I started the Zoe project July 2022, and haven’t yet got bored of playing the "wide variety of plants" game.
I’d been vegetarian since the early 1980s and assumed I was already pretty good at eating lots of different plants, by the end of the first week without making any changes I’d eaten 48 plants. I realised that I ate a lot of the same things, and since you can’t list the same plant twice it became increasingly difficult as the week progressed to find completely new plants to increase the numbers. Over time I've come up with a few cunning ways of boosting the weekly total. If I see a new grain or dried pulse that I haven't already got it gets added to the pantry. I used to mostly eat some kind of rice, quinoa, couscous, or spuds as a main carb with meals, but have developed a fondness for pearl barley risotto, buckwheat and millet. The freezer and air fryer are useful, turns out that you can throw some frozen brussel sprouts or frozen okra into the air fryer and ten minutes later you have an extra tasty roast vegetable to go with your meal.
The Zoe people do say that you are not restricted to the “portions” of fruit and veg that count towards your “five a day”, a pinch of cinnamon, and each of the individual herbs in a herb mix count as “plants” for boosting the diversity of your gut microbiome, as well as tea, coffee, and even chocolate. Last time I totted up the total I’d eaten 73 different plants in a single day, which might sound a bit incredible if you are struggling to get through your five a day, but it's dead easy once you get into playing the game.
Hodmedods Meadowblend #2 flour makes a lovely wholemeal bread, a single slice will boost your weekly total with 14 different plants (Spelt, Einkorn, Emmer, Rye, Barley, Naked Oats, Poppy Seeds, Buckwheat, Linseed, Peas, Nettle, Cornflower, Rose Petal, Mallow Flower) seeds that used to be commonly found in grainfields before pesticides became ubiquitous, and which would have been harvested and ground along with the grains. The fact that it tastes delicious is an extra bonus, though if you aren't used to heavy, solid wholemeal bread (think German dark rye texture) you might want to start by mixing it half and half with strong white bread flour made from wheat (another plant towards your total).
My 11 plant breakfast porridge gets mixed in the porringer before bedtime, first water then steel cut oats, 1 tbsp *inulin powder , 2 tbsp of the no added sugar PB&Me peanut butter powder, 15g walnuts, one tbsp of linseeds, a tsp each of sesame, sunflower, poppy, hemp, pumpkin, chia seeds, and ground cinnamon. The basic porridge mix adds 10 plants to my total, as well as 22 g of fibre, the next morning I add frozen berries, or a grated apple and cardamom powder before turning on the hob. At the moment my freezer stash of frozen berries includes cranberries, black cherries, morello cherries, Japanese wineberries, raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and blueberries, which is an easy way of adding another 12 plants to the weekly total along with the apple and cardamom.
*The inulin powder is made from chicory root but has been highly processed so I doubt it counts as an actual plant and don't include it in the total. It's an excellent prebiotic, tipping the balance in favour of some of the more beneficial gut bugs. 1tbp of inulin powder contains 10g of water soluble fibre. Humans can't digest it, so you have to start with only tiny amounts and wait patiently until the bacteria that are able to digest if for you have multiplied enough to digest an increased dose. Taking too much too soon, before you've built up a large enough population of inulin chomping gut microbes will result in it fermenting inside your guts, causing painful cramps, wind and explosive dire rear. (If you've ever overdosed on Jerusalem artichokes you'll understand, they too contain loads of inulin, and are a lot easier to scoff in large quantities compared to chicory root. )
Lunch today included 24 different plants. An omelette (olive oil, spinach, mushrooms, onion, garlic, Aleppo pepper flakes, dried leek flakes, chives, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, oregano, savory, basil, tarragon and black pepper.) with a serving of kimchi (pak choi, diakon radish, carrot, garlic, turmeric, ginger, chilli pepper) and a banana for afters.
For tea I’m planning on red lentil pasta, with frozen endame beans and steamed broccoli, with sauce using up the last of the Christmas stilton, served with salad made from fresh watercress mixed with sauerkraut, chopped dried apricots and pecan nuts. Followed by a glass of kefir and a sharon fruit before I start fasting at 4pm.
During the 18 hour fast I drink purple, green, white, oolong, mint and camomile tea in the evenings (6 more plants), and then black coffee while waiting for breakfast at 10am. I don't like black tea unless it has milk in, so I only drink ordinary tea between 10 and 4pm.
I am easily amused, so I haven't got bored yet with widening the variety of plants in my daily diet. Last year I grew kohl rabi in the garden, alongside the usual peas, beans, courgettes, winter squash and beetroot, because you rarely see them in the shops and they are tasty baked in the air fryer.