Start guide
Does it cost more to eat this way?
It depends what you buy. Staples are among the cheapest foods there are; ready-made substitutes are not.
The cheap version
Dried lentils, beans, chickpeas, rice, oats, potatoes, frozen vegetables, seasonal fruit and tinned tomatoes are some of the least expensive foods per calorie and per gram of protein in almost every country.
The expensive version
Plant-based burgers, cheeses and ready meals are usually priced above the animal products they imitate. They are convenient, not essential.
Dishes that fit this
Named for how they taste, with the difference each makes against the meal it stands in for.
Golden dal with fried cumin
Soft split lentils finished with cumin seeds fried in oil until they crackle, poured over the top.
About 1.5 times the land of chicken curry.
Chana masala
Chickpeas in a dark, sour-sweet tomato sauce, sharpened with a squeeze of lemon at the end.
About 1.7 times the land of chicken curry.
Slow-roast sweet potato
Roasted until the skin blisters and the inside turns to jam, split open with black pepper and olive oil.
About a sixth of the land of jacket potato with cheese.
Minestrone
Thick with beans and small pasta, better the next day, and it costs almost nothing to make a lot of it.
Under a tenth of the land of beef and vegetable soup.