It’s time to mark World Vegan Month, celebrated every November worldwide to shine a light on the plant-based eating movement.
At Quattro Foods we spend our days sourcing, innovating and cooking, in our quest to feed the nation delicious and nutritious food that caters to everyone’s everchanging needs. Our customers in the retail and wholesale market are increasingly requesting plant-based food products and we’re happy to oblige. Our state-of-the-art kitchen is constantly brimming with ideas and activity, and we do love a plant-based theme.
But how do we make that work in the run up to Christmas?
This is a time of year traditionally associated with indulgence. It’s a time when we put our ‘good food intentions’ to one side, temporarily, and allow the food that makes us happy to take centre stage. Cake, sugary drinks, sausages, crisps, biscuits, chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate….Sounds yummy right? But high-sugar, high-fat fare is not so great for our physical or mental health or even for the planet, so let’s put on our thinking caps and work out how we can make Christmas ‘23 as delicious as ever, but low on processed animal and dairy-based products, and overall healthier for everyone.
How can we celebrate the festive season without the worry of gaining those extra pounds or suffering the bloating, fatigue and even mild depression that can often be the Boxing Day downside of a Christmas blowout? This year we’re working on having a fabulous time, which includes eating amazing food, but boosting our protein intake and keeping the planet happy at the same time.
We’re planning to have a jolly old non-traditional vegan Christmas season – without compromising on taste, fun and indulgence. We don’t want to deprive ourselves of anything lovely at this time of year, so how can we incorporate small changes into our festive preparations?
There are lots of things to love about plant-based foods. They have no preservatives, their carbon footprint is lower, they come in a great array of colours and textures and most importantly, they can (if cooked well) taste absolutely delicious.
Here’s our very own plant-based Christmas menu idea. We hope you enjoy it!
Starter:
Minestrone – throw in all the veg you can find, with butter beans and vegetable soup stock. It’s a warming and delicious way to start lunch.
Main:
Ever considered serving veg as the lunch hero? We love a courgette and mushroom pie, or a ‘fake mince’ shepherd’s pie.
Sides:
Broccoli and red pepper salad, miso aubergine, sweet potato mash and a big old green salad.
Dessert:
Literally any cake can be made with dairy-free butter substitute or ‘fake egg’ which are readily available in most supermarkets. Our favourite festive pudding is a lemon drizzle cake, chocolate mousse and fruit salad combo.
Get out the veg, start peeling, prepping and cooking up a plant-based Christmas storm which everyone will love!