What started as a health kick has now led to two vegan friends running a huge online “restaurant” sharing their love for delicious food.
So why have the Yorkshire born BOSH! Boys - who made a name for themselves as plant-based chefs - named their latest cookbook MEAT?
Our plant-based reporter Sophie Mei Lan Malin, also from Sheffield, chats to Henry Firth and Ian Theasby aka BOSH! from their London studio in Hammersmith.
So why have the Yorkshire born BOSH! Boys - who made a name for themselves as plant-based chefs - named their latest cookbook MEAT?
Our plant-based reporter Sophie Mei Lan Malin, also from Sheffield, chats to Henry Firth and Ian Theasby aka BOSH! from their London studio in Hammersmith.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Meet the Bosch boys, the plant-based chefs and influencers from Sheffield.
00:05 These guys are doing amazing things. My dad's got all their recipe books and I'm about to interview
00:11 them about what they actually love about plant-based food and whether they would actually cook any meat.
00:16 Like a lot of working parents during the summer, I'm currently working from home
00:21 on Zoom with the kids and dogs in the background.
00:25 We're busy doing the same as we usually did which is cooking lots of plant-based recipes, creating
00:30 new flavours, creating new dishes all from our new studio in Hammersmith in London where we are now.
00:36 A little bit far away from Yorkshire and Sheffield but it's you know it's fine and we're cooking,
00:43 we're eating, we are sharing our vegan recipes with the world and we are very very excited about
00:49 the fact that we've got a brand new book coming out on the 17th of August and that book is called
00:54 Meat which is an interesting title for a plant-based cookbook.
00:58 Yeah why did you call it Meat?
00:59 Well you know it was time that the world realised that you know what you can have a vegan burger
01:06 as well as a meat burger, you can have vegan bacon as well as animal-based bacon and you can have
01:13 meat that is made from plants. We're all kind of starting to realise it as we walk around the
01:17 supermarkets but we really wanted to just showcase that, showcase just how tasty,
01:23 just how meaty flavours and textures can be when you are working with plants.
01:29 Brilliant.
01:30 Oh my goodness, well do you know what I think that this might be the best one for people who
01:40 are brand new to plant-based eating because all the recipes in the book have been designed and
01:46 written to kind of like be really easy replacement for things that people used to eat but when they
01:53 were eating meat. So for instance we've got spaghetti bolognese in there, we've got pies
01:57 in there, we've got like loads of lovely like food that you actually want to eat but all of it is
02:04 really really full of texture.
02:06 Ah yummy and what would you say out of the book is your favourite recipe?
02:10 So I would probably go for the Baja fish tacos, fish obviously in the British commas.
02:20 We aren't using fish, we're using tofu which is great for the planet, great for your body,
02:24 packed with nutrients but the most important thing is we pack it with flavour, you know,
02:28 we give it all those flavours of the sea, we batter it and we turn it into this lovely little
02:34 fish fillet but then we wrap it in a taco with some chipotle mayo and with some lovely
02:39 peanut butter and salsa and give you incredible little Mexican treats.
02:44 My personal favourite I think is the spaghetti bolognese, the ultimate spaghetti bolognese
02:49 because what we've done is taken vegan mince, we've taken vegan bacon but we've also taken
02:55 mushroom and minced those too. We've cooked it low, we've cooked it slow and what you're
02:59 left with is something that's got loads of flavour and it's exactly the same as its meaty counterpart.
03:04 I would say once you've been cooking all day in the studio sometimes you either just eat at the
03:17 studio and then go home and don't cook because you're bored of cooking or you just muscle
03:21 something up quick and easy so I will tend to have like a stir fry or something with whatever's left
03:26 in my fridge. It's often actually quite unimpressive but I'm just going to keep it for myself.
03:31 Also I have a new child so there's even more work to be done around the house.
03:41 We've been mates for many many years right and Ian about eight years ago went vegan,
03:48 he was on a health kick and he was just trying it out at the time we were living together and
03:52 working together in London and as he was doing this vegan challenge I thought it was absolutely
03:59 ridiculous but he then showed me some information about actually you know it's better for the
04:04 planet too and that was a big push for me to try vegan. I then tried vegan, I then realised how much
04:10 better I felt, how much easier it was and realised this is what I wanted to spend the rest of my life
04:15 doing as well so not long after that we both started doing what we were doing with our jobs
04:21 and set up the channel BOSH! to try and showcase vegan recipes to the world.
04:25 That's the challenge isn't it and that's why we started this channel because at the time eight
04:33 years ago it was hard, there was no information out there, there weren't very many vegan cookbooks,
04:38 there weren't vegan takeaways eight years ago, there weren't very many vegan restaurants,
04:42 there weren't vegan options of restaurants so we had to learn all of this stuff and work out
04:49 how to go vegan and so I think I guess it was that reason, the learning process we went through
04:55 which inspired us to set up a channel so that other people could have an easy job
04:59 of transitioning to vegan food.
05:06 It is great to see Sheffield, it has kind of blossomed, you've got a few more restaurants
05:11 there now which is great, it's always good to go back, it's also nice to go back because we'll
05:16 see more BOSH! products on supermarket shelves in Sheffield than in London and I guess the buyers
05:23 of those supermarkets must know I love my boys in Sheffield so let's stock the shelves over there,
05:28 it's so good. I love it and have you tried out any of the kind of street food festivals and
05:33 halls in Sheffield? I know we've got some of the best over there. I know that Callum Island has
05:39 become a real hub in Yorkshire for food in general but definitely plant-based too, there's a really
05:45 nice taqueria around there called Pina, it's just around the corner from where Peddler's Market is
05:51 and they've got half vegan and meat and trust me all those vegan tacos are delicious. Yeah
05:57 and obviously there's the church, Temple of Parliament, which is quite a funky place serving
06:04 up that kind of Americana classic stuff so yeah it's always fun to go back and try the latest.
06:11 And out of your own recipes and dishes what are your favourites?
06:22 Oh good question. From the book or just from anything? Just from any that you've made at home
06:28 in the book. Big question, I mean look do you know what there are some that people just come
06:33 to us all the time and have always cooked so there are it's almost like the fan favourites,
06:37 you've got the cauliflower buffalo wings which have found their way onto a lot of pub menus now,
06:44 we don't always get credit, it's nice when you know the pub's like oh yeah we used your recipe
06:49 for our menu which I think is great. There's our chilli as well, our big bosh ultimate chilli
06:55 which is a proper staple amongst veggies nowadays. We've got crispy chilli tofu from our first book,
07:02 that's a recipe that we get told is really delicious time and time again and then out of
07:06 the new book there is some really really good ones but I think probably the most simple recipe we've
07:12 ever done is definitely one of the most delicious and it's five minute noodles so it's a minimal
07:18 ingredient, minimal time but maximum flavour. Oh yummy and I know my personal favourite,
07:24 I love your corn ribs and at the moment my pregnancy cravings, so many different things
07:30 I keep seeing on your Facebook page, I'm like oh gosh, so would you ever open like a restaurant
07:37 or takeaway or a kind of bosh place that we could all just go and you'd make the food for us?
07:44 That would be great, you know what if anyone watching this video or reading the article
07:48 wants to get in touch in Sheffield and have a chat with us about that we're more than happy
07:53 to talk to them. It's a tough skill to run a restaurant and run a takeaway and our restaurant
08:00 is digital, that's the way that we say it you know, we run a virtual restaurant but we'd love
08:05 to chat someone if they think they can help us bring bosh to Sheffield. Yeah for sure.
08:11 Just to let you into a little secret, if you keep your eye out on some menus at big restaurants all
08:17 across the country in January you may or may not see the bosh food on it. Good point. Oh yeah because
08:23 it's Veganuary isn't it? Does it tie in with the Veganuary in January? Yeah yeah we should have
08:31 some fun stuff coming in Veganuary, yes. By then Ian you'll have your first baby here and Henry
08:38 obviously you've got a baby as well, I will as well, so are there any going to be any family or
08:43 baby cookbooks on the way? That's such a good idea isn't it, like baby bosh it almost writes itself.
08:49 We're thinking about it, we've had it asked of us many many times, yes maybe baby kid friendly food,
08:57 some baby friendly food could be a cool book for us to write. You better get yours out first
09:03 and then we'll have a think once you've come out on the other side and you get to play with the cat.
09:08 And when it comes to your kind of cupboard staples at home, what kind of thing do you feed your
09:15 family and yourselves? So always have those flavour makers right, so things like nooch, things like
09:24 a bit of soy sauce or even Hendersons relish, great ways to get kind of...
09:30 Sorry that was someone in the studio just sneezing. Hendersons relish, great way to get flavour into
09:37 your dishes, so always have them lying around to just add a little bit of meatiness, but you know
09:41 something I'm loving at the moment is those high protein pastas, yeah, and the pouches of pre-cooked
09:50 grains are really good as well, so you can get like quinoa or lentils or mixed grains and then if you
09:55 couple that with some vegan pesto or some harissa and maybe some tofu and just kind of just whack it
10:01 in a pan, it just is a guaranteed delicious meal, super healthy. Oh I think you've decided what I'm
10:08 having for my supper, and I better not say tea because I just get into a big debate with everyone
10:14 because I call it tea, but supper I'll say, for my late night snack. And obviously you got into
10:21 it for your health, how has it transformed your health now? Well we both went to get a full
10:28 blood test checkup recently, and you know absolute like rock star scores, you know, super healthy
10:35 cholesterol levels, super healthy, all the blood markers really really strong, and that's, you know,
10:40 without trying, you know, this isn't something that we've been particularly eating healthily on
10:45 purpose, we've just been eating plant-based foods, but the nice thing about eating plants is you are
10:50 just getting loads of vegetables in easily, you're also getting high fiber because it is a high fiber
10:56 diet, and there's no cholesterol in plants, so you know, your body gets much better at regulating
11:02 cholesterol when you cut out animal products as well, so both really really good scores without
11:08 even trying, and I think outside of that we both found that you just feel a little bit better, you
11:13 know, you feel a bit lighter, a bit leaner, sleep improved, the list is endless to be honest with you.
11:20 So for anyone who haven't tried that plant-based diet, you should definitely give it a whirl because it is
11:24 truly fantastic. What would you say to kind of plant-based naysayers, people who are like, no I'm not doing that,
11:30 oh there's no such thing as fake meat, what's your, I'm sure you will have had plenty of them,
11:35 as I have in daily life, questioning my every mouthful, and what do you say to them to get them excited?
11:43 The number one, the number one answer to that would be give it a try, what have you got to lose, right,
11:49 and a lot of people will say, oh I don't like all this ultra-processed food, right, we hear that
11:55 phrase a lot, ultra-processed, what's interesting about that is you've got to ask them, well if we
11:59 were to look in your shopping basket, are you asking if everything is ultra-processed, or is it just the
12:06 vegan meat that you're concerned about the processing that went into that, because if you are
12:10 only concerned about the vegan meat, then maybe there's a bit of unconscious bias in the way
12:15 you're looking at this, and the news that we're all hearing, so it's good for us to all think about
12:19 eating natural foods, and not too much processed food, but actually if you're just using it as a
12:24 way to criticise vegan food, then that's not really fair. Now I'm going, I need to follow the Bosch
12:28 brothers, where do they go, and how do they get your book? Well they can go check us out on social media,
12:35 it's @boschdopstv, and yeah we're on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, and if they want
12:43 the book, the latest one is called Meat, and you can get that at all good book retailers, but Amazon's
12:48 a great place to go as well, but it's usually half price. Ian and Henry, how lovely are they, you can
12:54 tell they're from Yorkshire, lovely through and through, and super talented when it comes to plant
12:59 based food, and lots of exciting plans for January, so that's January 2024 for those watching, and I
13:06 for one did not imagine I would be spending my maternity leave flicking through a recipe book
13:11 called Meat, but for plant-based food, but that is definitely what I'm doing, but it was so
13:17 lovely chatting to them, if you've got any more questions for them, please do comment below,
13:22 and don't forget to follow their channels, because honestly if you need a bit of tantalising
13:27 to get your taste buds tingling for plant-based food, follow them on their Facebook and Instagram, yummy!