Healthy, affordable takeaway food in Cork? Bring it on

The ‘King Kong’ of obesity drugs is now available in Ireland via private prescription. In a clinical trial, people using Mounjaro (tirezepatide) experienced weight loss of 20.2% compared to 13.7% for semaglutide (which is sold under the brand name Ozempic). It is expected to cost over €215 a month on private prescription.

Demand for Ozempic and similar products has soared in recent months due to the evidence of their ability to treat obesity. But the emphasis on effective obesity treatments needs to be matched by a similar emphasis on prevention in a society saturated by unhealthy foods.

A major contributor to overweight and obesity in 60% of the adult population and almost one in five children is the predominance of cheap junk food in the Irish market. This predominance of ultra-processed and takeaway food stuffed with fat, sugar and salt makes it very challenging to escape almost constant indulgence in these highly convenient foods.

Two of my adult children have escaped the Irish winter and are working in Barcelona – giving me a great opportunity to pay a visit.

I’m just back from four days of catch-ups, tapas dinners, walks in the sunshine, wandering into Picasso and Mocha art galleries, meandering through the ancient gothic streets, and taking in some sunshine on the beach.

But for now I will concentrate on the food.

A relatively new entry on the food scene in Spain is Honest Greens - marketed as a ‘revolutionary healthy restaurant concept that claims to provide real food, lifestyle and technology.’

It all started with three people whose paths crossed in Spain. Christopher Fuchs of the U.S, Rasmus B of Denmark, and Benjamin Bensoussan of France. Entrepreneurs and lovers of good food, they were frustrated by an inability to find food that was healthy and delicious but also quick and affordable. They decided to set out on a journey to create it themselves.

They travelled the globe for three years seeking design inspiration. The result is real food prepared from scratch with fresh, responsible ingredients. Predominantly plant-based dishes are served in unique locations with warm atmosphere, good music, friendly staff and a welcoming community.

Now, Honest Greens are all over Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, London, Lisbon, Paris and Porto. They have yet to arrive in Ireland.

The concept involves creating a better way of life through real food – that is, products without artificial additives or preservatives. Food can be ‘wholesome, convenient and sexy, helping communities live longer and better lives. We believe the ability to live a healthy life is a basic human right. We have begun our mission by revolutionising the restaurant industry and democratising real food,’ says their website.

Their food is ‘ethically sourced, organic when possible, unprocessed and free of artificial preservatives, additives, or refined sugars’.

If that all sounds a bit aspirational, prepare to be amazed. My kids live for their salads, organic salmon, free-range meats, wholegrains and seeds – all for little more than the price of a cola, cheeseburger and large fries.

When I visited, I was expecting a retro festival setting with lots of people in festival gear, long hair, and very basic facilities.

I was wrong. Honest Greens in the Gràcia district of Barcelona is on one of the wide open bustling streets with cyclists whizzing by on cycle lanes and Gaudi architecture popping up in between stone-fronted facades.

The restaurant is glass-framed, wide open and covered in greenery - opening onto a courtyard with trailing foliage and tall trees in huge pots. The whole effect is like entering a jungle. The seating is open plan on two floors with the kitchen in the centre. Chefs can be seen plating up vast plates of salads of every colour and texture with sides of wholegrain bread, sweet potato fries or aromatic rice.

Salad bowls include combinations of mixed greens, basil, parsley roasted cherry tomatoes, beetroot, cashews, pear, kiwi, scallions, sesame, avocado, poppy seed.

Sides of rice include whole grains of black rice, beluga, mint, parsley, Mediterranean spice mix, almonds and chickpeas.

I can see the eyebrows raising as to how this could possibly be affordable. I had the most popular lunch dish, including non-caged chicken piri piri marinated in home-made piri piri sauce, served with wholegrain bread and half a plateful of mixed salad in their home- made olive oil/ balsamic dressing.

The price - €6.95. The most expensive dish – steak chimchurri - 30 day aged rib steak with similar sides - was €9.95.

Drinks were local wines or beers. Water was infused with herbs and vegetables. A glass of kombucha, highly recommended for gut health, was delicious at €3.

I cannot praise the place enough. My tech- savvy daughter ordered and paid for it on the way in via the online app and the food arrived at our spacious table five minutes later.

The restaurant was teeming with young people of every nationality.

It is an unbeatable formula and one I would love to see in Ireland. And it is possible. Since the introduction of the sugary drinks tax in 2018, the sugar content of soft drinks has dropped by about a third and the percentage of drinks falling into the sugar tax band has plummeted. In other words, the tax is incentivising the drinks industry to change the formulation to healthy drinks with less sugar.

The same could happen with a tax on junk food, that would incentivise the food industry to move away from unhealthy foods that are taxable to healthier options.

Ideally, these junk food taxes could subsidise the cost of healthier food options and supports local producers to both grow and sell these items at affordable rates.

The pathway to healthy sustainable affordable takeaway food is there, and Honest Greens are showing there is a huge market for this kind of innovation once product and price are right.

Recent suggestions by Teagasc that farmers rent out land as allotments where individuals or groups can garden and grow their own produce is just one more link in the market that could be created for sustainable home growers.

All we need now are some young innovative entrepreneurial foodies in Cork to make the dream a reality and transform the takeaway food market - serving locally-produced healthy, sustainable and delicious food at an affordable price for the discerning Cork palate.

Any takers?

Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor and former director of human health and nutrition, safefood.