GARDENING
THE EDIBLE GARDEN By Emma Sousa
I don’t know about you but one of my greatest pleasures in life is food! I’m guessing if you’re reading this wonderful foodie magazine you love food as well, right? I’m also guessing quite a few of you like cooking too. Most of my dishes consist of fresh, whole foods. I rarely eat processed foods because I know that in order to maximise health and wellbeing, both physical and mental, my body needs to be nourished from the inside out! It’s not just about the way you look, it’s also about the way you feel and eating good food is probably one of the most important ways to take care of yourself. Admittedly, it’s not always easy… if you’re a busy working Mum like me having to think of new and exciting dishes every single day of the week can be tough, trying to keep everyone in your household happy. Since becoming fully plant based over three years ago (I was a vegetarian before that), I have experimented with flavours and seasonings to enhance the wonderful array of foods that I cook with. People 58
often say to me ‘but what do you eat?’. Just think about it: there are literally thousands of foods to choose from from fruits and vegetables, to pulses and grains, to tofu and seiten to dozens of varieties of mushrooms from the almost meaty Oyster mushroom to the weird and wonderful Enoki mushroom. There is such a wonderful variety of good and tasty, wholesome foods out there. One thing that has improved since our change in cooking style at home is our herb and spices cupboard. Staples for me include garlic powder, smoked paprika, turmeric, chilli flakes and we also have our fresh herb stores. Fresh herbs are a wonderful way to add flavour to any cuisine, whatever it is you choose to eat. A lot of base foods, including meat, can be pretty bland until you add some sort of seasoning. I’m not talking just salt and pepper, although sometimes that’s all you need, I’m talking fresh basil, rosemary, bay, thyme, parsley, coriander… the list goes on. A lot of these herbs are easy to grow either in the Cibare Magazine
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