Plant-Based with Poke

Restaurants are offering more and more plant-based dishes catering to various specific dietary needs, including gluten-free and vegan-friendly options. In recent years, the Whole-Food, Plant-Based diet has gained popularity. One of the major challenges people report when switching to this diet is the lack of options when eating out.

If you want to eat out on a Whole-Food, Plant-Based diet, you will need to be creative, do your research beforehand, and be proactive when contacting restaurants. You will find that some places may adapt to your needs. Remember that one of the things about a Whole-Food, Plant-Based diet is to minimize or avoid oils.

This is the major obstacle when eating out. It is relatively easy to find vegan and plant-based dishes (with oil and other processed plant foods), but finding Whole-Food, Plant-Based dishes can be difficult. But we have good news for you! A Poke bar is the one place to find a Whole Food, Plant-Based dish naturally.

What is Poke?

Poke is a Hawaiian-based eating concept that originally included tuna. Tuna is part of the so-called Poke bowls, which are layered dishes with grains, tuna, salad, and toppings. In recent years, the original dish has been adapted many times, and one of them is actually a 100% Whole-Food, Plant-Based dish!

Not all Poke bars and restaurants offer the plant-based option, but many do! So, what is in a WFPB Poke bowl, you may be wondering?

Common ingredients in a WFPB Poke dish

When entering a Poke bar, you will see that you can choose your ingredients, from the base to the sauces. This gives you lots of flexibility and the ability to opt for a WFPB dish. So, what are some of the ingredients?

Starting with the base, you can usually choose brown rice or quinoa. Next is a protein-rich food. You can often add tofu instead of meat-based products in this part of the dish.

In the meantime, you will also be asked which sauce you prefer. Most places offer a plant-based soy sauce (some even gluten-free soy sauce).

The colorful stuff is next, as you can choose from a range of vegetables, including carrots, edamame beans, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, red cabbage, and more.

To top it off, dried onions, sesame seeds, and nori are often among the options.

Again, note that each Poke bar is different, but generally, we have found it very much WFPB-friendly. Have you tried it out yet?