Think Vegetables! Think Fruits philosophy!
Frank Fol was the head of the Sire Pynnock restaurant in Leuven (Belgium) for 16 years, where he gained fame with his creative vegetable kitchen. After he sold the restaurant, he became full-time Vegetables Chef and worked intensively on flavor development and promotion of fruit and vegetables in Belgium and the Netherlands. To immediately clear up misunderstandings: Frank Fol is not a vegetarian chef. Meat, fish and poultry are sometimes also part of his dishes. He is, however, in favor of eating 100% vegetable at least 2 days per week.
To use more vegetables and fruit in a creative way Frank Fol developed his Think Vegetables! Think Fruit! Philosophy.
You can master that philosophy in 3 steps.
Step 1:
When you create your menus, think first about the vegetables and/or fruit you want to use, and which vegetables and fruit are in season that time of year. In this way, vegetables will be at their best whilst having a lower footprint, they will become the focus of each dish, and they will be the determining factor in the way each dish tastes.
Step 2:
Choose among the 58 techniques featured to discover new and less well-known ways to prepare fruit and vegetables.
Step 3:
Then think about additions such as certain types of grain, meat substitutes, meat, fish or other protein. The goal is to have each meal throughout the week to be mostly Pure Plant.
4 TIPS
- Use healthier vegetable-based sauces to enhance the flavour of your dish. For example, tahini, guacamole, olive oil based sauces such as pesto and Légumaises® sauces are a healthy and delicious alternative to many mayonnaise-based sauces.
- Pay attention to the colours on your plate. Vegetables and fruit often have distinctive colours that can jazz up a dish. Plus, the brighter the colours, the more antioxidants you’ll find in your vegetables.
- Follow the seasons. Local vegetables are best in taste and nutritional value only during their respective season.
- Use only high quality produce. Choose the freshest regional fruit and vegetables you can find.
