Traditionally a side dish, vegetables are moving to the center of the plate, says the NPR blog The Salt, adding, “it appears that plants are the new meat.” The Salt points to the selection by Bon Appetit magazine of AL’s Place in San Francisco as its best new restaurant of the year. At AL’s, meat is listed on the menu as “sides” while the features on the menu are “vegetable-centric dishes sometimes featuring animal protein as an ingredient.”
“This and other restaurants are also using the whole vegetable,” says The Salt. With concern focusing on food waste, chefs are employing a stem-to-leaf approach that tries to use the parts of plants that used to be discarded. Sweetgreen restaurants, for example, uses leftover pieces – broccoli leaves, carrot ribbons, roasted kale stems, romaine hearts, roasted cabbage cores, roasted broccoli stalks and roasted bread butts, all mixed with arugula, Parmesan, spicy sunflower seeds and pesto vinaigrette – to make a salad.
NPR’s Bonny Wolf says curly spirals of vegetables are replacing pasta in some dishes. As well, “Eaters in 2016 also are likely to see more dried beans, peas and lentils on their plates,” says Wolf. Sustainability and “clean labels” – meaning no GMOs, artificial ingredients, preservatives, antibiotics and growth hormones – are gaining prominence.