Transition & Family
Eating plant-based where the shops are limited
Most plant-based advice assumes a well-stocked supermarket and a specialist aisle. A great many people have neither.
Owen Brannagh
28 articles by Brannagh
Meal Building
Dinner formulas that work every time
Recipes are for learning. Formulas are for cooking on a Wednesday with whatever is in the fridge.
Cooking Technique
Cooking with almost no equipment
Student kitchens, shared houses, hostels and small flats all impose constraints, and very little is actually needed.
Micronutrients
Iron-rich meals: putting the principles together
Everything about iron absorption becomes practical when applied to actual meals rather than to a list of foods.
Transition & Family
When one person in a couple changes
A dietary change by one partner is a change for both, and treating it as a personal decision that affects nobody else is where the friction starts.
Protein & Amino Acids
Seitan: making it, and who should avoid it
Wheat gluten produces the densest plant protein available, it costs very little to make, and it is unsuitable for a significant minority of people.
Cooking Technique
Herbs and spices: buying, storing and using them
Spices are where the flavour comes from in plant-based cooking, and most home kitchens buy them badly and store them worse.
Cooking Technique
Fermenting at home: kraut, kimchi and pickles
Vegetable fermentation requires salt, vegetables and time, and it is the cheapest way to add flavour and interest to a plant-based kitchen.
Meal Building
Snacks that are not just carbohydrate
Snacking is where a great deal of plant-based intake happens and where the protein disappears entirely.
Cooking Technique
Cooking without oil, if you want to
Some people avoid added oil for medical or personal reasons. It is entirely possible and it requires different techniques rather than the same techniques without oil.
Cooking Technique
Convenience without the ultra-processed aisle
Cooking from scratch every night is not realistic for most people. There is a large middle ground between that and a packet.
Transition & Family
Feeding a household where not everyone eats the same way
Cooking two meals every night is unsustainable. The solution is a shape of meal that works for everyone with one addition.
Meal Building
Batch cooking without eating the same thing five times
The problem with cooking once and eating five times is the eating five times. There are ways round it.
Cooking Technique
Sprouting, soaking and fermenting: what they actually do
Traditional preparation methods for legumes and grains have measurable effects on nutrition, and the reasons are more specific than the general enthusiasm suggests.
Meal Building
Lunch you will actually take to work
Packed lunch fails because it is either too ambitious or too dull, and both failures end at the sandwich shop.
Meal Building
Soups and stews that carry a week
A pot of something is the most efficient cooking there is, and the difference between a good one and a watery one is a small number of techniques.
Cooking Technique
Nutritional yeast, miso and the umami toolkit
The thing people miss most when they stop eating meat is savoury depth, and it is entirely replaceable if you know what to reach for.
Meal Building
Breakfast that is not just carbohydrate
Breakfast is the meal where protein disappears entirely, which is why people are hungry by eleven.
Cooking Technique
Roasting vegetables so they are worth eating
Roasting is the technique that converts vegetable sceptics, and most people do three things wrong.
Cooking Technique
Legumes beyond chickpeas
Most people eat three legumes and find them repetitive. There are dozens, they behave differently, and the range is where the interest is.
Meal Building
Dressings and sauces: the components that make a meal
A bowl of grains, beans and vegetables is dull without a sauce and excellent with one. Learn four and you will never eat a boring plate.
Transition & Family
Eating out and eating with other people
The social side is what makes plant-based eating difficult to sustain, and most of it is manageable with a small amount of planning and a particular attitude.
Cooking Technique
Grains: cooking them properly and why the ratios differ
Most grain cooking failures come from treating them all like rice, when they behave quite differently.
Meal Building
What a week of meals actually looks like
Meal planning fails when it is too ambitious. A workable week uses a small number of components, cooked once, recombined.
Cooking Technique
Greens, and how to stop overcooking them
The reason most people dislike cooked greens is that they have only eaten them boiled to grey. The techniques are simple and the difference is enormous.
Cooking Technique
Tofu: pressing, freezing and the reasons it fails
Most people who say they dislike tofu have eaten it prepared badly, which is nearly always a moisture problem.
Meal Building
Building a plate that actually fills you up
The commonest complaint about plant-based meals is being hungry two hours later. It is nearly always a structural problem with the plate rather than a problem with plants.
Cooking Technique
Cooking dried beans properly
Dried legumes are the cheapest good food available and most people cook them badly, which is why they think they prefer the tin.