With Veganuary sure to be popular again this January, Louise Palmer-Masterton, founder of Cambridge-based plant-based restaurant business Stem & Glory, looks ahead to the trends for 2023, and offers two recipes to try.
Like it or loathe it, Veganuary is just around the corner and will once again be unavoidable in the media through the month of January.
What started with 3,000 subscribers to a vegan pledge for the month of January in 2014, grew to 629,000 sign-ups in January 2022, and the movement shows no sign of slowing down in January 2023.
Veganuary has increased participation year on year every year since 2014, and they boast an impressive set of statistics when it comes to retention. Veganuary, a non-profit organisation, reports that after their 2022 campaign, 83 per cent of the 629,000 participants planned to at least halve their intake of animal products permanently, with 36 per cent planning on staying fully vegan. Participants hailed from 228 countries and territories, and Veganuary estimates that 2.16 million animals were saved by the participants during their 31-day pledge. That might seem like a lot of lives saved, but in fact it is estimated that over 70 billion land animals are killed every single year for human consumption, along with a staggering two trillion (2,000 billion) fish.
Whatever you may think about the ethics of eating animals, the sheer numbers involved in animal agriculture, and the subsequent impact on our environment must surely be a major factor in the apparent willingness of most people to at least reduce their consumption of animal products, in favour of more sustainable eating?
Apparently though, while many brands in the vegan sector highlight sustainability as their most relevant marketing effort, a 2023 food trends report by Tastewise, which sampled more than 500 million conversations about food, found that personal health is apparently more important to consumers than sustainability. According to the study, consumers talked about health 12 times more than sustainability when eating plant-based foods, and were cited as choosing plant-based options for health reasons 16 times more often than environmental reasons (Tastewise 2022).
It seems however that our understanding of ‘healthy eating’ has also evolved and the Tastewise report goes into detail into what it describes a move from ‘healthy eating’ towards ‘functional health opportunities’ - energy-boosting foods, fertility boosting foods, foods that metabolise more easily, support better sleep, and last but by no means least, foods which boost a healthy sex drive.
As healthy eating has evolved, so has our understanding of the intrinsic link between consuming natural wholefoods and enjoying better health. Once the domain of the hippie movement, we are now all apparently embracing flax seeds, legumes and chia seeds as performance boosting as well as tasty.
This is backed up by Mintel in its 2023 Global Food and Drink Trends report, stating that functional food and drink that improves mental performance is a major trend for 2023. Ingredients such as specialist mushrooms such as Chaga, Cordyceps, Lion’s Mane and Maitake are all said to have immune boosting and mental clarity properties.
Next on the Mintel list in terms of wellness trends is vitality and gut health, which further moves the dial towards natural fruit and vegetables and whole foods, and their inherent nutrition links with cognitive health. For example, the Mintel report cites legumes, such as pinto beans, having a high magnesium content, a mineral that has been linked with reducing stress and fatigue.
The take-up of fermented foods, known for improving immunity and gut health is also on the rise, with more and more people having an understanding on how these foods work in harmony with the mind and body, and how there is an intrinsic link between gut biome and improved health and immunity.
Also emerging as a new trend for 2023 are the currently less well-known niche ingredients such as adaptogens and nootropics, again linked with restoring balance to the body, and the ability to cope with physical or mental stress.
The good news for the vegan movement (and the animals) is that whilst people might appear to care more about their own health than the plight of animals or the health of the planet, all of these ‘functional health opportunities' come from 100 per cent plant-based sources. So plant-based, it would appear, is sneaking in through the back door of an ever growing percentage of our population.
For me, having been vegan for almost 40 years, it’s a real pleasure to see what was always very fringe when I was young (lentils, mushroom blend teas and adaptogens) becoming mainstream, and well dare I say trendy. The longevity of three very long-standing health food stores in Cambridge, which pioneered such foods, is for me testament to the fact that this movement is, and was never, a fad. All these stores have grown and flourished over the past 40 years.
So back to Veganuary, well, there has never been a better time to try going vegan. The supermarkets are literally exploding with new vegan ranges, with an ever diversifying range of new and healthy food and drink to sample. Here are a couple of ‘functional health opportunities’ of ours to get you started.
Purple ‘Kimchi’
This isn’t really kimchi, but it’s what we call it at Stem & Glory. We started making it when we were experimenting moving from pickles, which are not especially healthy, towards fermented, which are very healthy. This one is an absolute winner as a substitute for pickled red cabbage. It’s a bit more of an advanced ferment, due to the fermenting time, but its well worth holding your nerve for the end result.
Because ferments are all about the ration of salt to vegetables, it is always best to weigh everything very accurately.
The proportions for this ferment should be:
- 75 per cent shredded red cabbage (750g)
- 20 per cent grated beetroot (200g)
- 5 per cent grated ginger (50g)
- Salt - the ratio is 10g salt for every 500g of vegetable. So the above amounts would need 20g salt.
Mix all the veg into a large bowl. Massage the salt into the veg using your hands for about five minutes. Cover the bowl and leave at room temp for 30-60 minutes. Massage again, a lot of liquid should have come out of the vegetable.
Add the veg and all the liquid into a kilner jar (a jar with a clip top lid). Press down well. The liquid should rise and just cover the top of the veg. If the liquid doesn’t quite cover the veg, you can add some brine made up from a 2 per cent brine solution (2g salt to 100ml water). Usually it isn’t needed to add brine if the leaves are well massaged.
Every day you will need to open the lid and press the veg down with a spoon so that it the veg is submerged in the liquid. Repeat this every day without fail. After 3-4 days it will be quite smelly and lively. Just keep pressing down every day. This is a very similar technique to sauerkraut in that ideally you ferment for at least two weeks, preferably three.
Each week it will develop a new level of probiotic, with the optimum level at exactly three weeks. Once the ferment is complete, store in the fridge for up to a year. Ideally always store in a jar without much air on top of the ferment.
King Oyster Scallops
We love mushrooms at Stem & Glory and we use them in many dishes. If you are not familiar with king oyster mushrooms, they are an incredibly tasty and versatile mushroom, and you can find them in most supermarkets and veg shops these days, as well as Asian stores.
Ingredients
4 king oyster mushrooms
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup warm water
Method
Cut the tops of the mushrooms and slice the stems into rounds that resemble ‘scallops’. You can get very fancy here and score the rounds with a knife to make a criss cross pattern. Mis the warm water, salt and lemon juice in a bowl. Add the mushrooms (throw the tops in too) and leave to marinade for an hour or so.
Drain the mushrooms well. Add a little oil to a frying pan, cook the mushrooms on a medium to high heat until they start to go golden. Season with salt and pepper, then turn over and season on the other side. Cook until both sides are golden. At Stem & Glory we serve ours with artichokes and cauliflower puree, but these are honestly delicious with many things, including with a simple tomato spaghetti or penne arrabbiata, or served as a starter with a simple lemon and garlic vegan butter sauce.
Cambridge Food and Drink Lifestyle Newsdesk Cambridge
