If you have read my manifesto you already know my agenda: I want to seduce as many people as possible into adopting a plant-based lifestyle. For the sake of your health, for the future of humanity on our planet and to improve animals wellbeing.

What is not helping my cause is that humans have evolutionary learned to love meat. That’s because the taste of meat signals calories and proteins and evolution has taught us to crave those! As a matter of fact, one of the questions vegetarians often get is “what about proteins”? Even though we know from the blue zones that we don’t really have to worry about that.

Psychological, cultural, political issue

I came across this theme in a psychology article entitled “The Solution to Sustainable Eating Is Not a One-Way Street“. One of the interesting quotes: “The barriers to eating enough vegetables and fruit may be of psychological, physiological, social, and cultural nature.”

According to an article in US news outlet Axios this week trying to turn meat eaters into plant lovers is even a political topic. I won’t get into that!

There are two obstacles that we need to surmount in order to turn meat lovers into green eaters: texture and taste. People love meat because of its rich, savory flavor and fleshy texture. That last part, that’s what umami is about! Along with salty, sour, bitter and sweet, umami is one of the five tastes. Sum it up as “savory” or “meaty”.

Umami

So, if we want to satisfy our basic evolutionary human needs, we need to add umami to our culinary arsenal. And we also need to think about meat-like textures.

To create plant-based umami think about layering several umami-rich ingredients into a dish. Spices and spice blends provide rich and complex layers of umami.

Miso paste is a fermented soybean paste and is perfect when you want to add vegan umami flavor to your dish. Beware: it’s pretty salty! I like to use miso as a finishing ingredient in soups or sauces. Use a tea spoon at a time until the taste is to your liking.

Mushrooms have a naturally meaty texture, so they’re excellent options as the star of vegetarian dishes. Stir mushrooms with some miso, add some fresh spinach and blue cheese at the end… Voilà: a great filling for a quick and delicious pasta.

Want to emulate pulled pork or stewed beef? Think of jackfruit as a replacement. You’ll find jackfruit in tins, probably next to pineapple cans. Take your time to stew it to give it the taste and texture you’re looking for. Tip: prefer the young sort. I find the older, mature jackfruit too sweet for savory dishes.

Another tip for plant-based umami: marinade, smoke or grill your vegetables. I particularly enjoying eating grilled cauliflower, celery and eggplant. It is oh so simple to create a meaty texture that is also so fulfillingly tasty. Chop your celery, sweet potatoes or celery in cubes. Toss them on an oven plate, sprinkle spices and grill them in your oven (5 to 20 minutes).

Spicy ingredients (ginger, garlic, peppers, capers), spicy sauces (French musterd, sambal, tabasco, harissa), soy-based sauces all form the base for great marinades. Here’s my personal box of tasty umami tricks:

Quick Umami-Full Recipe

I made today a great wok noodles dish thanks to the ingredients and recipe of Boerschappen. Here is how this wok noodles with paksoi, mushrooms and black bean sauce looked like:

If you can’t read Dutch here are the steps, for two-three eaters (it’s for two persons but we have leftovers):

• Peel two garlic cloves and put them with 3 cm of ginger in a bowl.
• Add the fluid and a quarter of a tin of black beans in the bowl; add four soup spoons of soy sauce and of water, a tea spoon of chili flakes and mix until you obtain a smooth sauce.
• Add the rest of the black beans and set this aside.
• In the wok pan scramble four eggs and when done set that aside. Skip this step for a fully vegan version .
• Set a pan of water to boil.
• Chop an onion and fry that in your wok.
• Throw two sliced paksois and 250 grams of sliced mushrooms in the wok and bake that for about 3 minutes.
• Add the black beans and sauce and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes.
• Prepare rice noodles (about 150 grams) in the boiling water and when done add them to your vegetables.
• Set the scramble eggs on top and serve.

Be creative, use texture and umami taste and go convince meat eaters that plant-based dishes are just as satisfying.

Want to share your own umami tricks? Please contact me!