Eating 30 different plants a week sounds daunting and, frankly, a bit of a faff. But chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says it’s simpler than it seems – and tasty, too

by ANNA MOORE

ALUN CALLENDAR

If you struggled with the five-a-day fruit and veg rule, there’s good news and bad news. First the good news: experts are no longer quite so convinced. The bad news? The new target is 30 plants a week – and the plants all have to be different.

Fortunately, celebrity chef and food campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has made this the subject of his latest book, How to Eat 30 Plants a Week. By pulling out just two or three of his recipes, within a week you’ll hit the target. He almost makes it look easy, which is his intention.

‘You’d think it was going to be harder than five-a-day, but weirdly, I don’t think it is,’ he says. ‘It’s partly because this takes the pressure off obsessing over fresh fruit and vegetables.’ With ‘plants’, you can think more broadly – a handful of herbs, a sprinkle of spices, a tin of lentils, a snack of nuts, a shot of coffee and even chocolate (though the less processed, the better).

So where did this 30-a-week target spring from? It’s about gut health and our microbiome – the trillions of bacteria, viruses and fungi that live in our digestive tracts and play a central role in health. It’s home to 70% of our immune cells, and also important for heart and brain function, metabolism and weight-management, mental health, clear skin, energy levels – it’s a long list. The argument goes that the more diverse our gut microbes, the healthier we will be. In one US and UK study of 11,000 volunteers led by British epidemiologist Professor Tim Spector, those who ate 30 plants a week were found to have optimal gut health.