I am vegetarian and allergic to soy. So many fabulous-looking recipes contain soy sauce, tamari or miso: do you have thoughts on possible substitutions or strategies around this?
Leslie, Las Vegas, US
Soy sauce, tamari and miso are all big flavour enhancers with tons of umami depth, so that’s what you want to aim to get into your cooking. Seeing as you’re vegetarian, though, some of the more common alternatives won’t work, because many of them contain fish: Worcestershire sauce, say, or oyster or fish sauce. That said, there are lots of vegetarian oyster and fish sauces out there these days, as well as the likes of no soy soy sauce and soy-free miso pastes made from chickpeas, for example.

Thinking beyond these kinds of “free-from” alternatives, however, you want to be looking at the likes of balsamic vinegar (as aged and rich as you can afford, ideally), tamarind paste and coconut aminos. These all have the sweet-sharp-sour combination that’s needed to hit the notes that soy, tamari and miso all strike so loudly. Molasses, too, are wonderful: date molasses, or my favourite pomegranate molasses, for example, are both good at delivering that rich, sweet-tangy depth to all sorts of dishes.

In terms of stocking up the cupboard with specific ingredients, meanwhile, you should try dried mushrooms and seaweed. Adding either of these to soup, stock or whatever else you’re cooking will bring a real umami kick to proceedings. Black garlic likewise: add about 30g to 200g Greek-style yoghurt, blitzed up, with a little lemon juice, salt and a couple of tablespoons of oil, and any roast veg you drizzle with that will be very happy indeed. And that’s not all: sliced black garlic can be added to all sorts, including flatbreads and risotto.

And, while we’re at it, don’t forget the quickest, easiest and most umami-ish supper of all: Marmite pasta!. The combination of Marmite and vegetarian hard cheese, as well as butter and pasta produces such a big flavour hit that no one will be yearning for the likes of miso, tamari or soy.

This article was amended on 11 March 2024 because an earlier version referred to using parmesan, rather than to using vegetarian hard cheese.