Plant Based

By Chef Doris Fin

What is plant-based to you? Boring salad or an exciting smorgasbord? Or perhaps a euphemism for the “v” word? Whatever your idea or definition may be, plant-based doesn’t mean “plant-only” and includes everyone. Before our teeth adapted to eating animal products, we ate plants. Now we eat everything.

The reality is that perceptions of health are shifting thanks to our knowledge about food and its relationship to our bodies and our planet.

Plants, which include cultivated and wild forageable edibles, fungi (e.g. mushrooms), vegetables, fruit, seeds (nuts, oilseeds, legumes, grains), herbs, spices, flowers, sprouts, leaves, roots, and stems, are sensational to the palate, if you give them the chance. The emphasis is on whole, unadulterated plant foods, whether accompanying animal-based dishes, or making up the entire meal, not just garnish. For those seeking meatless options, but still craving the flesh-derived treats, meatless imitations, such as jackfruit “pulled pork” or walnut/lentil “meatballs”, are a popular alternative.

You don’t have to be an enthusiastic food lover with a zest to discover the unknown, the strange and bizarre, or the rare treasures of the sea and land, to have a hunger for culture, tradition and discovering the origins of food and how it’s grown and sourced. Plants, unadulterated, whole and minimally processed, offer an incredible encyclopedia of flavours, along with fibre, nutrients and the antidote to several disease preventions. We’re really just bringing back the traditions and the essentialism of our past eating habits, what was once (and still is) innate, intuitive eating and rebuilding a harmonious connection with nature.

Whether due to the season, availability, lack of knowledge or lack of growing resources, plants have been the go-to for centuries. Until the industrial revolution, animal protein was an opulence, a lavish indulgence that not everyone could afford, especially in the more poverty-stricken, rural areas. So plants were the natural choice that provided astonishing tastes and benefits, from which classic recipes were prepared over generations. Some of these classic “poor man’s” foods are staples across the globe, and one of the fundamental catalysts of North America’s melting pot. Some examples include Israeli hummus and falafel, French ratatouille, Russian borscht, German sauerkraut, Spanish gazpacho served with tortillas, Ethiopian injera served with lots of stews and spiced vegetables, Indian curries, Scottish rumbledethumps, Irish colcannon, English bubble and squeak - the list goes on. With a diet lighter on the meat and dairy, and heavier on the Mediterranean plant foods and good quality fats, such as olive oil, there’s no coincidence that Italians in the south live longer than those in the north.

While proper nonna might roll her eyes and make loads of gestures with her hands, culinary artists and craftspeople continue to entertain, intrigue and entice us with their advanced modern skills and talent. Rather than be intimidated or filled with excuses to avoid cooking one’s own meal, we can gain motivation, inspiration and allow these individuals to guide and encourage us on our journey to more plant-based cooking and eating. Your canvas doesn’t have to mirror theirs. Just use the ingredients that nature provides, while getting to know your growers and providers and experiment with flavours, recipes and various culinary appliances and techniques. Cooking classes in-person and online, and cookbooks, are great options to turn to as well. Whether for the health of ourselves, animals, or for the planet (or for other reasons), there ought to be more excuses to eat more plant-based at every meal, including snacks. There is enough war, separation, hate and dogma in the world. Real, wholesome, sustainably sourced food is the one element of sustenance that we have left to depend on to unite us, in harmony, in peace and for an undenying source of love and nourishment.

When I travel, no matter our differences in everyday decision making, values, or lifestyle choices, sharing a meal (with options for everyone’s taste) is the one thing the locals and I always have in common, which connects us, catalyzes uncomplicated conversation, laughter, and union - usually homemade more often than not and with ingredients grown locally, harvested from their gardens or picked fresh from the local markets. The bonus is gathering the ingredients and/or cooking the meal together, learning new techniques for cooking and choosing the right ingredients. ~