{"id":336443,"date":"2025-12-09T15:38:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T15:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/recipes\/category-a-b\/budget-food\/what-london-taught-me-about-cooking-more-plant-based-food\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T15:38:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T15:38:30","slug":"what-london-taught-me-about-cooking-more-plant-based-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443","title":{"rendered":"What London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Plant-based meals have become a normal part of eating out in London. Categories or labels aren\u2019t important anymore, it\u2019s just good food that happens to be made from plants. Chefs are
getting creative, and the food is full of flavour. The best part? It\u2019s starting to shape how we eat at home too, in small, easy, and enjoyable ways.<\/p>\n

A City Embracing Plant-Based Eating<\/h3>\n

One thing I\u2019ve loved seeing in London over the last few years is how plant-based food has gone from being a \u201cspecial option\u201d to just being part of the menu. You don\u2019t have to search
hard or ask for changes anymore. That kind of food is already there. Not as a compromise, but as something exciting in its own right.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not all lentil burgers and green salads, though I do like those when they\u2019re done well. These days, you\u2019ll see things like roasted cabbage with a rich, smoky sauce, chickpeas cooked slowly with lemon and loads of fresh herbs, or soft slices of aubergine topped with tahini and something sweet and sharp like pomegranate. Nothing fussy, just simple food with really good flavour.<\/p>\n

There are all sorts of places serving this sort of cooking now, such as neighbourhood caf\u00e9s and bakeries with a lunch menu, but also spots you\u2019d go to for a proper night out. If you\u2019re
curious about where to eat, some of the best restaurants to visit<\/a> are scattered all over London, often tucked into corners you wouldn\u2019t expect. Many of them make brilliant use of vegetables
without making a big deal about it.<\/p>\n

How Plant-Based Food Went From Alternative To Everyday<\/h3>\n

I remember when the veggie option on a menu usually meant mushroom risotto. Or maybe a pile of steamed veg if you were unlucky. It felt like something added at the last minute, just in case someone asked. But now? It\u2019s completely different. Plant-based dishes are some of the tastiest things on the menu. They\u2019re rich, colourful, full of texture, and you don\u2019t feel like anything is missing.<\/p>\n

Part of the reason plant-based cooking has taken off, I think, is that it\u2019s been led by flavour. And chefs in London have really taken that and run with it. They\u2019ve been inspired by dishes from places where vegetables are just naturally a main focus of the meal, places like the Middle East, India, parts of Africa and Asia. These are dishes that don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re trying to replace anything, they just work on their own.<\/p>\n

What London\u2019s Menus Can Teach Us About Everyday Meals<\/h3>\n

One thing I really like about eating out in London is how simple the food often is. In the best possible way. You don\u2019t need fancy ingredients or complicated sauces. Just some good things
on a plate, cooked properly and put together with a bit of care.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had lentils with sweet, soft carrots that tasted better than any Sunday roast. A bowl of roasted squash with some toasted seeds and a spoonful of something creamy on top. Nothing clever, just authentic food that made me want to go home and try it myself.<\/p>\n

And it gets you thinking differently at home too. Instead of asking \u201cwhat meat should I cook tonight?\u201d, you start thinking \u201cwhat veg have I got, and what can I do with it?\u201d Maybe you roast it, maybe you mash it, maybe you turn it into a soup or a grain bowl. You don\u2019t need a recipe for every meal. Just a few ideas to build on. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve taken from London\u2019s restaurants.<\/p>\n

Easy Ways To Bring Plant-Based Thinking Into Your Home<\/h3>\n

At home, I don\u2019t really plan meals around being plant-based, but I do find myself cooking that way more and more. It usually starts with what\u2019s already in the fridge. A couple of carrots, maybe a tin of beans, some odds and ends that need using up. It\u2019s not fancy, but it\u2019s amazing what you can make with a tray of roasted veg and a bit of something on the side like couscous, lentils, or just a chunk of bread.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I build a meal around one thing. A cauliflower, say, or some mushrooms that look a bit tired. I roast them, season them well and add whatever else I\u2019ve got to hand. It can be some yoghurt, a bit of pickle or a finely cut tomato. It doesn\u2019t have to be perfectly balanced or complicated. Just filling and good.<\/p>\n

I also try to keep a few easy bits in the cupboard. Tinned tomatoes, chickpeas<\/a>, lentils, spices. That way there\u2019s always the makings of something. And on days when I can\u2019t be bothered, I\u2019ll grab a veggie burger or heat up some soup. No pressure. No plan. Just good food, one meal at a time.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plant-based meals have become a normal part of eating out in London. Categories or labels aren\u2019t important anymore, it\u2019s just good food that happens to be made from plants. Chefs aregetting creative, and the food is full of flavour. The best part? It\u2019s starting to shape how we eat at home too, in small, easy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[1643,2074,1543,13378,19272,161546],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-336443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-budget-food","tag-cooking","tag-food","tag-london","tag-plantbased","tag-taught","tag-vegetarianism"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Plant-based meals have become a normal part of eating out in London. Categories or labels aren\u2019t important anymore, it\u2019s just good food that happens to be made from plants. Chefs aregetting creative, and the food is full of flavour. The best part? It\u2019s starting to shape how we eat at home too, in small, easy, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-09T15:38:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"What London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-09T15:38:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443\"},\"wordCount\":837,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Cooking\",\"Food\",\"London\",\"plantbased\",\"Taught\",\"Vegetarianism\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Budget Food\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443\",\"name\":\"What London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-09T15:38:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food - Som2ny Network","og_description":"Plant-based meals have become a normal part of eating out in London. Categories or labels aren\u2019t important anymore, it\u2019s just good food that happens to be made from plants. Chefs aregetting creative, and the food is full of flavour. The best part? It\u2019s starting to shape how we eat at home too, in small, easy, […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-12-09T15:38:30+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"What London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food","datePublished":"2025-12-09T15:38:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443"},"wordCount":837,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Cooking","Food","London","plantbased","Taught","Vegetarianism"],"articleSection":["Budget Food"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443","name":"What London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-09T15:38:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336443#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What London Taught Me About Cooking More Plant-Based Food"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=336443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=336443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=336443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=336443"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=336443"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=336443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}