Even carnivores, in the interest of personal and environmental health, are turning more to veggies — and finding there’s a lot to love. More restaurants are putting vegetables front and center on the plate.

At Mud Hen Water, ulu takes on unexpected flavors with fermented black bean and sour orange. At Vino, roasted cauliflower is accessorized with za’atar brown butter and pickled red cabbage.

“We’re trying to change people’s minds about vegetables,” says Vino chef Keith Endo. “We want to take vegetables out of the back seat so that it’s not just steamed and served with a protein.”

He pickles, grills and fries carrots and tosses them together; he blanches and marinates bok choy in a Caesar-like dressing. “We went from ordering 10 pounds to 40 pounds of bok choy a week,” he says. “We use whatever vegetables we can get our hands on.”

If you’re looking for new and exciting tastes, you’ll find the most innovation with vegetables in the next year.

Each week in January, we’re profiling a food projected to trend on the isle scene this year. The installments come courtesy of food writer Martha Cheng.