Argentina’s export Mila Arena is not your typical entrepreneur. She rejects plans and budgets and, instead, runs V on Wheels – the first vegan delivery business in New Zealand – just the way she manages her own nutrition: intuitively and emotionally.
Words: Kseniia Spodyneiko
Images: Alex Spodyneiko
Hair And Makeup: Laura Lemos
Style: Dominique Rojo Vivot
An interview at a randomly chosen cafe in Downtown Tauranga turns into a spontaneous social gathering as soon as Mila enters. People peacefully brunching are suddenly waving their hellos, hugging and exchanging news with the newcomer.
Bringing smiles and making friends wherever she goes comes naturally to Mila. She grew up in Mendoza – a vibrant, lively city in Argentina, known for its sunny climate, great wine and world-class restaurants, and where friends are family and BBQs and parties are just as much a part of daily life as brushing your teeth.
“Our door was always open; we always had guests,” remembers Mila. “Mi casa es su casa, as we say – my house is your house.”
And, of course, good hosts will never let their guests leave without a week’s worth of food in their bellies. South American cuisine relies heavily on meat dishes. Some of the dishes always available at Mila’s family house were Milanesa (fried beef in breadcrumbs) and empanadas (pastry turnover filled with beef). Whatever the dish, it was always cooked from scratch and usually accompanied by maté – a traditional South American caffeine-rich tea.
Now vegan for five years (and vegetarian for ten), Mila laughs: “I can’t believe how different my upbringing was from how I eat now. It was very traditional, or, I guess you could say, ‘old-fashioned’. A dinner without meat? That was never an option!”
Mila might not share her vegan lifestyle with her family but the joy of cooking and eating delicious meals is something they’ll always have in common.
“I’m aware that chicken breast with steamed broccoli might be lower in calories than my pumpkin lasagne, but can you really enjoy it? At some stage, we lost the joy of food in favour of its healthiness. That’s not how I roll. I don’t use the health meter. Yes, a balanced diet can be the best medicine. It can energise us or help us sleep better. It can have all sorts of benefits. But in my opinion, food’s main goal is to bring us happiness!”
HEALTH SCARE AND THE ROAD TO NEW ZEALAND
As we talk about Argentina, it’s obvious Mila has warm memories about her home country. What made her move to New Zealand? “I think that travel gene was always inside me, sleeping, waiting. It just wasn’t something people around me did. Gap year, full-time traveling – it was a relatively new thing for that time.”
It wasn’t until her first serious relationship that the ideas started to float. Both graphic designers, Mila and her partner at that time could easily explore the world while working remotely. They had their eye on Australia and everything looked peachy: “We started learning English, preparing the documents for our visas. We even decided to get married! It was such an easy decision – somewhere between breakfast and lunch, one of us said, ‘listen, we’re going abroad, why don’t we get married and throw a big farewell party for our families and friends?’”
However, the Universe had other plans for the happy young woman with big dreams.
“I was 25 and I thought it was just another routine check with my gynaecologist.” Mila suddenly straightens up and the ever-present smile slips off her face. “My doctor wasn’t very sensitive or caring towards me. She just said, ‘They’ve found some abnormal cells. I’ll refer you to a surgery because you’ve got cancer’, like it was nothing. I was in shock. I just went home and cried myself to sleep. I thought I was going to die.”
As it turned out, it wasn’t cancer but precancerous cervical cells, which can lead to cancer if left untreated.
The next three years became the most challenging in her life. “I was in a constant state of panic and anxiety. I can’t even describe the emotional and psychological damage of signing the pre-surgery papers that state the hospital is not responsible for the possibility of infertility or other consequenses that might be caused by the surgery.”
Unfortunately, the abnormal cells returned a year after the first surgery. “And the only solution they could offer me was another surgery. And then possibly another one. And so on, until they would have to remove the organs entirely.”
Ongoing health issues made Mila think about the true purpose of her life. She realised she wasn’t living the way she really wanted. “This time I was better prepared mentally. I said to myself: there must be another way! Instead of following everyone’s instructions that lead me nowhere, I started doing things that felt good, something of my own choice.”
She wanted to travel, wanted to follow her passion and desires. She called off the wedding two weeks before the date “Everything was already paid for. I had a beautiful dress waiting for me. My aunties and grannies, who live 10 hours away from Mendoza, had their suitcases packed and tickets at the ready. It was hard. I felt disappointed in myself because I had really hurt someone I loved.”
For the next two years, Mila ventured on her own journey to health: “Healers, propolis, breathing techniques, jumping on one leg, saying hello to the moon every morning – you name it, I tried it!” She even moved out of home – to a hippy community in South Argentina where she could surround herself with nature and people more connected with their soul and intuition.
There, Mila turned to intuitive eating – consuming food only when she was hungry and only the foods her body really wanted. She quickly realised meat was now rarely on her plate, though she was still a long way off making a conscious decision to become vegan.
She read a lot of books about the human body – how it reacts to what we eat, our physical activities, the kind of people we communicate with. “I was so excited; the reason behind my illness was finally making sense. Nutrition became
a really important part of my life. You can see why, after this experience, I have such a strong passion for clean, nurturing food!”
Somewhere along that journey, Mila heard from a friend that a trip to New Zealand literally reset her life. “I want that!” was her first thought. So, she applied for a work holiday visa and boarded the plane. “I had no idea what New Zealand looked like, just that it had two main islands. But that’s me in a nutshell – being spontaneous, never prepared, acting without a plan. Just doing it!”
She stayed in Auckland for one night and then moved to Tauranga. And while she was travelling around, getting to know the beautiful country, Tauranga remained the base she would always return to. That was nine years ago and Mila has never regretted her choice.
She also continued to explore various healing techniques and learn more about the vegan lifestyle and its health benefits. Seven years ago she finally got the all clear on her condition and not even once have any abnormal cells made themselves known again.
V ON WHEELS IS BORN
It seems that all the groundbreaking events in Mila’s life have led, in some way, to her launching V on Wheels. The health scare opened up the world of veganism to her, a chat with a friend planted the seed of moving to New Zealand.
And it wasn’t until she broke up with her Kiwi-German boyfriend that she finally found the courage to turn her life-long passion for food and cooking into a business. “I believe that sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to start climbing back up. I was a vegetarian, cooking chicken and bacon as a chef. My relationships weren’t working as well… so, I collected what little money I had and went to Bali in the hope of reconnecting with myself and my purpose.”
There she met Javiera Correa – a life coach who pointed out the career opportunity Mila wasn’t brave enough to acknowledge herself. “I had thought of something like this before. At the restaurant where I was working, my colleague’s partner was cooking pasta at home and selling it to local restaurants. That ignited something in me but my colleague discouraged me, saying the money was really bad and I wouldn’t be able to do it without a second job. So, I forgot about the idea of running a business from my own kitchen until I met Javiera. Lesson learned – if you really want something, never let the doubts of others scare you away!”
The trip left Mila with $300 in her bank account and tonnes of new-found enthusiasm. “It was time to do things my way once again!”
She moved in with her friend Pocha and started cooking for her flatmates and friends. Before long, people outside her social circle started buying meals as well. “It was just 1-2 meals per week but that was all I needed. That gave me the courage, the motivation to do what I was always supposed to do.”
Her graphic design experience came in really handy as well – she created her own logo, website, Facebook page and packaging.
“I always thought that you couldn’t start a business without a loan and thousands of dollars… But all I really needed was to believe in myself and get a licence from the Council. I had no plans, no budgets or deadlines. My only mission was to start and see how it goes.”
The most interesting part of her growth was the constant stripping of all the extras and nasties in her meals. The motto of V on Wheels is ‘Clean food – cleaner conscience’ and it took a while to get there.
“Just like everything in my life, V on Wheels changed organically alongside me. I was vegetarian when I started it, so I was cooking without meat. I then became vegan and so did V on Wheels. Then I started incorporating the sustainable aspect – getting rid of plastic packaging. We were no longer polluting the environment, but I felt we were still polluting bodies, so I ditched all the processed ingredients – anything that comes in a jar. Instead of using a store-bought curry paste, with ten lines of ingredients I can’t even pronounce, for example, I started making my own. The same goes for broths, and so on.”
But the most unusual change happened when Mila received an email from a doctor who was following her online. She explained that the oil Mila was using in her recipes was also a processed ingredient. Ever curious about everything health related, Mila explored the topic and came to a decision to go oil free. “I can easily cook with a broth, or even water, and the taste will be the same! Simply reducing, or avoiding, something of little importance added extra value to what I do.”
Oil-free meals are not something you often see, so Mila didn’t expect the huge number of grateful messages she received from people with allergies and intolerances.
Today the colourful packs of V on Wheels’ paella, lasagne and curry can be found in numerous health stores and her website offers nationwide delivery, but the woman behind the brand is still questioning her business decisions:
“Sometimes I ask myself why it took so long to get where I am now. But I realise I operate intuitively rather than on a ‘profit and loss’ model – when I no longer have time to deliver every order myself, I hire a delivery company; when my back hurts from too much cooking, I hire another chef. I make my current system last until I can’t postpone the change any longer. Maybe if I was a numbers person my business would’ve been much bigger by now, but I have to remind myself how much I grew in the process, and I did it while being happy and excited. Who cares about the what-ifs? This is my reality and I love it!”
Mila is never shy talking about her own doubts or mistakes if that can give at least one other person the courage to turn their own passion into a business despite the lack of knowledge or money.
She is that kind of human being who always puts others before herself. “If someone really likes my cooking but can’t pay for it right now, or lives too far away and can’t pick it up – I always try to help!” She also supports Tauranga charity Under the Stars, which feeds homeless people.