Meat free cookery and being irked by the Sunday Papers

Finding myself irritated by a Peparami, finding the best Tarte Tropeziene and a cheddar sourdough cracker recipe

What is it about us that wants to find a label for everything?

I planned to write this weekend on why we feel the need to pigeonhole food; the metaphorical boxes in which we like to put different things. As I sat down to write this, I’d been scrolling through the weekend newspapers and found something that focused my argument.

Labelling things as plant-based and vegetarian often gives me the impression that these styles of eating are regarded as weird. As someone who cooks for a living and who has a deep respect for ingredients, I find it odd that we don’t just enjoy dishes and styles of food for exactly what they are. Food.

I often find the greatest test of creativity is when I’m using just vegetables. As a Chef, I find the challenge of not being able to hide behind a piece of protein interesting and a good challenge. Often when cooks use meat or fish as the centrepiece of a dish, it can seem that the rest of the plate can sometimes be an afterthought. Like using asparagus in December. Why would you? This is not to say that I lean toward only working with vegetables, absolutely not, and that’s sort of my point. Why do we have to find a box to put ’vegetarianism’ in, why not just enjoy something for what it is? It’s just good food at the end of the day.