GELATO MANILA: A DELECTABLE CONCOCTION OF PASSION AND COMPASSION

Zarah Manikan has whipped up a new kind of gelato, made with such passion and dedication that she did not settle for the finished product until after she believed she had the yummy concoctions of this Italian version of ice cream, minus much of the fat.

Ever the perfectionist, Zarah, who was the head of R&D of the earliest artisanal gelato shop in the country, pored over books on gelato devouring the minute details and trying out several concoctions until after she had the perfect product. And to prove her point, she had her circle of friend’s savor what she would term homemade gelato.

Birthed during the height of the pandemic, Zarah actually was unwittingly drawn to the business side of gelato after the lockdown enforced in the government’s response to COVID-19: she had to take care of the salaries of the workers. At that time, before the March lockdown, she was doing small batch production for special friends for their businesses. 

“I was not thinking of producing for selling,” she confesses to The Financial District, “but when COVID hit and the demand dropped, we had to think of how we could continue to pay for the salaries of our workers.

Thus, during the ECQ, “we started making our own gelato brand and by ourselves” and she had to marshal her boys in chopping and preparing fruits, gelato bases, churning the gelato and packing. Her husband later delivered to nearby family and friends who supported the business.

“We were able to give salaries and keep the workers, then when GCQ happened and travel was allowed, we were able to open the kitchen and went full steam ahead, “she mused as she tried to find meaning why she was thrust into the business, happy as she is in her passion for cooking.”

“I think, maybe we just continue on things that we are passionate about and one thing leads to another, Zarah, who studied Marketing in school and never dreamed of becoming a gelatera said. And here she opened up on what her passion is all about which defines the way her yummy gelato concoctions resonated from friends and friends of friends.

“Cooking and making food is a passion for me. At the very core I consider myself a home baker, and that is where this journey of mine started. I was already making bread, pastries, desserts, ice cream for my children and family from books I spent countless hours reading, researching and practicing my work on” she said.

"When passion hits you, you really go deep and invest so much of yourself in it. So, it was but natural that when I started doing it as a business - the big adjustment was the "business" side of things, working with professionals and everything from operations manuals, process, marketing, selling, etc." she added.

“My passion for this started early in my 20s but I never thought of becoming a gelatera as my course in college was marketing! I think this career just unfolded in front of me. I never sought it out, but my passion for cooking led me to this.”

Gelato Manila's buzzword is Premium Homemade Gelato and that is because there is that special element of a recipe from mom or lola being handed down to you, Zarah said, as her concoctions have that distinctive taste that an R&D person could whip up to do justice to a an authentic gelato product.

“This is where we will be different, when we come up with our own unique recipes, interpretations and flavors of gelato,” Zarah said, citing her consummate passion to constantly making and experimenting to come up with “our own unique recipes, interpretations and flavors of gelato.”

Lovers of gelato can actually taste the unique concoction of Zarah at the pop up in Greenbelt this weekend and sample her authentic rendition of this Italian version of ice cream that health buffs can savor without being guilty about it.