea to hold trainings and lectures in our restaurant, to educate the population about healthy food, to include kindergartens in order to improve the nutrition of children," added Biljana.

paradise food
Paradise food / Photo: Free Press

We asked Biljana how the idea for this restaurant was born.

"The owners are vegan, they eat that way and they wanted to do something for the people here, for a healthier lifestyle. I was a vegetarian for 13 years, then vegan, then I went back to semi-vegetarian food and my whole life like that. "It's my way of life," she said.

paradise food
Paradise food / Photo: Free Press

Biljana revealed that this food offers a feeling of lightness, so we asked her if she recommends children to eat vegetarian or vegan food.

"Yes, I know children who have never tasted meat. Our owner just got his fifth child, all his children are vegan. Everything is fine with them. People make the mistake of switching to vegan food without any prior knowledge. "It is important to know that we need all the essential nutrients, and that is possible only with a good combination of foods, but, above all, the most important thing is to be moderate in everything," she said.

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