PLANT-BASED MEAL PLANS

PRANAA DELIVERS WEEKLY PLANT-RICH MEALS FOR HEALTH-CONSCIOUS BANGKOKIANS

Following through with a diet plan can be an arduous task. You are what you eat after all, so maintaining a healthy lifestyle by being selective with your food choices could prove difficult for most people (including me). Pranaa Food For Life, a new food delivery service whose menu is based entirely around plants, could be the answer for a quick eat without the hassle of cooking healthy meals yourself. Having launched two months ago, Pranaa’s vast selection of dishes are based on a plant-based whole food diet that’s suitable for vegans. Therefore, their ingredients include vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, herbs and spices, and are devoid of meat, dairy and eggs. All cooking oils are also excluded. Brown rice and bread are used whenever possible (sensibly). The service aims to help people lead longer and healthier lives. Colour us healthy then.

What is notable about Pranaa is the fact that their menu changes every week, with a different set meal planned out for Monday through Friday. You won’t be eating the same meal each day, so kudos to them for offering something new on a daily basis. The weekly menu can be accessed by visiting their Facebook page, which shows what meals are being served each day. The menu offers a full set (B450), which consists of two main courses, a snack and a smoothie. If that is too much for your appetite, you can just order a lunch set (B350), which lets you choose one main course to go with a snack and smoothie.

With that being said, we decided to go vegan for a week to try out Pranaa’s meal sets. All food is delivered in container boxes, giving a home-cooked feel to it. Pranaa’s menu comes from many regions around the world. In addition to having Thai food, there are Indian, Middle Eastern, Korean and Japanese. For my Tuesday set, the Udon noodles vege- table soup felt standard for my taste but the Falafel, hummus and pita wrap combination was excellent (seeing as I’m a sucker for Middle Eastern food), as I dipped the wrap into the thick spread. The parsley tabbouleh salad makes for an excellent snack, enjoyable in small doses like you would eat a bag of chips. Wednesday’s set consists of Massaman curry with brown rice. If you’ve never opted to eat non-white rice before, this serves as a great introduction. My colleague had a try on the Miang kaam leaf wraps, served in three pieces in one skewer. Although small, it is quite filling with its mix of roasted coconut, chilli, onion and peanuts. Thursday’s Yum

khanom chin was a healthy mix of the white noodles with vegetable salad and proved satisfying. One of the more interesting dishes was the Fettuccine carbonara with broccoli. Instead of using eggs to develop the creamy texture, nuts and nutritional yeast are used as an alternative. Friday’s Lady fingers with yellow daal and rice was nothing sort of special and the stuffed green pepper proved delicious due to the soft and mushy texture of the onions and potatoes inside. Last but not least are the smoothies. Each day a different coloured smoothie is offered along with your meal, and they make for great drinks. From orange (mixed with pineapple + papaya) to green (kiwi + apple + pineapple + spinach), they serve as a fruity way to wash down your lunch.

Overall, after trying several dishes from the menu (a lot for a quick bite I might add), the variety of food Pranaa offers is delicious. I do think the price may be a bit too steep to order from there every day, but their fresh quality ingredients and home-cooked recipes make Pranaa worth checking out.

Pranaa Food For Life is ready for delivery. Call 086-029-9296 to order.

Visit fb.com/PranaaFood for more info.