The Veggie Kingdom, rastavegan in El Cangrejo

It used to be that Panama City had Mireya's, a few stands specializing in fruit concoctions and a lot of restaurants that had some meatless items on the menu to serve those of us of the vegetarian persuasion or just in that sort of mood at any given moment. With the boom of recent years that has brought us more foreign tourists and residents, the number and styles of vegetarian restaurants have multiplied.

One of the new places, about two years old, is Rastafarian in management, decor, philosophy and music. The Veggie Kingdom, on Calle D in Cangrejo (the side street that hits Via Veneto at the corner where you find Manolo's) is not just meatless, but vegan. No animal products, no sugar added.

Have you made the acquaintance of those who have adopted the vegan diet as an ideological statement, stepping out of the American meat and potatoes mainstream into brown rice and vegetables blandness? Well, this old hippie can make the brown rice and veggies with a zing, and if you open your eyes and treat your taste buds to world cuisine, you will realize that every day billions of people eat meatless meals as a matter of culture, economics or religion and it's far from a matter of variations on tasteless gruel.

The Veggie Kingdom does it with a special zing, too. I expected something Jamaican or Ethiopian from a rasta eatery, and as they change their selections on the chafing table every day they may from time to time offer that. This time, however, they had brown rice, a half-dozen variations on tofu, baked plantains and vegetable soup, plus a selection of beverages. No curried fruit, no jerk veggies, no split peas to be eaten with strips of injera, nothing with berbera sauce --- not this time, anyway. (They have no printed menu, and change the selection every day, so there is the distinct possiblity that you might walk in one lunchtime and find one of Peter Tosh's or Rastafari's favorite dishes on the menu.)

The stereotypes that didn't pan out did not, however, add up to disappointment. For my lunch I had some brown rice with flecks of green onion, barbecued tofu, curried tofu and vegetables, baked plantain and watermelon juice. The barbecue sauce and curry were modestly spicy well short of flaming. The brown rice was fluffy rather than sticky, chewable rather than chewy. The watermelon juice was and is excuse enough to visit this place on a hot day.

Dem irie, mon!

This reviewer --- and no doubt the Rastafarian jury --- returns an irie verdict and paid a reasonable six bucks and change for the pleasure.

You don't actually have to believe in the divinity of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I. You don't even have to embrace the vegan lifestyle. It helps to like reggae music, which is played at a tastefully low volume so as to enhance the ambience rather than dominate the space. You will, however, have to get there under your own power or with the assistance of others, as steps keep the Veggie Kingdom beyond access in a wheelchair.

Get there however you have to. The Veggie Kingdom is on the short list of places to go when you want to eat light and healthy and still treat your taste buds.

dining