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Catering for an office is never as simple as it sounds. Someone is vegetarian, someone else is vegan, someone doesn’t eat gluten, and someone else avoids onion and garlic entirely — and whoever is organising the event usually finds this out the hard way, halfway through ordering. Plant-based catering sidesteps most of that problem in one move, because a good vegan meal already accommodates almost everyone at the table.

Why plant-based catering is the easy option

A meal that’s vegan, gluten-free and made without added oil or sugar already covers vegetarians, vegans, most people avoiding dairy, and a fair number of general health-conscious eaters — without singling anyone out or requiring a show of hands. Because everything is cooked without any added oil, it’s also a safe, considerate option for colleagues who are diabetic or pre-diabetic. Add an onion- and garlic-free option into the mix, and it covers religious and cultural dietary needs too. Nobody has to ask, and nobody has to explain.

How it works for an event

• Order online for the date you need — no back-and-forth quoting required.
• Everything arrives frozen and ready — heat on-site or the morning of, no cooking staff or kitchen needed.
• Ready to serve in about 20 minutes from frozen — on the stovetop, or defrosted and heated in the microwave (remove the lid first).
• Six flavours to choose from, so you can order a mix rather than one single dish for the whole room.
• Individual tubs make portioning and serving straightforward for a buffet-style spread.

How to serve it

Our dahls are best served with rice — simply cook enough for your group. Basmati is our top pick, though ordinary white or brown rice works just as well. The absorption method is the easiest way to get consistently good rice with minimal fuss, even for a crowd.

A simple green salad is a light, fresh side that takes minutes to put together — baby spinach, rocket and watercress is a great combination. For the Tangy Green Soup, serve sliced bread or toast on the side instead of rice.

Good fits for this

• Team lunches and workshops
• Year-end functions
• Board or client meetings where catering usually defaults to sandwiches
• Corporate wellness days
• Any event where you don’t want to chase down everyone’s dietary requirements individually

Ordering for a group

For a handful of people, you can order directly online like any other order. For larger group or event orders, it helps to get in touch a little ahead of time so we can make sure everything you need is ready for your date — email us at mark@truenature.co.za or place your order online.

Frequently asked questions

Can you cater for a large group?

Yes — for bigger orders, reach out ahead of your event date so we can plan for it. There’s no fixed minimum, but a little notice helps for anything beyond a small team lunch.

Do we need to reheat everything ourselves?

Yes, meals arrive frozen and can be heated on the stovetop (about 10 minutes from thawed) or in the microwave (just remove the lid first) shortly before serving — there’s no on-site catering service, just food that’s genuinely quick to prepare wherever you are.

What if some of our team have different dietary needs?

That’s exactly what this solves — order a mix of our six flavours, including onion- and garlic-free options, and everyone eats the same meal without a separate menu.

Have a corporate event coming up? Get in touch or order directly online.

If you follow a sattvic diet, cook for the Hare Krishna community, or simply avoid onion and garlic for health or spiritual reasons, finding a proper meal in Cape Town that’s actually free of both — not just vegetarian — can be surprisingly hard. Most curries, restaurant dahls and even packaged Indian food default to an onion-and-garlic base. Here’s what that avoidance is about, and where to find the real thing.

Why some diets leave out onion and garlic

In Ayurveda, onion and garlic are considered rajasic and tamasic foods — believed to overstimulate the body and mind rather than support calm, clarity and digestion. A sattvic diet, followed by many yoga practitioners and by ISKCON (Hare Krishna) devotees preparing prasadam, leaves them out entirely for this reason. Jain dietary practice avoids them too, along with other root vegetables, for reasons rooted in non-violence towards the plant itself. The specifics differ between traditions, but the practical result is the same: a real onion-and-garlic-free meal has to be made that way from the start, not just picked around.

What makes it hard to find in practice

• Most restaurant curries use an onion-garlic base as standard — even “mild” or “vegetarian” options usually still contain both.
• Packaged curry pastes, stocks and spice mixes very often include onion or garlic powder, even when it isn’t obvious from the front of the pack.
• Asking a kitchen to “leave out the onion and garlic” on request usually means adapting a recipe that wasn’t designed without them — the flavour balance is often noticeably off.
• Genuinely dedicated onion- and garlic-free dishes, made that way from the recipe up, are uncommon to find ready-made in Cape Town.

True Nature’s onion and garlic-free options

Two of our six frozen dahls are made completely without onion or garlic: Dahl Makhani (whole black urad lentils and red kidney beans in a creamy tomato and coconut cream sauce) and Dahl Yoga (whole black urad lentils and red kidney beans, herbs and spices). Both are recipes built from scratch without either ingredient, not a regular dahl with something left out — so the flavour is meant to stand on its own. Everything is 100% plant-based, made without added oil or sugar, frozen fresh in Cape Town, and ready to eat in about 20 minutes.

We deliver across Cape Town, and both flavours are also available at a number of our retail stockists — see our store list for the one nearest you.

Frequently asked questions

Is all Indian food onion and garlic free?

No — quite the opposite. Most Indian cooking, including most dahl, uses onion and garlic as a flavour base. Dishes without either are the exception and need to be made that way deliberately.

Are Dahl Makhani and Dahl Yoga suitable for a Jain diet?

They contain no onion or garlic, which covers the most common requirement. Jain diets can vary in how strictly other root vegetables are avoided, so if you’re cooking for someone with specific requirements, it’s worth checking our full ingredient list against their particular practice.

Can I taste the difference without onion and garlic?

These two recipes were developed without onion or garlic from the start, using herbs and spices — plus ginger in the Dahl Makhani — to carry the flavour. They’re not modified versions of a regular dahl.

Ordering for an event? Try all six flavours first

Order one tub of each of our six flavours now — including Dahl Makhani and Dahl Yoga — so everyone can taste the full range and you can decide which to include when you place a larger order for your event or office lunch.

If you’ve searched for vegan meal delivery in Cape Town, you’ve probably noticed the options range from food trucks and cafés to frozen ready-meals you heat at home. Each has its place — but if you want something healthy, genuinely plant-based, and ready whenever you are, frozen vegan meals are worth a closer look. Here’s what actually matters when you’re choosing.

Why frozen vegan meals make sense

A good frozen meal isn’t a compromise — it’s a shortcut. Cooking a proper dahl or curry from scratch can take an hour or more between prep and simmering. A well-made frozen version gives you the same meal, made the same way, without the weeknight effort. It also means you always have something healthy on hand instead of defaulting to takeout on a busy day.

What to check before you order vegan meal delivery

• Ingredients you can actually pronounce — look for a short, real-food ingredient list rather than a long one full of fillers.
• No added oil or sugar, if that matters to you — many “healthy” ready-meals still use a fair amount of both.
• Allergen and dietary detail — gluten-free, and whether onion and garlic are used (important for some religious and medical diets).
• Where they actually deliver, and any minimum order — this varies a lot between Cape Town suppliers.
• How long it takes to heat — genuinely quick should mean minutes, not a full stovetop production.

What True Nature offers

We make six handcrafted vegan dahls and soups in Cape Town — Dahl Vegani, Chana Dahl, Chana Masala, Dahl Makhani, Dahl Yoga and Tangy Green Soup. All six are 100% plant-based, made without added oil or sugar, and gluten-free. Two of the six — Dahl Makhani and Dahl Yoga — are also made without onion or garlic. Everything is frozen fresh and ready to eat in about 20 minutes flat, no thawing overnight required.

We deliver across Cape Town, and you’ll also find us on the shelf at SPAR, Wellness Warehouse and a handful of independent stores across the Western Cape and Gauteng — see our full store list for the one nearest you.

Frequently asked questions

Is dahl vegan?

Traditional dahl can be made with ghee (clarified butter), so not always. Ours is 100% plant-based — no dairy, no animal products, ever.

How do I heat a frozen True Nature meal?

Thaw in the fridge or under cool water for 10–15 minutes, then heat on the stovetop for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Total time from freezer to plate is around 20–25 minutes.

Do you have options without onion or garlic?

Yes — Dahl Makhani and Dahl Yoga are made without either, which also makes them a good fit for Hare Krishna and Jain diets.

Ready to try it? Browse all six flavours and order for Cape Town delivery below.