New year, new trend. Plant-based eating sees a rise in popularity: Andrew Coppolino

The idea of Veganuary — originally a U.K.-based challenge to live an animal product-free vegan lifestyle for the month of January — has perhaps diminished somewhat as a concept of food activism, but the philosophy of mindful eating and drinking has not.

From vegetarian and vegan diets to pescatarian and flexitarian ones, plant-based diets include vegetables, pulses and grains. The word vegan, it would seem, has been replaced for the most part by the term plant-based. At the same time consumers have looked uneasily on "meat alternatives" and their long list of multi syllabic ingredients and heavy processing.

Plant-based dishes at restaurants have grown each year. When a new pizza joint opens — amid an already crowded pizza marketplace — it inevitably has fake pepperoni and cheese toppings.

Conventional and traditional upscale casual restaurants and family-style restaurants also offer more plant-based dishes. Kitchener's Café Pyrus has been a pioneer in the field for a decade with their King Street West, Roger Street Outpost and Kitchener Public Library locations. While you can get real cheese at Pyrus, it's the kind of restaurant that has noted the massive amount of water required to produce a single hamburger (it's 2,400 litres).

In Uptown Waterloo, the relatively new Odd Burger Vegan Fast Food is a London, Ont.-based chain that riffs on classic fast food but is entirely plant-based. The Famous Burger is Big Mac-inspired (and convincing), and they also serve a Wendy's style crispy chick'un, a Taco Bell spin-off and plant-based breakfast sandwiches.

A few restaurants draw on popular fauna that corresponds to the flora: in north Waterloo checkout Healthy Owl and in downtown Cambridge, Galt, visit Healthy Rabbit for plant-based meals and the mindful philosophy that goes along with them.

Kitchener's Coven Market calls itself a vegan store, with a sister marketplace in Hamilton, serving takeaway vegan food and baked goods offering about two dozen sweet snacks, pastries and breads.

At many venues, food and packaging waste is also paramount. Most restaurants offer compostable or recyclable packaging. Odd Burger's beverage cups look plastic but are actually a compostable corn-based product.

At the popular small bakery AURA-LA Pastries & Provisions coconut milk is used in their plant-based ice cream with flavour profiles of matcha, chai or chocolate. At the coffee bar, oat milk makes a very good alternative to cow's milk. There are even barista versions that foam better than regular milk, according to owner Aura Hertzog.

For the very best baking, she still relies on Bossie's butter until something better comes along.

"We are still waiting on an alternative butter that has the same depth and flavour as cultured butter but also performs like butter in terms of texture and melting point. There are products out there that are exceptional and others that can't imitate the real thing."

Another "real thing" that has become less popular is alcohol. More non or low-alcohol (NoLo) drinks are now on the market, from local craft breweries and restaurants to pages on the LCBO website listing NoLo wine, beer and spirits.

Sources like Whole Foods cite that buckwheat products like Asian noodles, hot peppers, foods that consider "water stewardship" and "clean" caffeine teas and coffees will be trending in the 2024 food landscape as meaty diets have declined.

Regardless of what you eat, you can expect grocery bills to remain high in 2024, but the continuing trend of plant-based foods can be a part of helping the bottom line at the same time satisfying philosophies dedicated to environmental needs and healthier eating.