ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how to rehydrate and cook legumes and aims to understand principles involved in achieving a palatable product and identifies the nutritive value of combinations of grains, legumes, and seeds as meat alternatives. It explores various combinations of grains, legumes, and seeds, as well as combinations with milk, which provide a complete amino acid pattern. The chapter deals with a variety of meat alternatives by incorporating them into palatable, nutritious recipes and the nutritive, sanitary, and economic dimensions of plant proteins. It also identifies plant protein foods with known allergens. It shows that those who follow a diet with an abundance of minimally processed plant foods have a decreased risk and lower incidence of lifestyle diseases, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Compared to animal proteins, plant proteins go the extra nutritional mile, supplying a multitude of vitamins and minerals including valuable antioxidants.
