Plant-based Cooking: How Do We Go From Can’t-do to Can-do?

How many of us bookmarked recipes online and actually followed them? How many sheets of printed recipes have we dog-eared and never revisited it again?

Can you imagine a day when we can have all the necessary information in one easily readable screenshot?

Photo by Jeff Sheldon on Unsplash

In my pursuit of a plant-based lifestyle and my growing appreciation for cooking whole foods, making my own dips and sauces while ditching the quick cheat-packets that we’ve been so accustomed to, my frustration with following recipes online or in print grew exponentially.

During my transition, I noticed a pattern: I tended to follow recipes that fit into a one-page screenshot and deleted the rest with multiple. As a beginner, the recipes that I kept were communicated in pure concision, easy-to-follow, and makes me feel that eating plant-based food is perfectly doable. On the other hand, I found recipes loaded with longer sentences and/or confusing steps cemented the idea that a plant-based diet is exclusive to those who were born not eating meat.

The main problem we wanted to tackle is:

How do we help recipe followers go from a can’t-do to can-do attitude?

Turns out, I wasn’t the only one who faced the same problem.

Here is some additional feedback from those who shared similar journeys of transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle:

“Long ingredient list is not only intimidating, they also scare us into inaction.” — Keith Lee

Having substitutions for certain ingredients would be nice. For example, we can substitute mirin with honey.” —Ming

Allow me to use some examples from two of my favorite plant-based chefs:

1. Recipe Composition:

What if we turned this:

To this?

So we have a crystal clear idea of what we’re working on.

And on your mobile:

2. Substitutions

What if, instead of writing lines of substitutions…

We show them instead?

When compared side-to-side, our users loved the fact that they could see everything concisely on one page which contributed to a greater sense of clarity.

“The recipes look more approachable when they’re sectioned!” — Keith Lee

“It definitely helps to know that I can be flexible with using ingredients that are already available in my pantry.” — Ming

Are you a recipe developer who wants to share more of your homey plant-based recipes?

Or are you a recipe follower who’d love to have an easier time cooking at home?

Sign up here to try our features on NouCuisine!

Recipes used:

1. Vegan Thanksgiving Wrap by The Minimalist Baker
2. Banana Bread by The Cynical Vegan