Manel Garcia and Hanna Buschmann, are the authors and creators of the successful website Addicted to Hummus. On Instagram, every day more than 165k followers see your recipes, and go crazy with your original proposalswhich in addition to being tasty and nutritious, are very simple to prepare.
world travelers and self-taught in the kitchen and in photography, it is enough to see their images and videos for a few seconds, to salivate in front of the screen. It is that one of the maxims of Addicted to Hummus is that their dishes are just as tasty as they are aesthetic.
As true experts in the field, they share their entire travel experience with their followers, and inspire them to explore the more creative side of vegetable cooking in his book Much more than Hummus from Editorial Larousse. In this, they have compiled a set of unpublished recipes and the most fun, such as the vegan squid rings sandwich, the vegetable sobrassada, the tofu kebab on Turkish bread, the takka masala pizza and the cucumber makis. And as expected, it includes his favorite: chickpea hummus, in all its shapes, flavors and colors. Will it be the first book in a series? We hope so.
We talk with the foodiesManel and Hanna, about the recent post and we dig into their favorite ingredients, the recipe that made them successful, the food culture in the countries they’ve visited, and of course, what’s the secret to extra silky and creamy hummus.
Traveling and cooking, are your two great passions?
M: I’m from here [de España] and more than an occasional trip to a destination, I have not traveled much, but this changed when I met Hanna [de Reino Unido]
H: Since I’m 18 years old, my life is to travel and see the world. And above all experience life in another country, live like the locals (be localfrom English) and adopt the lifestyle.
M: When traveling, in addition to knowing the place, we look for understand the cultureand to a large extent, that includes food. We spent three months in Southeast Asia, [y durante ese período] It was the moment when we also became vegans and discovered the cuisine there. Sport is also a passion, I would say it’s all three.
Knowing that you have visited many countries, if you had to choose one that has amazed or surprised you, which one would it be?
M: Indonesia I think. At least, it’s the one we’ve been the longest. Being so different from our culture, we have experienced it 100%. Hanna lived there for a year too, so she’s met a lot of people, and it’s easier to go to eat with localsor go to the markets and experience the real life of the country.
Could you choose, based on your experience, the best place for a vegetarian/vegan? That is, make it friendly to plant-based cooking
H: Asia without a doubt. All their dishes have a version with tofu.
M: Speaking of Europe, we haven’t been to enough places to say, but I think the most advanced is England along with the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). They are a few months ahead of the products that arrive here. The cultural theme also influences. The countries that are very much theirs find it more difficult to open up to other proposals, while England does not, for example. I wouldn’t say English food is like French food, so they are more open to new ways. It’s just the feeling. And then from the countries of the Southeast Asianwe haven’t gone yet, but we want to go to the India. They are countries, which by themselves, a very high percentage is already vegetarian.
What led you to open an Instagram account and share the recipes?
M: When we made the change, we both worked in the same company and at lunchtime, we took the Tupperware to the office with our salads with legumes, cereals, etc. And then hummus became the dish that everyone wanted in the office.
It happened to me with friends, where you tell them “I’m vegan” and they freaked out because they knew I was a meat eater, and for this, they told me to share ideas. At first it started in my personal account, where we were sharing recipes zero waste and then it was evolved. We posted a photo every two weeks. In the end came the pandemicI was left without a job, and being isolated In France, we started upload more content. The year before with Hanna, we had also developed the idea of taking photos of our trips. So while I was working, I was going learning with youtube on Photography. It was really seizing the moment; being at home, without work and having more time to cook. As our knowledge of vegan cooking grew, along with seeing things on Instagram (which is a great way to learn) and our knowledge of photography, it was an evolution. Then when the video format came too, it was a good moment for us, because we quickly got into making them and that helped us grow the community.
Why do you think the account is a success? They think that in addition to the fact that their recipes are delicious to see, have they understood how the social network works?
M: It was a set. From the beginning, we wanted to convey THE image. Our previous concept was cook vegan food and show the beauty of it (“cooks vegan food and shows off its beauty”) to show that it’s pretty, not boring. The book is inspired by our way of making content: make it visual, pretty and easy.
H: Instead of showing the cruelest side of not being vegan and how animals are treated, we want to highlight the positive side; how good it can look and how delicious it can taste. It’s an activism through food [“Hacer activismo a través de la comida”]
M: There are two ways. I think that sometimes you also have to see it to click, but people are more accepting of seeing the positive side at first than the negative.
What is your inspiration to create, innovate and merge ingredients? Like pizza muffins, it brings back the familiar flavor in a new way.
H: We are always thinking “how can we combine ingredients” to create new recipes. In addition, from traveling so much, we are inspired by the flavors and ways of cooking of the places we have visited.
M: There is a saying that my mother has told me that says: do not invent a thing, but improve something that is already done. You can have a dish and simply by changing some ingredient or adding another, it is different. For example, we saw salty muffins and I thought, since we like pizza, we are going to add this ingredient and thus the creations emerge. Or to differentiate yourself from what everyone else does. You see a trend and you think: how can I make it my own? You see that it is time for pasta, and if there is a creamy pasta with cream, we are going to try adding legumes, to also add an interesting nutritional component. And so they emerge.
Have you identified your most successful recipe?
H: The humus
M: It happens to us with hummus, that even though you write the recipe, they tell us that it doesn’t turn out the same. It will be because we bring the most traditional and capable version less known. The tofu dishes they are a hit too. And look, I used to think “what an insipid thing tofu is” but in the end, giving it flavor and making a dish with tofu that everyone likes, such as the sticky tofu pudding (“silky tofu pudding”), is a dish that we recovered from Asian cuisine, with lots of flavor and a sticky sauce
H: It is food porn
Let’s talk about the book, Much more than Hummus, what can we find in it? They can tell us about the manufacturing process.
M: It was not wanted, nor had we thought about it [risas] They suggested we do a book and we wanted you to continue with our line of communication: easy recipes with accessible ingredients In short, we want it to be easy, fast, delicious and look good.
H: Likewise, they are our favorite recipes, the ones that we have cooked several times and that we currently prepare at home.
In the prologue, they mention how the recipes have been tried and tested by family and friends. What do you consider to be the barriers or prejudices of the public about vegetarian cuisine?
M: They think it’s boring and then other comments, like ¨where are the proteins?¨ or ¨how delicious the meat tastes¨. Today, there are products that are so similar that they do not miss the taste of meat, such as hamburgers or cheese. The important thing is that: do it nice, delicious and easy. Another of the prejudices of vegetarian cuisine is that it is difficult or expensive. In the book we teach that the basic ingredients are: legumes, cereals, fruits, vegetables. If you want vegetable meat or vegetable chicken, it is possible but not essential, which is why we always offer the option of tofu, as it is a cheap source and gives you that nutritional and flavor fire.
As a faithful follower of your recipes, will you be able to make your top 3 favorite recipes from the book?
H: Manel’s sandwiches.
M: The tofu cake [Pastel de carne vegana con salsa de curry] or the curry [Curry Thai con albahaca] The toast with shakshuka [Tostada con hummus y shakshuka de lentejas] is another favourite.
Finally, a next goal to meet?
H: We would love to do workshops and be with people.
M: Personally, I would like to do a pop-up in a restaurant and make an alternative presentation to the book; where we cook three dishes and there is a drink, music, you can buy the book and do signatures. A meeting to be with people and where they can try dishes made by us.
The future (or rather) present of food, is it one without meat on the plate?
M: I think that without meat, it won’t be… but yes, with much less meat. Above all, if you think that when you go to the supermarket, the area of vegan products gets bigger and bigger. I think the dish will be much less meaty. I know many people who are more open to eating a vegetable burger instead of a meat one. We will all have to get our act together if we want there to be a real future; be it due to global warming, water treatment, pollution of natural resources.
Much more than hummus. 100% vegetable (LAROUSSE – Illustrated / Practical Books – Gastronomy)
Quick question ping-pong with @addictedtohummus:
- A street food: falafel (Hanna), tacos (Manel)
- One drink: kombucha or water
- A favorite dessert or sweet: ice cream (although they claim not to be particularly sweet)
- An ingredient that cannot be missing in the pantry vegetables: tofu
- A country to live in: Thailand and Indonesia
- A dish that reminds them of childhood: pancakes (Hanna), fried eggs (Manel)
- A product (or products) to recommend from stores and/or supermarkets: soy sauce (Hanna)
- An Instagram account foodies that inspires them: @beginveganbegun, @lagloriavegana, @midietavegana, @elveganomarrano
- A film, documentary or series foodies To recommend: Netflix documentaries such as What the Health, The Game Changers or Cowspiracy
- A book foodies To recommend: Why we love dogs, we eat pigs and dress with cows, 2009.
Because we love dogs, eat pigs and dress with cows (LiberÁnima)
- What is the secret to a super creamy hummus? Using tahini, among other secrets that make a difference.
The rest of the details are in the book. much more than hummus. Available in stores and to buy online, it is a recipe book that inspires desire to cook and eat rich.
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