Nutrition
PLANT PROTEIN HEROES Our new Dietitian Andrea Rymer explores this key nutrient and provides a proteinpacked recipe
Hi there! I’m Andrea, a Registered Dietitian who recently joined The Vegan Society team. I have been vegan for seven years, and I’ve worked as a Dietitian for six years in a variety of settings including community, acute and catering departments. Prior to this, I worked for a long time in a professional kitchen at a busy hotel feeding hundreds of guests. At the age of 23 I chose to study dietetics to combine my loves of food, cooking and nutrition. I hope to bring this passion through my work with The Vegan Society, providing easy and healthy vegan recipes for all.
The protein question I hope we are all past the point of asking where vegans get their protein from. It is well known that plant proteins exist – however, when it comes to the food industry and chef recipe development, it seems like this nutrient can often fall off the radar. Typical non-vegan restaurant style dishes welcome meat as the superhero on the plate, with a small portion of colourful veg as its inferior sidekick. Some common vegan food swaps are banana blossom used as a fishy replacement, or jackfruit used as a trendy, aesthetically pleasing pulled pork alternative, however both are low in protein. Familiarity, flavour and presentation might well be further up the list of priorities than nutritional balance when it comes to some vegan recipe development.
An essential nutrient Protein is essential for growth and repair and acts as a
structural component for muscles and bones, while also carrying oxygen to cells and helping our bodies fight infection. Proteins are made up of building blocks called amino acids, and some of these are essential, meaning we must consume them in our foods. Eating a combination of plant proteins such as beans, nuts, seeds, lentils, grains, mycoproteins (Quorn) and soya means you will get the essential amino acids your body needs. Foods containing adequate protein are also often a good source of other vitamins and minerals such as iron and zinc, which again will all play a role in helping our bodies to function correctly. Although it’s not difficult to obtain protein from plants, some people (particularly if new to veganism) could experience fatigue if they are missing out on their usual protein fix. This risks giving a misconception that veganism will leave you hungry and tired, which of course is not sustainable – or true! If you hadn’t already gathered, low protein ‘veganised’ food products and dishes are one of my pet peeves – but how can we make this better for all of us?
Eating out I write this as lockdown is being eased in the UK. I’m sure that many of us are excited to return to restaurants when it is safe to do so. We have come a long way from having to order a side of chips and salad when eating out, but if today’s vegan menu
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