25 February 2026
For a long time, plant-based cuisine was presented as an alternative: ethical, healthy, necessary. Today, the conversation has shifted. In many urban contexts, eating “green” is no longer a compensation, it is a specific cultural orientation.
Restaurants like Eleven Madison Park in New York—which in 2021 chose an entirely plant-based menu—have helped shift perception. Plant-based cuisine can be haute cuisine, technical research, sophisticated construction of flavor. It is not a lightened version of something else.
Even in Europe, the transformation is evident. In Berlin, Copenhagen, Milan, and London, restaurants that work on fermentations, consistencies, and less obvious varieties are multiplying. Vegetables are no longer a side dish; they become the central subject to be interpreted.
What matters is not the Not only the elimination of meat or fish, but a change in perspective on the raw material. Roots, leaves, legumes, and seeds are treated with the same attention that was once reserved for premium cuts. Techniques such as fermentation, drying, roasting, or raw processing create complexity without resorting to animal protein as the dominant structure.
Eating plant-based today also means positioning yourself. It is a choice that communicates environmental sensitivity, attention to the supply chain, and awareness of one's impact. This choice is not always radical or all-encompassing; it is often modular, flexible, but visible.
The market has intercepted this evolution. Food brands, premium supermarkets, and media chefs have integrated the "plant-based" language as a stable category. The risk of standardization is just around the corner: when "green" becomes a label, does it lose its depth?
In the most common cases, Interestingly, however, plant-based cuisine opens up a field of authentic experimentation. It pushes us to rethink the relationship between body and matter, between seasonality and technique, between pleasure and responsibility.
