April 28, 2021

🍓 Eat More Plants: Issue #32

Hello! Long time, no chat.

The past couple of months have gone by in a blur, as I've been busy launching projects, spending more time outside (my peas are coming up!), ordering fiddleheads and greenhouse strawberries from Muddy Crops and avoiding thinking too hard about the Situation out there.

One of these projects is a new endeavour a friend and I have started called Rewilding Magazine. If you're interested in stories of environmental restoration, please click through and subscribe. Most recently, I interviewed Limbi Blessing Tata, a conservationist in Cameroon who's reforesting local water catchments.

And on the Tavanberg side, a huge client project just went live: Goodside, an app created by RBC Ventures that's aimed at helping you measure, reduce and offset your carbon emissions. I worked with a crack team of writers, editors and fact-checkers to create the general website copy as well as ebooks and blog content (which we're continuing to refresh). Relevant to this newsletter: stories on plant-based eating, food waste and climate change, food and climate change, and how to freestyle a soup recipe using what's left in your fridge.

Speaking of climate change

If you're online too much like me, you may have noticed a furore going on about beef. To sum it up, some people have gotten riled up about an imaginary claim that Biden is going to restrict their meat consumption. Climate journalist Emily Atkin has a good overview of the issue in her newsletter Heated, warning us to "prepare for meat war". (She also recently called for progressives to "stop meatposting".) And Elamin Abdelmahmoud's Twitter post today really says it all.

One of the biggest moments was when Epicurious showed up to announce they were no longer going to create or promote recipes using beef. (Turns out they had been quietly been doing so for a year already.)

A thing that Atkin and Epicurious and I all have in common is that we are not evangelizing for everyone to stop eating meat entirely and forever. But, it is an indisputable fact that animal agriculture is hugely resource-intensive and a massive contributor to deforestation, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. There simply isn't enough space out there for us to eat as many animal products as the average North American does right now. (If you're into podcasts, this episode of How to Save a Planet lays it all out.)

Which brings me to a reiteration of the point of this newsletter: I don't believe you can shift diets and habits by willpower alone. Personally, I may not have eaten meat since the '90s, but if I think too hard about giving up cheese, it only makes me want it more. Instead, I try to focus on things that just happen to lack dairy: currently, I'm hooked on matcha lattes and hot cocoa (both excellent with almond or soy milk) to distract myself from the draw of black tea (which I drink with dairy milk or not at all). In short, the title here is Eat More Plants, not Eat Less Meat. I'm interested to hear what you think.

But you came here for dinner ideas, right?

The idea of adding baking soda while cooking dried beans wasn't exactly new to me, but for some reason I had never made it a regular thing, though I cook beans all the time. But then the latest issue of Chatelaine included it in their bean guide, and then I made this Ottolenghi recipe (of course, right?) that produced the most tender chickpeas I have ever had, and I am absolutely a convert.

The recipe is Buttery parmesan-braised chickpeas, and they are absolutely not vegan, though if you were feeling creative you could veganize them. They're mostly oven-baked, which makes them more hands-off than stovetop beans, and also that you need to make them before it gets too hot out to turn the oven on. The recipe includes a ton of butter, and tbh I think it's too much – next time I'll reduce by 1/4 or even a half. I didn't have parmesan rinds, so I used stock instead of water to add flavour.

In other legume news, I was trying to dig through the ready-for-the-apocalypse stack of canned goods in my linen cupboard (tell me I'm not the only one) and I made this pumpkin dal a couple of times. The first time we really loved it, the second it was fine, which I think is my fault for getting too loosey-goosey with the ingredients list. So if you make it, follow the directions!

We also made pizza recently, using this food processor dough recipe (it's extremely make-ahead, which I love), and I went all-in and did the truffled mushroom version (delicious) as well as our new favourite toppings combo, mushroom + jalapeño + red onion (on red sauce).

I'm a muffin person now

Muffins seem so '80s, or early '90s, but I am really into them right now, as evidenced by this recent conversation with a friend.

The best ones I have made lately are for the sourdough people, as they use discard: Sourdough Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins. They are excellent, only lightly banana-y, and freeze really well. But they are definitely on the cake end of things, rich in butter and sugar.

For a healthier option, I tried this Anna Jones recipe for Cardamom & Carrot Cakes with Maple Icing. I used chickpea flour in the batter and if you want to try it, I warn you that raw chickpea flour tastes vile, so don't lick the bowl. But you barely notice it once they're baked. I didn't have any cream cheese so I smeared some coconut cream on top, which was very tasty. These definitely taste healthy but I also polished off three on my first sitting so, take that as you will.

And then I tried these Fudgy Vegan Double Chocolate Beet Muffins from the Minimalist Baker. They turn out very light and fluffy but of the type that squishes into nothing in your mouth, so I'm not sure if I'd make them again, though I love the combo of ingredients. I think some almond flour might improve the texture.

Elsewhere

Megan wants us all to put ras el hanout on our popcorn, and who am I to argue?

This sheet pan chow mein is on my to-make list, and the vegetarian Chinese cookbook it comes from is on my to-buy list.

I liked this Treehugger article with realistic, budget-friendly tips on reducing waste while grocery shopping.

This Nigella Lawson no-knead black bread is also on my to-make list thanks to food reporter Laura Brehaut.

"Cracking the Case of South India's Missing Vegetables" outlines one man's quest to hunt down once-common produce that has disappeared from markets in his city of Chennai, one of many negative effects of a shift to industrial farming.

And if you're in Toronto, I recommend Taverne Bernhardt's. Their only vegan dish, the BLT (beet-lettuce-tahini) sandwich, is excellent, and they have a number of vegetarian items too.

Until next time!

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Eat More Plants is a weekly newsletter by Kat Tancock, sharing recipes and inspiration for vegetarian and vegan dishes, restaurants, products and more. Please reply with your own tips so I can include them in a future issue, and send this newsletter to your friends.

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Looking for something to cook? All previous recipe recommendations are saved on this Pinterest board.

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