Greg Lally and Frank Iannelli's Vood delivers locally made plant-based ready meals in Canberra

Vood is the vision of locals Greg Lally and Frank Iannelli. Lally is co-founder of iconic local restaurants XO and ILY and Iannelli is a third-generation fruit and vegetable merchant and co-owner of Canberra's largest omni food wholesaler, Alpha Fresh Foods.

The pair saw the opportunity to enter the market while supporting local chefs, using local produce that is sourced directly from a close network of local suppliers.

"We connect primary producers with local chefs to produce restaurant-quality, ready-to-craft meals that are delivered fresh to your door," says Lally.

They did the research and decided to make the meals plant-based.

"More than ever, people are looking to reduce their meat intake and add more plant-based meals to their diet," says Lally.

"In parallel, the industry has evolved rapidly to service growing demand for meal delivery and meal kits, but there are really limited options available for people who are interested in eating more plant-based meals and understand the provenance of what they are eating.

"We know that eating more plants is better for our health and better for the environment, but we also found people were at a loss as to how to incorporate plant-based meals that were delicious, quick and easy to prepare and nutritionally balanced."

Lally said Vood hopes to break down these barriers while ensuring they do it in the most environmentally sustainable way possible.

The menu contains dishes such as eggplant biryani, Japanese golden curry, mushroom tacos, Mexican bowl and peanut soba noodle salad. There's even a little extras section with desserts such as coconut panna cotta and orange and yoghurt cake.

READ MORE:

Taking advantage of Alpha Fresh Food's lines, there's also a pantry section where you can add in fruit and vegetables, nuts, breads, plant-based milks, even Heaps Normal non-alcoholic beer.

Iannelli recognises the challenges of marrying sustainability and supply-chain efficiency.

"Too often speed and economic efficiency goals come with an environmental cost," he says.

"We are passionate about providing a simple solution, but we have worked incredibly hard to develop a local supply and distribution network to reduce the distance from farm to the consumer's table.

"Our meals arrive fast and fresh, but this is not plant-based fast food."

Main meals can be ordered as single serves ($14), for couples ($26), even a family-sized portion ($50). Desserts are $8.