Food

Food is medicine. It all starts here. We create recipes with functional, whole organic ingredients that nourish your body and feed your soul. 

The trick to these plant-based sausages is rolling them in rice paper wrappers before steaming and grilling them. The rice paper creates a translucent coating similar to sausage casing, but without pork. These are best served with grainy German mustard (preferably stone-ground) and sauerkraut (look for unpasteurized versions or make your own), but they’re also great sliced into pieces and cooked into a tomato-based barbecue sauce with curry powder—a traditional currywurst!

Schnitzel usually means tenderized meat coated in egg and breadcrumbs and deep-fried. The German version is often pork, while the Austrian wiener schnitzel has to be veal (it’s a rule). But this version of schnitzel would have even Julie Andrews singing its praises, thanks to the tender tofu that skips the fryer. Schnitzel can be served simply with noodles coated in (plant-based) butter with lemon wedges, but lingonberry sauce (reminiscent of cranberry sauce), tomato sauce, or mushroom gravy are also Oktoberfest regulars.

At Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich, there are always people walking around selling large pretzels, says Canadian expat Chris Gilles, who moved to the city in 2018. The large pieces of golden, twisted pretzel dough come topped with coarse salt for a savoury crunch with every bite. “They don’t come with any dipping sauce,” Gilles says, “but you could dip it in sauce if you had ordered something else”—say, the honey mustard or stone-ground mustard you might have with your bratwurst or sauerkraut balls. But don’t feel bad if you prefer to break from German tradition and dip them in caramel or tahini instead!

This dark beer-marinated chicken uses the convection setting on your oven to create a crispy skinned bird. Convection cooking circulates air around the meat, crisping it like rotisserie without needing a spit or a lot of oil, similar to an air fryer (which you can also use!). If you don’t have a convection setting on your oven, you can simply bake the chicken for longer at the same temperatures as below, until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 F (74 C).

Traditionally made with bratwurst and fried, these plant-based balls are baked and made with tempeh and mushrooms for a savoury, satisfying chewy interior and a crispy exterior. You can also use your homemade plant-based bratwurst as a stuffing in place of the croutons, but it seems a shame to go to all that work shaping them just to pull them apart.

"Germans do potatoes in general very well,” says Canadian expat Chris Gilles, who now lives in Munich and has celebrated many an Oktoberfest there. “Knödel seem kind of rubbery. You don’t really think it’s potato when you first see it, but it’s tasty.” But he might be surprised to find that this alive-inspired version of Bavarian potato dumplings is made with a combination of potato and cauliflower, because as anyone who’s eaten cauliflower gnocchi knows, the low-carb vegetable is a great way to lighten up starch-heavy foods (and Biergarten menus).

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A Unique Oktoberfest Menu—alive-Style!

Recipes to keep your kids healthy and their taste buds happy 

13 Healthy Back-to-School Lunch Ideas

Love eggs and oatmeal? Then it’s time to start cracking on breakfasting more than usual for easier meals that hit the nutritional jackpot. Bring on brinner!

Bake up omelettes inside bell peppers for a healthy, tasty, and quick end-of-day meal. If you’re cooking for a smaller crowd, this recipe is easily halved. Finish everything off with a scattering of chives and/or hot sauce. If steering clear of dairy, you can stir in nondairy milk and shredded vegan cheese.

We took classic cheesy nachos and gave them a breakfast vibe with scrambled eggs and then took them to the next level with satisfying add-ins including beans and creamy avocado. This is a perfect dinner to share around the table where a bit of mess is to be celebrated. You can also serve it with your favourite salsa.

Here, the breakfast favourite, granola, serves as a crunchy topping for this salad featuring seasonal delights, including sweet butternut and apple. The maple-date dressing is sure to be kid-approved. You can add cooked lentils to move it from side dish to complete plant-based meal. If desired, swap out butternut for pumpkin or sweet potato and add a creamy touch with feta or soft goat cheese.

If breakfast oatmeal is your jam, you’ll happily spoon up this oat-infused hearty chili. It comes together quickly enough to add to your weeknight dinner routine, but soaking the steel-cut oats ahead of time is key to having them cook more efficiently. Toppings run the gamut of avocado, sour cream, broken tortilla chips, cilantro, or grated cheddar.

These sweet-savoury pancakes are sure to bring smiles to anyone at the dinner table who longs for flapjack Sunday. If desired, you can add herby flavour to the pancakes with sage or rosemary instead of thyme and swap out parsnip for grated carrot. Serve with a side salad or a plate of roasted veggies.

Dinner in Reverse

Eating a rainbow of different fruits and vegetables each day is a simple way to make sure we get the essential nutrients our bodies need. With a handful of colourful recipes on hand, the path to a healthier you is just a forkful away.

Red vegetables and fruits are rich in lycopene. This plant nutrient is a potent antioxidant that also happens to provide foods such as tomatoes, watermelon, red peppers, and grapefruit with their characteristic colours. Lycopene has been linked to a range of health benefits including promoting optimal heart health and potentially preventing or slowing down certain types of cancers.

What better way to celebrate healthy eating than with cake? Thanks to a healthy dose of orange fruits and vegetables, this cake is chock full of carotenoids, a compound that converts to vitamin A in the body and is essential for proper immune health and good eye health.

The stars of this delicious curry dish are yellow and orange fruits and vegetables, which are high in a form of carotenoids called xanthophylls. These compounds have more of a yellow pigment as opposed to their orangier cousins, the carotenes. While a powerful antioxidant, xanthophylls are mostly associated with maintaining good eye health.

Deep green fruits and vegetables are high on the list of health-promoting foods. Green foods have been shown to contain high amounts of antioxidants and nutrients that promote good cardiovascular health and can inhibit certain carcinogens. Serve this frittata alongside a leafy green salad for an unbeatable green culinary experience.

This vibrant soup is a soul-soothing hug in a bowl. Blue and purple fruits and vegetables contain powerful antioxidants called anthocyanins that promote health and proper brain function.

This creamy dip will be your go-to for dunking vegetables or for spooning over roast chicken or root vegetables as a sauce. Compounds found in fennel have been shown to stimulate the production of T-cells in our body, which, in turn, may help improve our immune response to infections.

Eating the Rainbow for Immunity

Getting potassium from your diet is easy and delicious 

10 High-Potassium Foods That Won’t Drive You Bananas

Here’s a list of foods you should limit or avoid when on a gout diet, plus some foods to eat more often.

Control your gout flare-ups

The Gout Diet: Best and Worst Foods

Zinc is an important part of keeping your overall wellness in check. These zinc&#x2d;rich foods can help you up your intake.

Get more zinc in your diet 

Top 10 Foods High in Zinc

A versatile and popular fruit, the health benefits of apples are numerous. Read on to find out how apples can benefit you.

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” but do you know why that is?

10 Amazing Health Benefits of Apples

Got hunger? Whatever your hangry brood is craving, any one of these delicious make&#x2d;ahead nibbles will satisfy their snack attack with nutritious side benefits. They may even earn you the Snack Master crown!

Gearing up for a family movie night at home? Don’t let cravings get the best of you. Instead, sit down with a bowl of this ultra-satisfying sweet-crunchy snack mix. Crispy chickpeas are coated with cocoa-cinnamon, making them an irresistible find at the bottom of the bowl. There is enough protein and fibre here to make this a satiating any-time-of-day snack option.

These stuffed bite-sized pancakes will have the little ones jumping for joy and adults feeling like a kid again. The mini pancakes can be made up to three days in advance, allowing for quick assembly when hunger calls.

Sweet baby peppers serve as a nutritious delivery method for this pesto-like dip. You can also spread the dip into celery crevices. Soft tofu is a dairy-free way to give the dip a creamy texture. The peppers can be stuffed up to a day in advance and kept chilled.

This riff on everyone’s favourite childhood sandwich is a delicious snack on a sultry summer day. It’s like ice cream but with fewer calories and a more advantageous nutrition profile. And there’s no ice cream maker required!

The sunny side of these mini-sized egg cakes? They offer up a savoury way to work more protein and vegetables into snack time. Serve at room temperature or warm in the microwave. When grated, sweet potato cooks in a flash to quickly infuse these baby frittatas with lofty amounts of immune-enhancing beta carotene.

Smart Snacking

Get ready for lots of smiles around the table with these kid&#x2d;approved recipes that are not only healthy but convenient and affordable too.

These breakfast pops are the perfect way to start a summer day. The surprise addition of homemade granola embedded in the pop takes this from a snack-time treat to a filling breakfast to fuel the day ahead. Incorporating fermented foods, such as yogurt, into our diet helps to enhance the body’s absorption of proteins, vitamins, and minerals.

Here, the perennial kid-favoured mac and cheese gets a plant-based makeover. One of the key ingredients in this recipe is cauliflower. This standout superfood is all the rage at the moment, and for good reason. Cauliflower is rich in glucosinolates, sulphur-containing compounds with potent antioxidant properties.

This two-tone shake is a fun and nutritious pick-me-up any time of day. Spinach is a functional food hero thanks to its diverse nutritional composition that promotes health beyond basic nutrition. Beetroot not only provides an eye-popping colour but also lends a good source of fibre to this drink, which, in turn, contributes to a healthy digestive tract.

These tasty tostadas make a great meal any time of the day. Sweet potatoes contain a good amount of fibre and antioxidants that have been shown to contribute to a healthy gut. Lentils are a great source of polyphenols, which have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Dippable finger foods always go down a treat with kids, and these fish sticks are no exception. Salmon is a nutritional powerhouse that, among other benefits, is a wonderful source of omega-3 fatty acids and protein, both of which you must get from your diet. To complete this meal, try serving the fish sticks and zesty yogurt sauce alongside roasted sweet potato wedges or celery and carrot sticks.

As indulgent as it sounds, this dip is loaded with nutrient-rich functional foods that help support a healthy immune system. Black beans are a great source of protein and fibre, while raw cocoa powder contains compounds that have been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on our bodies.

More Please!

Smart food choices can help protect you from heart attack and stroke. Check out these 10 delicious options that can help lower your cholesterol.

Delicious additions for your plate and a heart-healthy diet 

Best Foods for Lowering Cholesterol

Fats are essential for the human body to function, but some types are healthier than others. Get creative with these 10 plant&#x2d;based foods for a diet rich in healthy fats.