The Kingdom of Plants: It’s Time to Honor What Truly Sustains Us

In the age of vegan innovation, supermarket shelves are crowded with plant-based burgers, not-bacon, and cheese that stretches without the cow. On one hand, this reflects a growing desire to move away from animal-based foods. But on the other, it reveals a deeper issue: we’re still clinging to the idea that animal foods are the gold standard.

It’s as if we can’t imagine nourishment without referencing the animal kingdom—as though it were the only one that mattered, or worse, inherently superior. But it’s not. The Kingdom of Plants has sustained life on this planet far longer and far more generously—feeding us, healing us, and cleaning the air we breathe.

So why are we manipulating plants—nature’s most health-giving foods—just to mimic the very products that damage our bodies, harm other species, and devastate the environment?

It’s time to ask: what exactly are we trying to preserve—and at what cost?

The Myth of the Caveman Diet

One of the most enduring justifications for animal-based eating is the so-called "caveman hypothesis": the idea that our evolutionary leap as humans was fueled by meat consumption. But this is more speculation than science. Anthropologists have long debated this idea, and emerging research shows early humans had highly varied diets, rich in wild plants, roots, fruits, and seeds—not just mammoth steaks.

In fact, a 2021 study published in Nature analyzed ancient dental calculus and discovered abundant starch granules—direct evidence of early hominin consumption of carbohydrate-rich plant foods. The researchers concluded that starchy plants were a crucial energy source and may have played an under-appreciated role in the expansion of the human brain [1]. This archaeological evidence supports earlier hypotheses suggesting that cooked starches, not meat, may have been the real fuel behind our cognitive evolution [1, 2].

The popular narrative that meat alone fueled our evolution is not a settled fact—it’s a conjecture. A persuasive one, perhaps, but still an educated guess dressed up as evolutionary law.

Colonialism on a Plate

The second force shaping our food preferences is colonialism. At its core lies a powerful assumption: that meat, eggs, and dairy must form the center of every meal. This belief isn’t based on nutritional science—it’s a cultural inheritance shaped by history, power, and Western dominance.

Take breakfast, for example. In many parts of the world, people begin their day with plant-based meals like congee with tofu in China, idli and sambar in India, or miso soup and rice in Japan. These meals are deeply nourishing, balanced, and time-tested. Yet Western norms—like eggs and bacon—are still treated as the global standard.

Instead of celebrating this diversity, we often exoticize or overlook it. And despite the mounting health and environmental costs, the Western diet continues to dominate [3].

To move forward, we must first dismantle this outdated framework. Not every meal needs to be anchored in animal products. By expanding our lens and honoring global food practices, we open ourselves to a richer, more inclusive—and more sustainable—way of eating.

The Plant Paradox—Not What You Think

Ironically, the plant-based food movement is reinforcing these old paradigms. Dietitians trying to reassure newcomers to veganism often say things like, “You don’t have to just eat vegetables”—as if vegetables were a last resort, a symbol of dietary deficiency. These comments reveal a bias: that vegetables are inferior to meat, and that a proper diet must still resemble the Standard American Diet.

But here’s the truth: excessive consumption of animal-based foods is only “superior” at doing one thing—undermining our health. High consumption of red and processed meat is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, colorectal cancer, and overall mortality [4, 5]. Diets high in animal-based and ultra-processed foods also contribute to obesity and chronic inflammation, compounding the risk of non-communicable diseases [6].

Beyond the human health toll, animal agriculture is a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and biodiversity loss—posing serious threats to planetary health [7]. It also involves the suffering and slaughter of billions of sentient animals every year. The environmental, ethical, and health costs are staggering—so why cling to recreations of harmful foods when we could be crafting something entirely new—rooted in health, not habit?

Plants: Nurturers of Life

In a world fixated on recreating burgers, bacon, and cheese, we’ve lost sight of the real heroes of human health and survival: plants. They are not substitutes or stand-ins—they are primary, powerful, and foundational. From the oxygen we breathe to the nutrients that sustain every cell in our bodies, plants are one of the central pillars of life itself.

Every food chain begins with them. Whether we eat plants directly—through fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds—or indirectly through animals that depend on them, all nourishment ultimately traces back to the plant kingdom. They energize us, build our defenses, and equip us to repair, recover, and thrive.

Yet in modern food culture—especially in the West—plants are too often treated as secondary. They're cast as bland, boring, or nutritionally inferior, needing to be disguised or transformed into something else. But nothing could be further from the truth. When you start with fresh, high-quality produce and know how to prepare it—even minimally—plants are thrilling. They burst with texture, aroma, and natural complexity. Some don’t even need to be cooked to deliver an exhilarating eating experience. From the snap of a just-picked snap pea to the sweetness of a ripe mango or the bite of a peppery radish, plants speak for themselves—no mimicry required.

And yet, despite their beauty, flavor, and proven benefits, we remain disconnected. Most Americans still fall far short of the recommended 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day [8]—a reflection of how distant modern eating patterns are from the foods that actually support vitality.

Reclaiming the Power of Plants

Fortunately, change is in the air. More people are embracing plant-rich diets—not just for personal health, but as a conscious response to the ecological crisis. As we’ve seen, our food system is a leading driver of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and water pollution, with animal agriculture at the heart of that toll [9].

But the rise of plant-based eating is not the end goal—it’s the beginning of a much deeper transformation. If we stop at imitation, we risk missing the full potential of this shift. We need to rewrite the cultural story we tell about plants—not as dietary compromises or nutritional understudies, but as core agents of vitality and regeneration.

Choosing plants isn’t just about what we eat. It’s about what we value. It’s about embracing a future that prioritizes nourishment, sustainability, and integrity over nostalgia and illusion. When we stop copying what harms us and start honoring what sustains us, we don’t just change our meals—we change our mindset.

From Replication to Reverence: A New Culinary Imagination

It’s time to stop disguising plants as something they’re not—and start honoring them for what they are. Across cultures, time-tested food traditions offer a powerful blueprint—meals built from grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, seeds, and spices that are deeply satisfying, nourishing, and rooted in practical wisdom. These dishes don’t imitate—they embody creativity, care, and connection.

Let’s move the spotlight from imitation to authenticity. Let’s foster a food culture that uplifts the real, the enduring, and the diverse—meals like bibimbap, lentil stews, sweet potato porridges, and rainbow vegetable platters. This is where culinary imagination thrives: not in recreating Western norms, but in drawing from global insight to plant the seeds of a better future.

To reimagine food is to trust that plants, just as they are, are enough—that we don’t need replicas of the old to nourish ourselves or our communities.

The future of food is sprouting—not manufactured or nostalgic, but vibrant, intentional, and alive with possibility.

References

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2. Henry, A. G., Brooks, A. S., & Piperno, D. R. (2021). Plant foods and the nutritional ecology of early Homo sapiens.Nature, 598, 608–612. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03852-x
3. Clemente-Suárez VJ, Beltrán-Velasco AI, Redondo-Flórez L, et al. Global impacts of Western diet and its effects on metabolism and health: a narrative review. Nutrients. 2023;15(12):2749. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/12/2749 mdpi.com
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   https://www.iarc.who.int/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/pr240_E.pdf iarc.who.int
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   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22412075/ pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
6. Lane MM, Davis JA, Beattie S, et al. Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. BMJ. 2024;384:e077310. https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310 bmj.com
7. Poore J, Nemecek T. Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science.2018;360(6392):987-992. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29853680/
8. Moore LV, Thompson FE. Adults meeting fruit and vegetable intake recommendations — United States, 2013.MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2015;64(26):709-713.
   https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6426a1.htm cdc.gov
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