Vegetables Don't Have to Be Boring

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

If you're a parent of a teen or have teens in your life, it can be hard to figure out the right way to approach social media and technology. Ultimately, if you feel like your teens are ready, there are tools to help. Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what your teens see and who can contact them, plus time management tools like daily time limits and sleep mode. And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts.

That's instagram.com/teenaccounts.

Tanya Sichynsky (0:39)

I think so much of what makes good vegetarian cooking great is leaning into the seasons and not thinking of recipes so much as a mandate but a suggestion. You really just need to think about, is this vegetable like this other vegetable? And by that I mean, is it similarly textured? Is it similarly starchy? Is it similarly leafy? Is it going to take roughly the same amount of time to cook? Does it have kind of a similar water content?

Christine Cyr Clisset (1:09)

I'm Christine Cyr Clisset.

Rosie Guerin (1:11)

I'm Rosie Guerin. And you're listening to The Wirecutter Show.

Hey there. Before we jump into today's show, I want to let you know about a special offer. If you're not already a subscriber to The New York Times, you can now explore The Times for free. No pay walls during your first month in The New York Times app. You can find all of your favorite shows like, I don't know, this show, Modern Love, Cannonball and more on the new shows tab. Okay, let's get into it.

Christine Cyr Clisset (1:54)

Rosie, hello.

Tanya Sichynsky (1:55)

Hello. Hello, hello.

Christine Cyr Clisset (1:57)

I am curious. I know that you don't really eat meat. Are you a strict vegetarian?

Rosie Guerin (2:02)

No, I'm not anymore. I was a vegetarian beginning in college.

Actually, it was the first year I was in an apartment having to cook all on my own. It occurred to me that I was never going to cook meat. I knew I never would prepare it. So I thought, if I'm not going to prepare it, why don't I just stop eating it? I stopped for about a decade.

Christine Cyr Clisset (2:27)

Okay. Yeah, but now you eat chicken and fish and things like that.

Rosie Guerin (2:30)

No, I can be tempted by a piece of chicken.

Christine Cyr Clisset (2:33)

Yeah.

I think a lot of folks are trying to incorporate more vegetables into their diets, but maybe they have trouble knowing how to cook them, or they feel like they're in a cooking rut, or they are working with something specific, like a dietary restriction that is limiting what they can cook. Today, we are going to talk with a person who can help. Tanya Sichynsky is an editor for the Food and Cooking Sections at The New York Times, and the author of the weekly newsletter, The Veggie. She just came out with a new cookbook called Veg Everything. She's going to talk with us about the book, the recipes and her ideas for making vegetables the star of your table.

Rosie Guerin (3:11)

I'm so excited for this book. I am constantly wanting to incorporate more vegetables into my life, into the kids' lives. I love Tanya. We had Tanya on the show last summer to talk about recipes that would be perfect for beach days specifically.

Today, we're going to talk with her about getting back into that cooking groove. It's September now. We're back to school. We're busy again and we want to eat vegetables ideally.

Christine Cyr Clisset (3:37)

Yeah. It's also a fun time to experiment with some new recipes.

Rosie Guerin (3:41)

There's a lot of stuff that's really yummy and in season. Tanya is going to talk us through this amazing new book and talk about preparing some really easy and some showstopping vegetarian dishes and she's a delight.

Christine Cyr Clisset (3:56)

I cannot wait. We'll be back with Tanya after the break.

SPEAKER_1 (4:09)

If you're a parent of a teen or have teens in your life, it can be hard to figure out the right way to approach social media and technology. Ultimately, if you feel like your teens are ready, there are tools to help. Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what your teens see and who can contact them, plus time management tools like daily time limits and sleep mode. And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts.