With an assault of medjool dates, chia seeds, quinoa and kale, the ingredients du jour, it’s difficult to avoid the wave of healthy eating that appears to be right on trend. While you might be tempted to roll your eyes, unlike the wave of cupcakes and baking that preceded it, this trend is different. It instead highlights some of the major issues we face in our daily diet.
The focus on healthy ingredients, vegetables in particular, and their nutritional benefits is without doubt raising greater awareness of the effect the food we eat has on both our health and on the environment.
That being said, as a nation traditionally reared as meat eaters, this may all come as quite a shock to the system. I can’t see myself becoming a vegetarian in the near future. My love of the perfect steak, charred on a pan with a slick of nutty butter, or Sunday’s crispy-skinned roast chicken prevents it.
Yet, over the course of the past few years my eating habits have changed. While I still lick my lips at the thought of all of the above, meat plays less of a part in my day-to-day eating. The answer is in, despite it’s new age, hippy connotations, balance. Instead of it being an every day occurrence, I now eat meat when I’ve managed to get my hands on a beautiful cut at the butcher’s or plan to impress at a family get together.
This approach feels more in touch with the world that existed before plastic- packed meats from the supermarket were part of the every day diet. The world where my grandmother would stretch the remains of the Sunday roast into sandwiches, stocks and salads – giving due respect to the ingredient. The new-found space in my weekly menu has paved the way for vegetables and grains, my core, staple ingredients.
Here in California, vegetables are on the menu in a big way. The widely praised restaurant Gjelina unashamedly has a dedicated vegetable section at the core of its menu. In this dark-roomed, über-hip eatery, every small plate of simple, impeccably executed food, is a treat. Roast turnips with Argentinian chimichurri; grilled broccolini humming with garlic, spice and vinegar, or vibrant purple potatoes with Scandinavian inspired dill pesto would all easily take my fancy.
The recipes on these pages are an ode to this fresh and clever approach to vegetables and a new wave of cooking which puts them front and centre – and about time too.
