A green year ahead
For Christchurch-based chef Tom Riley, eating plant-based should be equally accessible and delicious.
To empower people to try veganism for health reasons or to “just make meat a treat”, Tom runs a sustainable nationwide food box delivery service Green Dinner Table alongside Chris Kappely.
Green Dinner Table sowed its first seeds six and half years ago when a few factors combined to motivate Tom to share the power of plant-based meals with others.
“My business partner’s father was going through some health issues. He had a quadruple bypass surgery and wanted to start eating plant-based but didn’t know how to go about it at all,” Tom says.
Tom knew his two decades as a professional chef could help, and as if by fate, his aunt had recently purchased Lyttelton’s British Hotel, which had been abandoned for years following the Christchurch earthquakes, giving Green Dinner Table a venue to grow.
“Three things came together: me being a chef, my friend’s dad, and the British Hotel. We went from there.”
Now well established with delivery services up and down the country, Green Dinner Table boxes range from three to five-night options for couples and families, including high-quality, seasonal local ingredients, thanks to their partnership with Leeston supplier Streamside Organics.
“We give you everything you need to cook plant-based dinners at home. So we make everything – all our pickles and sauces and preserves and relishes. We source all the vegetables, a lot from Canterbury, like Canterbury quinoa, walnuts and hazelnuts, and oat milk.
Tom stresses the importance of supporting local and that this ensures a quality that you might not always get with other boxed meal services. On top of this, all the meals and components are designed and made by professionals.
“Everything’s made by chefs here rather than being brought in and shoved in a packet.”
Most importantly, with chefs behind the dishes, the flavour is paramount, and all instructions are purposefully easy to follow to ensure that the home cook can achieve the same level of deliciousness. Tom says this is critical to people sticking with plant-based.
“People often think they hate tofu. And I imagine it’s kind of like why people think they hate Brussels sprouts. Tofu and Brussels sprouts are both delicious. So we teach you how to cook things well, and because we give you high-quality ingredients and teach you how to cook them properly, you’ll end up just liking what you’re eating. And that way, it makes it easier to stay on a plant-based diet if you’re enjoying the food.”
For the 2023 seasons ahead, Tom is excited about dishes that people might not expect in a plant-based diet.
“We’ve got a corn and tempeh salad with smoked almonds and ranch dressing. A tofu gyro, a wrap with garlic hummus and roasted new potatoes in it. There’s a classic Ratatouille with lots of eggplant and fresh basil, and some house-made preserved lemon adds another dimension to it, and that’s served with the Canterbury quinoa.”
From Christchurch to Dunedin, to over the Strait in Wellington, Auckland, Palmerston North, Napier, Hastings, Hamilton, Rotorua, and Tauranga, anyone can learn to cook vegan and get started on their health journey for 2023.
“Eating plant-based is easy and delicious.”