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For healthier eating, make veges the star of every meal, says Nadia Lim, whose new vegetarian cookbook has recipes to tempt even committed carnivores.

Nadia Lim

What can people expect to get from your new cookbook Vegful? Loads of delicious, easy-to-make recipes that all celebrate vegetables. All the recipes are vegetarian/ vegan, but it’s delicious inspiration for omnivores (like me) too, or whoever wants to eat more vegetables and meat-free meals. What are the main benefits from plantbased eating? I think it’s as simple as the fact that the more plants/vegetables you eat, the less room it leaves for eating other (not as good for you) things. And vegetables are the one food source we can’t eat too much of.

What are your favourite vegetables to cook with? Ooooh… eggplant is at the top of the list for sure. It’s such an underrated vegetable and sometimes people don’t know what to do with it. Roast it with olive oil and herbs until it is slightly caramelised and meltingly tender – deeeelish! Other favourites are beetroot (which I always plant lots of), mushrooms and the humble kumara.

The easiest way to add more veges to every meal? Think of them as the star or starting point to your meal, instead of the sidekick. It may take a bit of a shift in mindset at first, but once you get going you’ll find it’s an easy adjustment to make. Biggest misconception around plant-based eating? That it will somehow be lacking… in flavour, satiety and ease. Absolutely not true as the recipes in this book will prove to you.

How would you convince someone to incorporate more vegetable-based meals into their diet? Just cook them a delicious veg-packed, vegetarian/vegan meal and don’t say anything about it. They’ll love it, devour it, and then you can bring up the fact that they just ate a completely vegetarian/vegan

meal and you’ve just proved to them how much they love vegetables. I’ve done this many times before with (supposedly dedicated) carnivores and every time they’ve been surprised at how much they loved it. My husband was one of them a long time ago, but now he’s a genuine fan.

Is it possible to get all the nutrients you need from a purely plant-based meal? It takes more thought and planning to get everything you need from a wholly plantbased diet. I always encourage people to listen to their body’s needs rather than following any strict diet rules, and that may mean eating some animal products now and then. I think being ‘vegan-ish’ or flexitarian is more realistic for most people than being completely vegan.