J’AIME JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

F O O D & D R I N K
The power of plants
AMY NORBURY SPOKE TO MARTIN HOLDEN-WHITE, THE LICHFIELD
FOUNDER OF VEGAN RECIPE BOX COMPANY GRUBBY, TO DISCOVER
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF PLANT-BASED EATING
You’ve taken the new year
as an opportunity to try
a healthier approach to
eating - something most
of us probably need to do
following a festive season
filled with cheese, chocolate
and wine! - and decided to
give Veganuary a go.
But finding new and exciting
ways to eat completely
without meat, fish or dairy
products can prove to be
difficult, especially if you’re
more used to the British diet
of meat-and-two-veg with
every meal.
And that is why Martin
Holden-White set up
GRUBBY PROVIDES ALL THE
INGREDIENTS FOR DELICIOUS PLANT-
BASED COOKING
Grubby. The nationwide vegan recipe box company
launched last year with the aim of simplifying plantbased
eating, providing meat-free meals which are
easy to create and taste delicious.
“A big part of why people struggle to go vegan,
or struggle to eat more plants, is because of the
cooking,” says Martin, who hails from Lichfield.
“Although we do love our takeaways, ultimately
around 70 percent of meals in the UK are still homecooked,
and one of the bigger challenges of getting
people to go plant-based is that they don’t know that
it can taste good, and they don’t know the techniques
to achieve this, because that’s just not how a lot of
us were raised. So that’s what we’re trying to do with
Grubby.”
While completing a challenge like Veganuary and
going completely vegan can provide a much-needed
health boost, many of us will find it difficult to
sustain long term. But, says Martin, making gradual
small changes to your diet can still make a huge
difference.
“At Grubby we’re a team of flexitarians,” explains
Martin. “We all have different dietary needs, and
we’re not preachy about being vegans; in fact,
around 80 to 90 percent of our customers aren’t
vegans. A large part of our customer base wants
to build more plants into their diets rather than go
completely vegan.
“The main reasons why people decide to go plantbased
are to do with health and the environment,
with the animal cruelty aspect being the third reason.
“Eating less meat is far more prevalent now that
people are more aware of the health benefits that it
can bring, but I think the thing that people get wary
about with going vegan is that they’re not going
to get enough protein. But that’s a myth; there are
plenty of ways to get enough protein with plantbased
food - if you know how to do it properly.
“And from an environmental point of view, when
you compare an individual meat-based meal to a
plant-based meal, the savings on CO2 and water are
mental; it’s crazy the impact it has, and becoming
more aware of this is what is encouraging people to
try more plant-based eating.”
In fact, a study by Oxford University found that if
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