30 Plants for Dinner

I saw this post about eating more plants from Mike Crittenden today. One suggestion is trying to hit 30 plants per week. As a vegan, I can get near 30 plants per day, but tonight I made a 3 course dinner for my wife and a neighbor.

  1. Vietnamese style raw spring rolls in rice paper with 2 dipping sauces (peanut and sweet & sour)
  2. Sesame Tofu and Brocolli over cold sesame noodles
  3. Mango Pudding with Coconut Cream Panna Cotta Style

Here is the list of plants we ate:

  1. Mint
  2. Cilantro
  3. Basil
  4. Spinach
  5. Soybeans (Tempeh and Tofu)
  6. Carrot
  7. Rice (in the rice paper and noodles)
  8. Peanut
  9. Garlic
  10. Ginger
  11. Wheat (flour)
  12. Shallot
  13. Black Pepper
  14. Sesame Seed
  15. Scallion
  16. Celery
  17. Lime
  18. Maple Syrup
  19. Serrano Pepper
  20. Brocolli
  21. Sugar
  22. Mango
  23. Coconut
  24. Vanilla

There was also vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and sriracha used in the dips and glazes. I use very little oil (tofu was made in an air fryer), but there was a little bit of olive and grapeseed oil. I’m sure I got to 30 plants.

If I was going for 30 plant ingredients, I’d have just added some blueberries and allspice to the dessert, dredged the tofu in corn starch, and added a few more plants/spices to the main dish (peas, turmeric, cayenne pepper, grape tomatoes).

If you’re looking for plant variety, look for vegan recipes, but even if you eat meat, I agree with Mike that you should add more plants and varieties of plants, which is easy to do if you are going for it.