Vegetables don't need to pretend.

A friendly guide to eating vegetarian or vegan by cooking vegetables, beans, and grains so they taste like themselves — no fake burgers, no "chicken" nuggets, no apologies.

Start the four-week plan See what to cook

The point of view here is simple.

If you spend your first month chasing the taste of meat, you'll always feel like you're missing something. If you spend it learning what real lentils can do, you won't.

Imitation sets you up to be disappointed

Fake meat is judged against the real thing, and it usually loses. A leek braised in olive oil isn't competing with anything. It just tastes good.

Vegetables have their own tricks

Browning, salting, acid, fat and heat do for a cabbage what they do for a steak. Once you learn those levers, you don't need a substitute.

Most of the world already eats this way

Dal, hummus, pasta e fagioli, gado-gado, ratatouille — these dishes weren't invented to replace meat. Start there, not in the frozen aisle.

Four weeks to get comfortable.

Change one thing a week. By the end you'll have a shelf of staples, a handful of dishes you can make without a recipe, and a feel for what to order out.

Add, don't subtract

Keep eating what you eat. Just add one fully vegetable-based meal a day.

Cook a big pot of beans or lentils on Sunday
Buy a good olive oil and flaky salt
Try the dal or the white-bean soup below

Learn to make lentils

High heat and enough oil turn almost any color into something you'll crave.

One pot complete meal with protein, vitamins, carbs and amino acids.
Soup two bowls of anything twice this week
Finish with rice, lemon, herbs, or yogurt

Go meat-free at home

Every home-cooked meal is vegetarian. Eating out is still your call.

Pick three dinners you can repeat
Practise the protein table below
Notice what you miss, and why

Decide your own rules

Vegetarian, vegan, mostly-plants — you now know enough to choose.

Find two restaurants that do vegetables well
Set a B12 plan if you're going vegan
Keep one splurge ingredient in the house

Cook this week.

Dishes where the vegetable is the point. Filter by season so you're buying what actually tastes good right now.

Vegan

Red lentil dal with charred onions

The dish that convinces most people. Lentils cooked soft with turmeric, finished with onions fried until nearly black and a spoon of tempered spices.

35 minServes 4

How to make it

Rinse 300 g red lentils. Simmer in 1 L water with ½ tsp turmeric and 1 tsp salt for 20 min until collapsing.
Meanwhile fry 2 sliced onions in 3 tbsp oil over medium-high until deeply browned, 12–15 min. Set half aside.
Add 1 tsp cumin seeds, 3 chopped garlic cloves and a pinch of chilli to the remaining onions; cook 1 min.
Stir the onion mix into the lentils. Top with the reserved onions, lemon juice and coriander.

Vegan

Whole roasted cabbage wedges

Cabbage roasted hard enough to go sweet and crisp at the edges, then dressed with mustard, capers and lots of oil.

40 minServes 4

How to make it

Heat oven to 220°C / 425°F. Cut a savoy or pointed cabbage into 6 wedges through the core.
Brush generously with olive oil, salt well, roast 25–30 min turning once, until the edges are dark.
Whisk 1 tbsp Dijon, 1 tbsp capers, 2 tbsp lemon juice and 4 tbsp olive oil. Spoon over the hot wedges.

Vegetarian

White bean, leek and Parmesan soup

Leeks cooked slowly in butter until sweet, beans, stock, and a rind of Parmesan for depth. Goes vegan with olive oil and miso instead.

45 minServes 4

How to make it

Soften 3 sliced leeks in 3 tbsp butter with salt over low heat, 15 min, without browning.
Add 2 tins cannellini beans with their liquid, 700 ml stock and a Parmesan rind. Simmer 20 min.
Blend half, stir back in. Finish with black pepper, lemon and a drizzle of oil.

Vegan

Tomato and bread salad

Panzanella: the best tomatoes you can find, torn stale bread, red onion, basil, and enough vinegar and oil to make a sauce of the juices.

20 minServes 4

How to make it

Cut 800 g ripe tomatoes into chunks, salt them, leave 15 min to release juice.
Tear 200 g stale sourdough into pieces and toast in a little oil until golden.
Toss tomatoes and their juice with bread, ½ thinly sliced red onion, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, 5 tbsp olive oil and a handful of basil. Let it sit 10 min.

Vegetarian

Peas, mint and ricotta on toast

Lightly crushed peas with mint, lemon and olive oil, piled onto grilled bread with a spoon of ricotta. Ten minutes, start to finish.

10 minServes 2

How to make it

Boil 250 g peas 2 min, drain, crush roughly with a fork.
Mix with a handful of chopped mint, zest and juice of ½ lemon, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper.
Grill 4 slices of bread, rub with a cut garlic clove, top with ricotta and the peas.

Vegan

Roast squash with tahini and chilli

Squash roasted until caramelised at the edges, dressed with lemony tahini, toasted seeds and a scatter of chilli flakes.

45 minServes 4

How to make it

Heat oven to 220°C / 425°F. Cut 1 large squash into wedges, skin on; toss with oil and salt; roast 35 min.
Whisk 3 tbsp tahini with the juice of 1 lemon, 1 grated garlic clove and enough water to make it pourable.
Drizzle over the squash. Top with toasted pumpkin seeds, chilli flakes and parsley.

Nothing here for that season yet — try another.

Protein, without imitation.

The most common worry, and the easiest to solve. Beans, lentils, tofu, grains, nuts and dairy (if you eat it) cover it comfortably. Aim to include one or two of these in every meal.

Food	Protein per serving	How to make it taste good
Lentils (1 cup cooked)	~18 g	Cook with aromatics; finish with acid and fried onions.
Chickpeas (1 cup cooked)	~15 g	Roast until crunchy, or simmer in tomato with cumin.
Firm tofu (150 g)	~18 g	Press, tear into pieces, roast or fry hot until the edges crisp. Sauce it after.
Tempeh (100 g)	~19 g	Steam 10 min to soften, then marinate and pan-fry.
Greek yogurt (200 g)	~18 g	Under roasted vegetables, or as a sauce with garlic and lemon.
Eggs (2)	~12 g	Soft-boiled over lentils or greens.
Peanut butter (2 tbsp)	~8 g	Thin with lime and soy for a sauce over noodles and greens.
Quinoa (1 cup cooked)	~8 g	Toast dry before cooking; treat it as a salad base.

Values are approximate. If you go fully vegan, take a B12 supplement — it's the one nutrient plants can't reliably give you.

A pantry that makes vegetables taste like more.

You don't need a lot. These are the things that turn "boiled vegetables" into dinner.

Fat and salt

Good olive oil For finishing, not just cooking.
Flaky sea salt Salt at the end, on top.
Butter or a neutral oil For high-heat browning.
Tahini Richness without dairy.

Acid and depth

Lemons Almost everything wants one.
Red wine or sherry vinegar
Miso Savoury depth in soups and dressings.
Soy sauce
Capers, olives, pickles

The base

Dried or tinned lentils, chickpeas, white beans
Onions, garlic, ginger
Tinned tomatoes
Cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, chilli flakes
Fresh herbs Parsley, coriander, mint, basil.

Questions people actually ask.

Do I have to give up meat all at once?

No. Most people who stick with it change gradually. The four-week plan above adds vegetable meals first and only drops meat from home cooking in week three. Go at whatever pace you'll keep.

Is it really wrong to eat plant-based burgers?

Not wrong — just not the point of this site. If one helps you through a barbecue, fine. But if imitation meat is the centre of your diet, you'll keep measuring it against the original and feel short-changed. Learn the vegetables first.

Won't I be hungry all the time?

Only if you eat salad. Beans, lentils, grains, potatoes, bread, nuts and oil are filling. Build meals around those with vegetables on top, not the other way round.

Vegetarian or vegan — which should I pick?

Whichever you'll actually do. Vegetarian is easier socially and nutritionally; vegan goes further on animal welfare and climate. Many people start vegetarian and move on. You can also be vegan at home and flexible out.

What do I order at a restaurant?

Look for cuisines that already cook vegetables seriously: Indian, Ethiopian, Middle Eastern, Italian, Thai, Mexican. Order two or three vegetable sides instead of one "vegetarian option."

Cook with us every week.

Everything above stays free. A paid membership adds a weekly seasonal recipe, the full archive, and monthly meal plans.

Monthly

$6/month

Weekly seasonal recipe email
Members-only recipe archive
Printable monthly meal plan
Cancel any time

Join monthly

Try yearly

$48/Year

Everything in yearly
Types of beans and lentils, How to buy and soak them. Make it from zero
Seasonal shopping lists
Cancel any time

Try yearly

Payments are handled by Stripe. Subscriptions renew automatically and can be cancelled at any time — cancelling stops the next renewal and you keep access until the end of the period you've paid for. Refunds within 14 days of a charge, no questions asked: email hello@yourdomain.com.

One vegetable, one recipe, every week.

A short email about what's in season and one way to cook it well. No fake meat, no lectures.

Subscribe free. Please confirm in your email Buttondown.