World Environment Day food

Henry Firth, Ian Theasby and the BOSH! team share two plant-based recipes for World Environment Day

Home » World Environment Day food

Published: June 5, 2026
This Article was written by: Contributor
cooking, environment, food, health, kitchen, plant-based, recipes, vegan

0 Shares

This article first appeared in our World Environment Day 2026 issue of My Green Pod Magazine, published 05 June 2026. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox

While most ingredients simply exist in the food system, legumes do something rarer: they give back.

Butter beans, chickpeas and lentils are all plants that fix nitrogen directly into the soil, meaning the land they grow on ends up healthier than it was before they arrived.

It’s one of those quietly radical facts that deserves more airtime.

On World Environment Day, when every small action counts, we want to celebrate not with a lecture, but with lunch.

Here are two recipes for you to try – both built on legumes, and both worth making this week.

Braised Fennel & Beans

(Serves 6)

Fennel is one of the most underrated vegetables in sustainable cooking. It’s inexpensive, low carbon and packed with flavour. Here it’s braised in a rich butter bean base until tender and caramelised, and finished with a bright walnut and parsley drizzle that brings the whole dish to life. One pan, mostly store-cupboard ingredients and absolutely delicious.

Ingredients

1 fennel bulb (fronds reserved)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 jar queen butter beans
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 garlic cloves, diced
1 shallot, diced
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Juice of ½ lemon
10g vegan parmesan
Crusty bread, to serve

For the drizzle

25g flat-leaf parsley
50g walnuts, toasted and chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil

Before you start

Preheat oven to 180°C (fan); large ovenproof pan; sharp knife.

Method

Prep ingredients
Slice the fennel bulb into wedges and reserve the fronds. Dice the shallots, garlic and any remaining fennel. Toast and roughly chop the walnuts.

Fry the fennel
Heat 1 tbsp oil in your ovenproof pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the fennel wedges until golden on each side, then remove and set aside.

Make the base
Add another 1 tbsp olive oil to the pan. Add the shallots, diced fennel, garlic and fennel seeds and fry for 5 minutes, until softened.

Add the butter beans, nutritional yeast, parmesan and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer, adding a splash of water to loosen, then nestle the fennel wedges back in the pan.

Bake
Transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the fennel is tender.

Make the drizzle
Blitz the parsley, walnuts, lemon zest and enough olive oil to loosen in a blender until smooth.

Finish
Spoon the drizzle over the beans, scatter over the fennel fronds and serve straight from the pan with toasted crusty bread.

Crispy Rice and Herb Salad with Chilli-Lime Dressing

Crispy Rice & Herb Salad with Chilli-Lime Dressing

(Serves 2–3)

Here’s a recipe that starts with something many people would throw out: leftover rice. Day-old rice crisps better than fresh, and when you add chickpeas and gochujang to the pan, you get layers of heat, crunch and nuttiness that make this feel like anything but a use-up. Topped with a bright herb salad and a chilli-lime dressing, it’s a dish that punches far above the sum of its parts.

Ingredients
For the crispy rice & chickpeas

250g cooked jasmine or basmati rice (day-old works best)
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp gochujang
1 tbsp neutral oil (sunflower or light olive)
Generous pinch of salt

For the salad

1 small red onion, finely sliced
1 red pepper, finely sliced
1 small cucumber, finely sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced
2 mild red chillies, finely sliced
Large handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Large handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
2 tbsp sesame seeds

For the dressing

Juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp chilli crisp or a dash of sriracha (optional)

Before you start

Use day-old rice for the best crisp; large non-stick frying pan or skillet; mixing bowl.

Method

Prepare ingredients
Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Finely slice the red onion, red pepper, cucumber, spring onions and chillies. Roughly chop the herbs. Peel and grate the garlic and ginger.

Crisp the rice & chickpeas
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the rice and chickpeas in a single layer, pressing down slightly. Leave to cook undisturbed for 6–8 minutes, until they have turned golden and crispy on the bottom. Stir once or twice to toast the other sides.

Season with salt and the gochujang, stir to coat, then transfer to a tray to allow to cool slightly.

Make the dressing
Whisk together the lime juice, soy sauce, maple syrup, rice vinegar, sesame oil, grated garlic, ginger and chilli crisp (if using) in a small bowl.

Assemble the salad
In a large bowl, toss the crispy rice and chickpeas with the sliced vegetables, herbs and sesame seeds. Pour over the dressing and toss it all together again to make sure everything has been coated.

Serve
Pile the mixture into bowls and top it off with extra herbs, sesame seeds or an additional splash of chilli oil if you like heat. Serve immediately for maximum crunch.