Why seeds and spices have a place in healthy workplace catering

If you met us at the Uncommon Networking event, you may have put your food knowledge to the test with our spice and seed game.

Our winners - Fenugreek seeds. Flaxseeds. Turmeric.

They might be small ingredients, but they’re a good example of how we approach nutrition-led workplace catering: looking beyond simply what we serve for lunch and considering the ingredients that go into every dish.

As a London workplace caterer, we feed people throughout their working week. That means we have an opportunity to make everyday food not only delicious, but varied, balanced and genuinely supportive of employee wellbeing.

And sometimes, it’s the smallest ingredients that can add something extra.

Why we use seeds and spices in our workplace catering

Healthy workplace food doesn’t need to mean supplements, powders or complicated dishes.

We believe it starts with real food and great ingredients.

Seeds, herbs and spices help our chefs create layers of flavour while bringing greater plant diversity and nutritional value to our menus.

Rather than treating nutrition as something we add at the end, we consider it from the very beginning of menu development.

It’s one of the things that makes our approach to corporate catering in London different. We want workplace food to taste brilliant, but we also ask what each ingredient can bring to the plate.

Here are three examples.

Fenugreek seeds

Fenugreek seeds have a distinctive, slightly bitter and nutty flavour and have traditionally been used to support digestion and healthy blood sugar levels.

In our approach to cooking, ingredients like fenugreek give our chefs another way to create depth and complexity, particularly across spice blends, curries, pulses and vegetable-led dishes.

It’s a simple example of an ingredient being chosen for more than one reason: flavour, variety and nutrition.

Flaxseeds

Flaxseeds may be tiny, but they can be an easy way to add additional nutritional value to everyday food.

They are a source of fibre and plant-based omega-3 fatty acids. Fibre is an important part of a balanced diet and contributes to normal gut function, while omega-3 fatty acids have important structural roles within the body.

They’re also incredibly versatile.

Flaxseeds can be incorporated into breakfasts, baking and toppings, making them an easy addition to healthy office catering without making food feel overtly “healthy”.

Because people still need to want to eat it.

Turmeric

Turmeric has been used in cooking for centuries and is probably one of the most recognisable spices in our kitchens.

Its distinctive golden colour comes from naturally occurring compounds including curcumin, which has been widely studied for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

But there’s another reason we love spices like turmeric in our catering: flavour.

Spices allow our chefs to create bold, interesting food using whole ingredients, whether that’s through marinades, curries, roasted vegetables, grains, soups or dressings.

For us, nutrition and flavour should never be competing priorities.

Healthy workplace food is about the bigger picture

We’re not particularly interested in calling individual ingredients “superfoods”.

Adding a spoonful of flaxseed to a dish doesn’t suddenly make it healthy, just as eating turmeric once isn't going to transform someone’s wellbeing. What matters is the bigger picture. A varied diet built around whole ingredients, plenty of plants, fibre, quality sources of protein and healthy fats is far more important than focusing on any single ingredient.

This is where workplace catering can have a real impact. When you’re feeding employees regularly, small decisions become part of a much bigger food culture.

More plant variety. Seeds added to breakfast. Herbs and spices used to build flavour. Balanced lunches. Better-quality ingredients. Menus that change with the seasons. Individually, these choices can seem small. Across hundreds of meals and an entire working year, they add up.

Why nutrition matters in corporate catering

Food at work is often treated as a perk, we see it differently.

Food is performance infrastructure. What people eat during their working day can influence how they feel, and a good workplace food programme should consider nutrition alongside taste, sustainability, variety and experience.

That’s why our approach to corporate catering in London is nutrition-led from the outset. From the balance of a lunch bowl to the seeds sprinkled over breakfast, there should be thought behind what goes onto the plate.

Nutrition-led workplace catering in London

Pow Food provides workplace and corporate catering across London, from daily office lunches and breakfasts to meetings, events, canapés and company dinners.

We’re a Certified B Corp, WELL certified and use 75%+ organic ingredients daily, with nutrition sitting at the heart of how we develop our menus, because good workplace food isn't about one seed, spice or nutritional trend.

It’s about making hundreds of thoughtful choices that result in food people genuinely look forward to eating.

Looking for healthy, nutrition-led catering for your London workplace? Get in touch with Pow Food to explore our workplace catering options.