While steamed vegetables and plain salads can quickly become tasteless, there are many ways to flavor your vegetable dishes.
By now, everyone is aware that the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet and the foods that are best for our health are fresh fruits and vegetables. Eating a diet higher in plant-based foods and lower in animal products is one of the best wellness suggestions for enhancing health.
Why do kettle chips and chocolate have to taste so good? The issue is that it’s difficult to go for a large serving of dark-green spinach and steamed broccoli when the other options are frequently more enticing.
Finding and maintaining the urge to consume more fruits, veggies, and other healthy meals can be challenging for both adults and kids. However, by employing several quick meal preparation techniques that really make vegetables taste better, we may program our bodies to seek more nutrient-dense foods.
How to make vegetables tasty
Add color
Brighter, deeper-colored veggies not only have higher amounts of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, but they can also change the taste of meals and improve their aesthetic appeal. Use fresh or dried tomatoes, glazed carrots or beets, yellow squash, roasted red cabbage wedges, or sweet, colorful peppers to add color.
Liven up salad greens
Extend beyond lettuce. Nutrient-rich foods include kale, arugula, spinach, mustard greens, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage. Try pouring olive oil, adding a hot dressing, or topping salad greens with goat cheese, nut pieces, chickpeas, a little bacon, or parmesan to enhance flavor.
Satisfy your sweet tooth
Vegetables that are naturally sweet, such as carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, yams, onions, bell peppers, and squash, add sweetness to your meals and lessen your desire for extra sugar. For a delicious sweet kick, add them to soups, stews, or pasta sauces.
Cook green beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus in new ways
Try grilling, roasting, or pan-frying these healthful sides with chili flakes, garlic, shallots, mushrooms, or onion in place of boiling or steaming them. Alternatively, marinade before cooking in tart lemon or lime.
Stuff them
In olive oil, sauté bell peppers, onions, and garlic. They are minced, along with some ham, and placed inside mushroom caps. Bake for about 15 minutes, then top with parmesan cheese and Italian bread crumbs. For stuffing, baking, and roasting, artichokes, tomatoes, and bell peppers are also excellent choices. Create your own recipe!
A Flavorful Homemade Soup
Your favorite homemade soup or stew will taste and look better with a ton of vegetables added.
Mix with Fruit
Making a salad is a fantastic way to incorporate both fruit and veggies. This can be done in a delightful fashion by starting with spinach, adding cherry halves, strawberry slices, and walnuts, and dressing with an orange-based vinaigrette.
Healthy Dipping!
Dip your raw vegetables (such carrots, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower) into hummus, a nutrient-rich dip that contains vegetables and may be eaten as a side dish or with nutritious grains.
Spice Them Up!
Slice some yellow and green squash. Add diced tomatoes, onion, and mushroom slices. Then, depending on your preference for spice cut up one or two jalapeno peppers. add to the mixture of vegetables. For a hot new favorite, sauté in a skillet and serve over brown rice.
Pair with Cheese
Make your own version of the classic caprese salad by adding low-fat mozzarella and basil leaves to your dish, or simply sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of your cooked veggies.
Here are some ideas to try to squeeze in some extra veggies with every mouthful of food:
- A single broccoli crown and a big chunk of chicken.
- A chunk of grilled onions and chicken.
- Rice, a wedge of zucchini, and steak.
- A slice of asparagus, and salmon.
- A wedge of sweet potato and peppers.
- Steak, onions, and pineapple.
After a long, chilly winter, spring is always thrilling because of the lovely weather and the abundance of amazing, fresh fruits and vegetables that are available to cheer us up. Let’s first examine some advantages of eating foods that are in season before revealing what is in season this spring. These are a few of them, developed with assistance from the Herbalife Nutrition team.
Enhances flavour and nutrition
When fresh produce is delivered directly from the farm rather than traveling thousands of kilometers, it is, well, fresher. Since no one likes a strawberry that has gone bad, this also means that nothing needs to be done to the fruits to keep them fresh while in transportation. In keeping with the topic of preservatives, unprocessed fresh foods are flavored and additive-free, so you get a tasty dosage of essential vitamins and minerals with every bite.
Foods become significantly less expensive when they are easily accessible. In contrast, you’ll spend more for the same food when it’s out of season. So, eating items that are in season can ultimately help you save money.
Supports your local community
Why not visit the neighborhood farmer’s market instead of going to malls and shopping centers? Local farms have worked hard to guarantee that their goods are gathered for you to enjoy. You’ll support a small business while making sure your family eats a balanced, healthy meal. So that you may consume fresh foods while also saving money, use our spring seasonal produce guide to learn about the fruits and vegetables that are in season.
Since vegetables are a basic necessity for everyone, they present a special market for South African producers. In order to address food security and meet people’s needs for additional nutrients, vegetables are crucial. The growth of the domestic market is a major factor in the production of vegetables, which is crucial for the creation of jobs and food security. It is classified as having both a strong potential for growth and being labor-intensive (Sihlobo, 2018).
South Africa exports and imports vegetables
Butternuts (46%), sweet potatoes (25%), pumpkin (17%), onions (10%), carrots (1%), and potatoes (1%) made up the majority of vegetable exports in 2021. (FPEF, 2022).
Exports of carrots went to the Indian Ocean Islands (22%), Africa (66%), and the UK (5%), with 7% going to Europe (FPEF 2022).
Exports of butternut in 2020–21 were primarily made to the UK (44%) and Europe (39%). Russia (33%) and the Middle East (14%) were also represented (FPEF 2022)
The top four destinations for onions exports were the UK (47%), Europe (38%), Indian Ocean Islands (9%), and Africa (5%) (FPEF 2022).
The Middle East (70%) and Africa (7%) received tomatoes (FPEF, 2022).
The Bureau for Food & Agricultural Policy (BFAP) (2020) estimated the gross production value (GPV) of vegetables in South Africa to be R17.7 billion using the Abstract of Agricultural Statistics (DALRRD, 2019). This GBV figure is made up of
Potatoes (42%)
Green mealies and sweet corn (26%)
Tomatoes (12%)
Onions (8%)
Pumpkins, gemsquash & cauliflower (3%)
Carrots (3%)
Other (6%)
African business environment
Vegetable exports into Africa were boosted prior to Covid-19 by the sub-Saharan region’s considerably greater GDP growth as well as the audacity of retail supermarkets’ expansion into Africa over the previous two decades. These nations’ economies were expected to expand significantly more quickly than South Africa’s, and because of urbanization trends and the inevitable shift from informal to formal retail, supermarkets outside of South Africa would continue to experience growth that is greater than that which is possible in South Africa.
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