Herb & Seed’s Buddha Bowl. All photos by Karin E. Baker for The LA Beat.
Herb & Seed Plant-Based Kitchen is a new vegan meal delivery service. A local, woman-owned company based here in Los Angeles. Herb & Seed is headed by Natalie Jaconetty, who has been eating organic plant-based food since she was a child.
Natalie’s early exposure to plant-based eating came via her mother, a holistic doctor. A longtime advocate of food as medicine, eating local and organically, and sustainable living, she passed on her values to her daughter, who now uses those mindful practices at Herb & Seed.
Natalie’s recipes are created with help from plant-based nutritionists. You won’t find any processed meat substitutes or refined ingredients here. Every ingredient is organic and made of whole foods that are local and seasonal.
Herb & Seed has its own garden in which they grow their own herbs and greens. A zero-waste company, they compost all kitchen scraps to help grow more food. Even the packaging is compostable — it’s all made of plants (right down to the soy ink used on the labels), which also helps to grow new food. The produce they don’t grow themselves is also local, seasonal, and organic.
I tried six of Herb & Seed’s meals and was impressed that they were nourishing, easily digestible, and loaded with bright, fresh flavors. Banana oat pancakes, made with oat flour, oat milk, banana and chia seeds with walnut-date-banana topping, and chia pudding with chia seeds, oat milk, fresh fruit, and hemp seeds are among the breakfast offerings.
Lunch choices include the Rainbow Buddha Bowl (made with arugula, chard, tofu, cucumber, carrots, chickpeas, coconut amino acids, and a dressing that gets its gorgeous pink color from beets) and a chile relleno with avocado and jicama salad.
Dinner options include stuffed shells and kale salad (the tasty plant-based ricotta is made from cashews and tofu) and a pesto bowl with chickpea pasta, cashews, cherry tomatoes, kale, basil, garlic, and pine nuts.
Herb & Seeds delivers its meals (and house-made drinks like golden milk, beet green juice, and cacao milk) on Monday mornings. Meals range in price from $11.50 to $15. 50 and are easily reheated on the stove, in the oven, or in a microwave. Menus change weekly, and you can find more info on Herb & Seed here.
