Mandeville, Manchester — Any entrepreneur would be pleased.

Just nine months in, Yahya El, proprietior of Mandeville-based raw or ‘live’ food business Fancy Fruits, says there is a growing customer base.

However, encouraging though that is, he says the focus of his venture, which came about because of his own “spiritual awakening” is more than to swiftly make a profit.

El, who was named Marcus St John Reece at birth, told the Observer Central that he has been a vegetarian for over 14 years.

His name change and his transformation to a’fruitarian’ (eating only fruits, vegetables and nuts) and using the dehydration method in preparing meals, as opposed to cooking, followed a visit to the Sun Pyramid during a vacation in Mexico in 2006.

“Something just (came) alive in me,” he said of the impact of the trip to Mexico. He told how ideas started coming to him and he developed a different outlook on life.

“It wasn’t about material (things) anymore. It was just really caring about humans (and) how mi can contribute,” said El.

Fancy Fruits, described as a “health-staurant”, is the platform from which he now strives to make that contribution.

At Fancy Fruits, customers can get a range of natural and uncooked meal items including roots tonics, burgers, pizzas, yatties (patties), live hookies (cookies) and requests can be made for fruit arrangements in baskets and bouquets to be done as gift ideas.

Also available are items, described by El as colon cleansers, blood purifiers, cancer and high blood pressure remedies.

For customers interested in having meals done based on their blood type he said that service is offered.

On a recent visit to Fancy Fruits location on 33 Ward Avenue in Mandeville, El was in the process of making a Chikungunya (ChikV) remedy for a client using the herbs astragalus, neem and cat’s claw. He later claimed his mix had proven effective.

“Mother Nature give us everything,” he said. “What’s killing us as a people is that we want everything done fast. This whole establishment is not about fast and it’s not about mass production. It’s about sacredness, it’s about quality, substance,” El told the Observer Central.

El said that some of the items that are served at Fancy Fruits can take up to 12 hours in the preparation to “wake up the enzymes and minerals” and that often keeps him busy after the business is closed to the public.

Including himself, El said there are four full-time workers in the business. In addition to preparing meals and juices he is constantly reading and researching to find additional ways to meet the needs of customers.

He said that fruits and vegetables such as carrots, bananas, plantains, naseberries, sweet peppers, sorrel and cucumbers are sometimes sourced from a farm that he operates in Mandeville and another in North West Manchester.

Papaya, zucchini, ackee, coconut, watermelon, pineapple, mango, lime, jackfruit, lemon, soursop, escallion, basil and turmeric are among the items converted into interesting healthy drinks and dishes on a daily basis.

Waste from the business goes back to nurturing the farm in Mandeville, he said.

El said he also gets some of the herbs that he uses in Kingston and from the United States where he lived prior to starting the business in Jamaica.

Among his clients are students who not only purchase his creations but ask for related advice. That search for knowledge he describes as encouraging.

While everyone will not practise a similar diet to him, he believes that everybody can take steps to eat in a healthier manner.

According to him, he is not daunted by competition as he wants to see more of the kind of business in which he is engaged.

“In every way we can get it (health message) out there, we going to get it out there. If your food is your medicine you are constantly healing yourself. Eat to live, not to die,” he said.