[birds squawking]
[man] Firstly, we've got to consider your health and safety.
So syringes, if you find any of those,
if you could just let us know and we'll come and pick them up
and put them into an appropriate pot and dispose of them.
Um... Make sure that you've got Wellington boots on,
because they've got the protection on the bottom of the boot
to make sure that nails, et cetera,
that you might encounter won't go through your foot.
And if the rat urine is on an object which you touch...
[Zac] That's right... rat urine.
...then you might become unwell.
[Zac] Nope.
Despite how this looks, this is not court-ordered community service.
Darin and I are volunteering.
In fact, everyone here is a volunteer.
You really just need a shovel.
[Zac] Picking up one piece of trash at a time.
Because... you have to start somewhere.
[inhales deeply, exhales]
We're in Europe.
In a highly-populated area that was once overcome by pollution.
Our mission is to learn how the city overcame lethal levels of smog
and deadly river waters.
Exercise the political voice we have, to demand change.
[Zac] And, while the war against pollution is never-ending,
many battles have been won.
[Zac] So cool!
-We're gonna meet some top eco-innovators. -So, you've come to see my river?
To see how change is an inside job.
This is a way that you could eat, and that it could be delicious.
And every little bit helps.
From a small plant, to what you eat.
And we're gonna be eating... really, really well.
-That's by far my favorite bite. -Yeah, it's unbelievable.
Holy cow.
[Zac] This is London.
Bye, Mom! [laughing]
[Zac] Let me start at the beginning.
A few years ago, I met Darin.
-I can't feel my feet or my hands. -I'm proud of you, bro.
Yeah.
[Zac] He's a guru of healthy living and superfoods.
Yes, great. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
You could say he wrote the book on the subject. Literally.
[Darin] A healthy lifestyle, solid principles.
Darin and I are traveling around the world to find some new perspectives
on some very old problems.
[Darin] That's Mother Earth, bro.
Searching for healthy, sustainable living solutions for the planet...
[Zac] Wow.
...and all who live on it.
Woo-hoo!
Ignore the crazy white guy.
-[Zac] And hey, you gotta eat too, right? -[Darin] You don't have to eat it.
-How does it move like that? -[woman] Oh, my God.
[Zac] It's time to get... Down to Earth.
Trippy.
[Zac] Before we head to London, we're stopping in New York City,
a section of America that is no stranger to fighting pollution.
[horns honking]
One simple solution to the big city problems of pollution
and high energy costs is a green roof.
And on this rooftop, the hotel has 450,000 residents
living here, in these beehives.
[man] There are more honey bees in New York City than there are people.
[Zac] And the guy in charge of wrangling these almost half-million flying,
stinging insects onto the rooftop
is fourth-generation beekeeper, Andrew Coté.
This is gonna be, like, my first up-close experience with bees.
[Andrew] You're used to being mobbed by thousands of attentive young women.
[Zac] Ah! See, that's a beekeeper's joke. Because all the workers are female.
It's like looking into a mirror of a younger me, to be honest.
I felt the same way!
-You did? -You have rugged good looks. [scoffs]
We're three blocks from Central Park.
These ladies will fly over there,
they'll enjoy a thousand acres' smorgasbord,
and bring that nectar back here and turn it into honey.
And they chill here just for the night?
They live here, they breed here, they live and die here.
But during the day, they go around and they cruise the city.
Oh, yeah. They go around,
they fly for three miles in every direction,
and they always return to their own hive.
[Zac] Bees are an important part of our ecosystem.
These bees pollinate the flowering plants and tree population,
which, in turn, helps the environment.
But the bottom line is: without bees, we can't survive.
And the byproduct of this process is sweet.
Very sweet.
What do you think the biggest issues for bees are right now,
in this modern-day world?
Inappropriate pesticide usage.
-Genetically modified crops. -Wow.
The bees land on a genetically modified plant
that has a systemic poison in it,
meant to repel the insect.
-[Darin] Yep. -[Andrew] They carry that back to the hive
-and aggro... -[Darin] The habitat gets messed up.
The habitat gets messed up. Yeah.
[Zac] Speaking of messing with habitats,
the smoker safely calms the bees by masking
or blocking the alarm pheromone being released from any upset bees.
But sometimes one or two...
-[Darin grunts] -...get a little buzzed-off anyway.
-[Zac laughing] -[Andrew] Whoa.
[Andrew] Are they inside?
-[Darin] No. -[Andrew] No?
-[Darin] No, he just... -You're all right.
[Zac laughing]
-[Darin] Whoa! -Did it get you?
Yeah, it got right on the chin.
-[Zac] Nuh-uh. -Yeah.
-[Darin] I can feel it. -[Andrew] It lets you know you're alive.
[Darin] Oh, yeah.
[Andrew] This is harvestable honey.
We can taste this one right now if you want to.
[Darin] Let's taste it.
This is one of the weirder ways I've ever been fed, but...
[Zac smacking lips]
-That's damn good honey. -[Darin] Yeah.
[Darin] Since these are not around mono-cropping
and they're going to Central Park,
do you think that these bees are technically happier and healthier
than bees that are exposed to mono-cropping and pesticides?
I will tell you, generally speaking, yes.
I think that urban honey bees are much, much healthier
-than bees that are on mono-crops. -Wow, that's interesting.
And I don't even think it can be argued otherwise.
Well, how about, like, other environmental toxins,
like heavy metals and pollutants in the air?
Because you go, "Hey, you know, we're in New York."
But what about pollution? Does that show up in the honey, or...
[Andrew] No. A good study done in France compared
honey from Paris versus honey from the countryside in France.
And they found that the honey from Paris had fewer chemicals in it.
And I believe that's because there's less spraying...
-done in the cities. -Really?
-Yeah. -[Zac] Everything's better in Europe.
[Zac] It's good to know that pollution has little to no direct effect
on the bees' honey.
But pollution still has a massive effect on people.
Our flight to London happens first thing in the morning.
So on our last night in New York, we decided to blow off a little steam.
[both laughing]
[Darin] Oh, yeah!
-[man] Feeling it now. -[Zac] Let me get on the board here.
[Darin laughing]
-[glass breaks] -Oh!
Parking lot.
[chuckles]
[Zac] OK. Now we're headed to London,
a nearly 2,000-year-old city that has been struggling with pollution and air quality
since the Industrial Revolution hit back in the 1700s.
London is an amazing city with a long, rich history
that you can feel in the art and architecture.
London's current population is estimated at about 8.8 million people.
With another 30 million visiting every year.
More people translates to more pollution,
no matter how green they try to be.
And pollution can easily grow to toxic levels and become very deadly.
We're beginning our journey on the south bank of the River Thames,
across from the House of Parliament.
This is the London Eye...
which is essentially an enormous Ferris wheel
that overlooks central London.
We're meeting the Director of Cities for the London School of Economics.
His specialty is the politics and particulars
of global urban change and urbanization.
I'm running a research center on cities.
It's hopefully an appropriate introduction to London.
Absolutely. Should we go for it?
[man] This is generally considered the center of London.
But this air, which you're seeing right now,
it looks clear, it looks nice,
is still toxic in many parts of the city.
This is not clean air.
About 10,000 Londoners die prematurely because of air pollution today in London.
-[Darin] As a direct result? -Really?
As a direct result of the air pollution in this city.
[Zac] The air is cleaner now than it was in the '50s,
but deadly pollution doesn't always look like a thick, hazy, black fog.
The issue at hand now is fine particulate matter,
called PM 2.5.
These fine particles are caused by fossil fuel-burning vehicles
and are abundant in higher congested areas.
PM 2.5s can travel deep into the respiratory tract,
affecting breathing and leading to a host of medical problems.
Short-term, it causes allergy-type symptoms,
like itchy, burning eyes, nose, and throat.
But, long-term, it can cause asthma, heart disease, and even death.
So what kind of steps are they taking?
[Phillip] The big priority was in transport,
with one signature policy, which is called "congestion charging."
More or less, the ring of tourist London around us, where we are,
this is the cordon within which, if you drive with your private car,
you have to pay, per day, 11-12 pounds to enter.
If you have a very badly polluting car,
it can go up to 100 pounds to enter the inner-city area.
[Darin] Oh, wow.
So we had a reduction of car use, in this inner-city area,
of 20%, 80,000 cars less.
[Zac] So just as individuals,
what are some things that can help...
-[Dr. Phillip] Yeah. -...solve this,
the collective issue of air pollution?
The single most important thing is, I guess,
is to exercise the political voice we have in elections
to demand change.
[Zac] Translation:
vote, vote, vote!
Well, thanks for... Thanks for showing us your office here. It's incredible.
-Yeah, not really my office. -[all laughing]
[Zac] We're off to the London School of Economics
for a deeper dive into practical solutions being applied all over the city.
And this is the Director of Sustainability for LSE: Jon Emmett.
Apparently, you're building some eco-warriors.
Yeah, that's right.
So LSE's students come from all over the world,
so one of the things we're doing here, really,
is equipping the next generation of global citizens
to think about how are they gonna address the challenges of our era.
[Darin] So you can literally study sustainability and make it your major?
That's right, you can come and study environmental law or policy.
You can come and understand how to make cities greener.
[Zac] If I could do it all over again, I would wanna come study with you.
Well, come back. Come and do a Master's with us. You're welcome anytime.
-I should do it. Put my time to use. -There you go.
Got a bunch of green spaces, green walls, and we keep bees on the roof. Right here.
-We love bees. For sure. -Well, let's go.
He has a thing with bees, I don't know what it is.
[Zac] Notice the green trend?
Just like the rooftop in New York,
LSE has a green wall, which looks a lot better than concrete.
-And... -[Darin] Oh, my God!
[giggles]
It's so good!
[Zac laughing]
[Darin] Wow!
It's so lush!
[Jon] Yeah. It changes all year round, so you come back in six months' time,
it'll be all different colors. Different plants.
[Zac] What does a wall like this help?
[Jon] In cities there's a lot of concrete. Absorbs a lot of heat from the sun, yeah?
So, if you've got green roofs and green walls,
-that can help provide a layer of-- -Alleviate that.
-Yeah, exactly. -It's a layer of natural insulation.
-Yeah, exactly. -It's also just gorgeous.
So now that we've seen the green wall, I think we need to check out the bees.
-You ready to put your bee suits on? -Yeah.
[Zac] All right. More bees.
Time for the suit again.
[man] Let's check out our hive.
These are our honey bees.
[Darin] So what's your main reason of having bees at the university?
We interact with students who are international, from across the globe,
and they get to learn a bit about how important it is.
'Cause, I mean, pollinators put about a third of our food on the plate.
-[Darin] Exactly. -It's not just a hobby,
it's actually a really essential thing for mankind.
[Zac] So cool.
So what do you want to do when you are done here, when you have your PhD?
[Sroyon] I'm working on environmental evaluations,
so how to put a monetary value on the environment.
It's controversial because there's this whole question around,
"Is that the best way to explain to people how important it is?"
[Dan] We have planted these. These aren't just specific for honey bees.
This would support most pollinators.
I think that's something everyone can do,
is to look at your garden
and plant species that will support pollinators generally.
I remember, years ago, driving up and down the motorways of the UK,
and there would be a lot of pollinators.
Now you drive up and down, there's nothing there.
Because, basically, the pesticides have wiped them all out.
So everything we can do to help support them is great.
[Zac] Obviously, not everyone is gonna become a beekeeper.
But almost anyone can get a plant or start a small garden
to support their local bees.
It's a simple solution to a real-world problem.
And every little bit helps.
[Zac] It's so beautiful.
[Zac] When everyone tries to do a little, a lot can change.
Now we're headed to an area near Stratford to see the tallest sculpture in the UK:
the ArcelorMittal Orbit.
[Darin] This place has a super-fast elevator, too.
-Oh, dope. -Like a supersonic...
[singing] ♪ Elevator... Supersonic ♪
[both laughing]
[Zac] In 2012, the structure was commissioned for the Summer Olympics.
In 2016, they repurposed the structure
by adding a huge, wrapping tube slide around it.
Not just any tube slide,
the tallest, longest tube slide in the world.
And we're gonna ride it.
I think.
-[Zac] Kinda stoked. -[Darin] Yeah.
Kind of a nice way to end the day.
[Zac] Is that it? I see it.
-[Darin] Yeah, it's that twisty thing. -Yeah.
[Zac] Oh, man, look at the beginning. Oh, you'll get going.
I bet this thing's freaky as [bleep], man.
[Darin laughing]
-[Zac] Oh, this is gonna be trippy, bro. -[Darin] Oh, my God.
[Zac] It does feel a little touristy. But, after all,
we're tourists.
[Darin] You ready for this?
[laughing] I'm not sure what to expect with this one.
[Zac] Uh, we'll do two for the slide.
-OK, tap your card, please. -[Zac] Sure.
-[machine beeps] -Make your way around there.
[Zac] I've been to London before,
but I'm seeing the city in a whole new light now.
The pollution problem is a never-ending fight.
But London has made some incredible progress.
It was great to meet some of the innovators in the academic world
and see how they are inspiring the next generation to continue
the charge against pollution.
And now, I'm going to die.
Just to make sure you're gonna be safe.
-Oh. Oh. Oh. -Sorry, sir.
[Zac] That was made for you.
[Zac] If I don't make it through this...
-it's been a pleasure. -Been a pleasure.
Thank you, it's been a good run so far.
Let's go!
We'll see you later.
Woo-hoo!
[laughing]
[Darin whooping]
I don't know what I want my last words to be.
Bye, Mom.
[chuckling]
[chuckling] Oh, whoa. Whoa!
[Zac chuckling]
Ha-ha!
Whoa! [chuckling]
[Darin chuckling]
Oh, yeah!
[chuckling]
[Darin] Nice!
-It picks up there in the middle. -[Darin] How crazy is that?
-Yeah, the middle was good. -Yeah.
It was like... [imitates slide noise]
Pretty cool.
All right, dope. How do I turn this off?
[Zac] We already know living walls and roofs have a host of benefits,
including tremendously reducing energy bills.
But policies that are good for the climate can also make great business sense.
This is Armando Raish.
And his company, Treebox, specializes in custom green-space solutions
for commercial and residential buildings all over the UK.
[Darin] We hear you're constructing some green walls.
Exactly, we're in the process of greening up a light well just behind you.
It's the view outside of a basement gym.
-Oh, that's brilliant. -And they thought,
"Rather than looking at a dungeon or concrete wall,
why not brighten it up with some life?" Do you do much gardening yourself, Zac?
A ton. So much. I'm...
a bit of an exp... None.
-I've never... Never... -[Armando and Darin laughing]
I'm great with succulents.
-Yeah? -And, like, some cactus.
-Don't need much attention. -I can keep those going.
If you'd like to come look at the wall, why not follow me through the building?
If you wanna step out, come and have a closer look.
-You can see how the system works. -[Darin] Oh, man.
It's essentially a series of troughs that clip all together,
which allows you to literally stack these troughs up as high as you need to go.
So we can get to the top of this wall quite easily.
And we fill it up with a wonderful granular substrate,
an engineered green roof derivative.
-Oh, wow. -It has expanded clay and crushed brick.
-[Darin] This is a recycled material. -It's a recycled material, yeah.
And we've taken walls down after five years,
and this still just breaks down and shakes off the roots of the plants.
So it doesn't become compact.
-Really? Wow. Fascinating. -[Armando] Yeah. It's quite good.
[Zac] I'm kind of almost going,
"How has this not been around for a lot longer?"
It's genius.
You're actually just gardening. It's soil and it's water.
Exactly.
So you could actually grow real food.
Yeah. You could fill this out with tumbling tomatoes, strawberries,
all sorts of plants.
Even some radishes and small, sort of bulbous plants.
[Zac] Where there's space, add some plants.
It's a great concept, really.
Pollution is a huge problem,
but the solutions, like this, are easily doable.
[Armando] Line those tabs up with the sides.
Push them out over here.
-Once they're in... -[Darin] The install is pretty easy, man.
-Got a nice little rhythm. -[Darin] Yeah, man!
[Darin] Let's put some plants in.
[Zac] Yeah, those go well together.
Alley-oop!
[Darin] Sha!
[Darin] Look at that!
It was a concrete wall, now it's a green wall.
[Zac] Man, we totally killed the green wall game.
Darin loves this wall.
And what's not to love?
How quick did we just build a garden?
I don't know. Thirty minutes?
[Zac] Uh, maybe it didn't look as good as we thought.
But thankfully, Armando did a little re-edit.
[birds squawking]
[Zac] The mighty River Thames flows 215 miles through the middle of England.
And it's now one of the cleanest rivers through a major city in the entire world.
And one group that helps maintain that level of cleanliness today
is Thames 21.
Thames 21 hosts river cleanups,
where volunteers gear up to do battle with hundreds of pounds of garbage
that have been carelessly littered across the river bank.
[Darin] There's the river.
-Zac. -Hi, I'm Chris.
[Zac] And this is Chris Coode, head of education and training at Thames 21.
-So, you've come to see my river? -Absolutely.
[Chris] London is a port city.
This is, kind of, the industrial, working side of the river.
You can just look and see the amount of rubbish that's been trapped here...
behind these barges.
[Darin] What are these barges?
[Chris] Yeah, so they're concrete.
They were made for the Second World War. They were used in the D-Day landings.
In 1953, there was severe flooding after storms,
and flood defenses were damaged,
and they were brought and sunk here to protect this area from flooding.
They've been sat here ever since.
And, while they're not pretty,
they actually... These days, they're a really useful
hard surface that birds roost.
[birds squawking]
The new threats which are emerging, you know,
we're seeing a plastic bottle is what, 450 years to break down?
But it doesn't rot, it just becomes smaller.
And the smaller those pieces become, the easier it is for them to move through
the food chain and then come back to us.
Yeah, I mean, you can see plastic everywhere. Right?
[Chris] And often it's single-use.
-[Chris] You use it once, throw it away. -Right.
Can't walk by it. I gotta pick it up.
And look at... How long has it been there? It's breaking down.
That's already starting to break into pieces.
-That's getting in the fish. -Yeah.
And it will go into the water, and from there into the North Sea and,
I mean, can spread beyond.
Is there anything we can do to help out?
I mean, I would love to put you to work, if you're willing.
-That's why we're here. -Are you kidding? Come on.
We have other volunteers, we'll put some wellies on you,
some Wellington boots on you,
uh, and we need to get rid of some of this rubbish.
-Let's do it. -That's a straightforward, easy,
and incredibly powerful, useful thing we can do.
-All right, sign me up. -Yeah. Let's do it.
-Brilliant, gents. Thanks very much. -Let's get those wellies.
[all laughing]
[Zac] Wellies.
[birds squawking]
[Zac] Over an average year, approximately 7,000 volunteers
collectively remove a little over 220 tons of garbage from the river.
Before we can get started, each clean-up starts with a safety meeting.
[man] Firstly, we've got to consider your health and safety.
So make sure that you've got Wellington boots on,
because they've got the protection on the bottom of the boot
to make sure that nails, et cetera, that you might encounter
won't go through your foot.
Oh, the other thing, if the rat urine is on an object which you touch,
then you might become unwell.
[Chris] So don't stick your fingers in your eyes,
in your mouth, in your ears,
or in someone else's mouth, or in someone else's...
Wear your gloves, and when we're done, we've got hand-washing stuff.
Just wash your hands.
Try and just have a pick, and off we go.
Surely you must've done some weirder stuff than picking rubbish in the Thames?
Oh, for sure. No, not in the Thames.
Well, there you go. No, not in the Thames, yeah.
-I'm Zac! -[girl shrieking] Hi!
-What's your name? Hi. -Hannah.
They're the only people here who do know who you are.
Oh, OK.
[Zac] If they've got time to volunteer for this job...
[chuckles] ...yeah, I think I've got time for a selfie.
All right.
♪ I'm on the battlefield Like a Bonaparte ♪
♪ And all this fool's gold Has got me torn apart ♪
♪ I hear the shouting From the voices of a generation ♪
[Chris] This is my least favorite piece of rubbish in the whole world.
-[Zac] Straws. -No, it's not a straw.
-[Zac] Drink mixer? -No, it's a cotton bud stick.
Oh, no way.
[Darin] Oh, my God.
Even... 'cause it will float, and it's so narrow,
it can go through a sewage treatment works and out the other side.
So if you... Once you find one, you will find...
-[Zac] Endless amounts. -...millions of them.
-[Darin] Oh, my God. -[Chris] I hate them.
-[Darin] How about this bloody thing? -Trouble is, that's the full wheel.
It's not just the tire.
[Zac] There you go, Darin. Get that outta here.
♪ I see miles and miles of kingdom ♪
♪ There's no castle, there's no queen ♪
♪ Just a soldier on an open floor ♪
♪ I see all the lonely people ♪
[inhales deeply, exhales]
♪ There's a picture of a perfect world ♪
[Chris] So, gents, time for you to head up?
-Well... -There's so much more.
I know.
[Zac] It's overwhelming.
It seems like an endless sea of garbage.
[Chris] We don't solve the problem doing this,
but we make a dent in the problem.
-[Zac] It's kind of impossible to stop. -[Chris laughs] It is.
[Zac] It's crazy to think that Earth really has no natural enemies,
other than people.
But people problems call for people solutions.
Like using cotton swabs with paper stems instead of plastic.
[Chris] The ultimate tragedy is, you know, even if we get rid of our rubbish,
still one of the main solutions we have for dealing with it
is dig a big hole in the ground,
fill it full of rubbish, and then cover it up again.
[Zac] While our goal should be "reduce, reuse, and recycle,"
in 2014 only 9.5% of plastic
used in the United States was actually recycled.
So it seems like reducing through the reuse of things
like straws, bags, and bottles is really the most effective solution.
Next time you're in joyful central London, looking at those views of Big Ben,
remember it's all flowing downstream.
[Zac] If we all made that one small adjustment today,
imagine how healthy our environment could be in a decade.
-[Darin] See you later. -[Zac] See you guys. Good job, thank you!
[Darin] Well, that was good, you know?
Kind of overwhelming, you know?
[Zac] It's just shocking how much gets through...
the system. Like, where... Is that littering? Is it...
It seems like a lot of it was flushing down the toilet.
[Darin] Yeah. And the single-use stuff is really... The one-use water bottle,
-and the straws, and... -Yeah.
[Zac] When you actually take any form of action to go in
and deliberately try and make a difference, you see it, it's...
I mean, that was tedious.
You could just stand and not move and you could not clean up
-a single square foot around you. -Right.
There's too much trash.
And the smaller the piece, the more dangerous.
[Zac] Back at our hotel, Darin found an awesome example of another trend:
eco-tourism.
I can't think of a better way to cruise around London
than on an actual bamboo bike.
[woman] Yeah. Six of our team members went out and they spent
three days in a workshop making them.
All of the bikes have our staff members' names on them
to add that little personal touch.
-Could I give it a go? -Be my guest. Yeah.
[Darin] Awesome! Bamboo action, come on!
[Zac] Since fossil fuel-burning vehicles are a major part of the pollution problem,
bikes and other clean transportation are definitely a step,
or a pedal, in the right direction.
Heads up! You should still be very careful when riding bikes
in a busy city like London.
Watch out, Darin. [laughing]
I don't usually get up as early as Darin.
Maybe there is something to his superfood diet, after all.
I'm taking a moment to meet with a local food blogger.
-Ella. Nice to meet you. -Very nice to meet you, I'm Zac.
[Zac] Ella Mills, whose decision to turn vegan
was really a matter of life or death.
It smells amazing.
[Zac] You could say she was polluting her body with bad food.
And, after the success of her new way of life,
she's decided to share her recipes with the rest of the world,
in the form of her own restaurant and super successful blog.
-Appreciate it. Thank you. -See you later. Thank you.
[Zac] You've been doing this since 2012. You already have a cookbook out.
[Ella] Yes. I got very sick in 2011
with something that stopped my autonomic nervous system
from functioning properly.
It's called postural tachycardia syndrome.
[Zac] And that's how you started really cooking this way...
Exactly. So I was so uninterested in this kind of food.
Like, candy, ice cream was, like, my best, my main food groups.
Um, but I couldn't regulate my heart rate properly, my digestion.
I had loads of problems with chronic fatigue,
and I spent four months in and out of hospital,
and then basically most of the next year in bed.
I was 20, and I was taking steroids and being told about beta blockers,
-and just not where you expect to be... -Wow.
-...at that point in your life. -Oh, my gosh.
And, so, I took all the meds and they just didn't really work.
When you started eating plant-based, where was the inception of the idea?
Yeah, so I'd never considered it.
So I took all the meds, kind of, as normal, for about a year or so.
But I still was basically unable to do much.
And then I hit a rock bottom, especially with my mental health.
And I'd never kind of looked at diet at that point.
And that's why I started writing the blog, which was called Deliciously Ella.
And then that turned into cooking classes, an app, cookbooks, and then
my brain fog was a little bit better, my fatigue was a little bit better,
my digestion was a little bit better,
and then after two years, I came off all my meds.
And I've been off them ever since, and I've been able--
Was that something they said you'd be on forever?
-Was that sort of-- -That was the assumption, yeah.
I do believe that the world needs more plant-based food,
and the only way it's gonna happen is by making it
more mainstream, more appealing.
-That's what prevented me from starting. -Totally.
Like, honestly, it was just that the food didn't seem good to me.
[Ella] No. There's just been this kind of explosion in plant-based cooking,
vegan food, and people are just becoming, like,
very much accustomed to the fact that this is a way that you could eat,
and that it could be delicious.
[Zac] Ella has made a reputation for flavorful plant-based dishes
that can change the way we look at eating and how we fuel our bodies.
She's offered me a private cooking lesson in her own test kitchen.
And she promises the dish we're gonna make is easy to cook
and packs a lot of flavor.
[Zac] So thanks for having me into your lovely kitchen.
So what are you gonna make?
[Ella] It's a veg curry.
For me, with friends, family,
this is loads and loads of flavor.
It's super, super easy.
And also, it's just a nice way of introducing
a lot of different, colorful veg into your life.
And so we roast butternut squash and sweet potato.
So we're gonna put that all in here.
[Zac] First time vegan eating is easier to do with familiar flavors.
I love to eat plant-based, and I prefer Indian and Thai curries.
Just like the one she's made.
Adding cinnamon, curry powder, turmeric, and chili.
Then we'll add a bit of coconut oil as well,
just 'cause it brings out the sweetness, again, of the sweet potato and cinnamon.
This just goes in the oven,
so we roast it before we put it into the curry,
just so that it soaks up all the spices
and also just obviously takes the edge off, as well.
-This curry really busts down any myth... -[Ella] Right.
...that a plant-based diet can't have flavor, can't have--
Exactly.
Is that something you are thinking about...
-100% -...with your recipes?
And I think there's also a preconception that it's really time-consuming
and really difficult,
whereas these are all, kind of, very easy ingredients.
You can get them anywhere.
And also, you can batch cook it, you can freeze it.
Like, it's just a recipe that I feel like we can all make.
OK, so while that starts to cook, we make the base.
So we have red onion, garlic, green pepper.
We add a little bit of oil, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds, and salt.
OK, I'm gonna add maple and coconut milk.
[Zac] Yeah. Honestly, you should try making this at home.
Just so you can smell it.
[Ella] OK, so here is our final dish.
It's delicious.
-It's unbelievable. -It's got a lot of flavor, right?
A ton of flavor.
I can see how you have such a following, 'cause this would immediately convert me,
like, to wanting plant food.
Totally. And you don't feel it's weird, right?
Nuh-uh.
[Zac] I don't miss a single thing in this meal.
[Zac] So, later today,
-my friend Darin... -Yep.
-...we're going to eat with Simon Rogan... -Yep.
...tonight. We have, like, something at a chef's table.
-Amazing. -Would you like to come along?
-Yes, I would love to. -Yes, let's do it.
[Zac] Two Michelin star chef Simon Rogan
owns a variety of restaurants throughout the UK and Hong Kong.
But one of his most exclusive locations, Aulis, has our attention today.
This is his development kitchen.
So this is where he stretches his creativity and invents new dishes.
And he uses a farm-to-table approach.
But it's not just any farm, it's his own farm.
While the restaurant isn't 100% vegetarian,
the idea is that the vegetables shine as the featured ingredients in his meals.
And the animal products play more of a supporting role.
The result is a much healthier,
much more delicious vegetable-forward meal.
-[Simon] Hello. -Hi!
-[Zac] Hey, welcome! -Hello.
-Are you Ella? Hi. Pleasure! -Yeah, nice to meet you.
[Zac] But today,
he's preparing an all plant-based dining experience, just for us.
-Ella, welcome. Simon. How are you doing? -Very nice to meet you, Simon. I'm Ella.
-Well, welcome to Aulis. -[Ella] Thank you.
[Simon] We've got a millet and cauliflower croquet.
And on top of the croquet you've got some black garlic emulsion.
Look at that little...
-[Ella] That's amazing! -[Darin chuckles]
[Darin] Wow, look at that.
So superfoods, Darin, is your, kind of, specialty, right?
Yeah.
From a consumer's perspective, definitely, I find, like, it's...
challenging when you're looking at a whole shelf of things, everything's "super"...
What does it mean?
It's really about...
per bite, let's call it,
having more micro-nutrients in them than, say, eating a doughnut would have.
-[Ella] OK. -Right?
Like, for example, this is all food that has been growing on their farm.
You could technically say everything we're eating right now is superfoods.
[Zac] Simon bases his menu on seasonality.
It's not about forcing ingredients, but rather
serving what's growing at the time.
The concept is to let nature dictate what's for dinner.
[Simon] Next, we've got a mushroom wafer this time.
-[Ella] Mushrooms are my favorite food. -Oh, there we go.
-[Zac] Mine too! -[Ella] Love them.
So, we have a barn up in Cumbria, where we buy the spores
and we actually grow them in a dark place in the barn.
Oh, my God.
-I think that's my favorite so far. -Come on!
That's by far my favorite bite.
-That is unbelievable. -Holy cow!
Wow.
[Darin] That little...
cheesy...
[Ella] Mmm.
[Darin] ...flavor on top of the mushrooms.
Whoa.
And the creaminess with the crunch there is like...
-[Darin] Oh, my God. -Oh, my God.
And it still changes. I love the more you chew it,
-how it kind of evolves into one. -[Ella] Amazing.
[Darin] Wow.
-Beautiful, man. -Incredible.
-[Zac] Thank you, chef. -Hope you enjoyed it.
-Thank you, chef. -Thank you guys too. Unbelievable.
[birds squawking]
[Zac] Look, I get it.
People are usually resistant to change.
That's why change is best in small steps.
Little increments.
Switch to a reusable mug.
Carpool one day a week.
Ride a bike when you can.
Plant a few seeds.
-Alley-oop! -[Darin] Sha!
And work your way up to a garden.
-How quick did we just build a garden? -I don't know. Thirty minutes?
Eat one extra serving of vegetables a day.
-That's by far my favorite bite. -Yeah, it's unbelievable.
Holy cow.
[Zac] And know where they came from.
Just like picking up garbage,
change can happen one piece at a time.
[bees buzzing]
[Zac] And before you know it, you look over your shoulder
and realize you've done a lot.
The hardest thing about change is taking that first step.
-[Darin] Oh, my God. -[Zac laughing]
[Zac] But after you get started...
Bye, Mom!
...it really is all downhill from there.
[chuckling]
♪ I've never felt like this before ♪