'Eating better doesn’t have to mean boring food': Northern Ireland food creator serves up ‘fakeaway’ favourites in new recipe book

A Northern Ireland food creator is putting a fresh spin on the nation’s love of a takeaway with the launch of Fakeout, a new digital recipe book from Taking Meals founder Daniel McCaw.

Launching tomorrow (Wednesday), Fakeout is built around a simple idea: eating better should not mean giving up the food you love.

From Chinese and Indian favourites to dishes inspired by the takeaway and chip-shop culture familiar across Northern Ireland, the book recreates much-loved comfort food with a lower-calorie approach while retaining the flavour and indulgence that make those dishes so popular.

For Daniel, the book represents the next chapter in a food journey that began in Northern Ireland and has grown into a social media community of almost 200,000 people, with followers regularly recreating his recipes and sharing their results.

“Taking Meals has always been about showing people that eating better doesn’t have to mean boring food,” the Ballycastle man explained.

“I love a takeaway as much as anyone, so I wanted to take the dishes people actually crave and find ways to make them lower in calories without losing what makes them so good. Fakeout is really everything Taking Meals is about, brought together in one book.”

What began as Daniel sharing his passion for food online has developed into Taking Meals, a platform focused on helping people fit the food they genuinely enjoy into a more balanced lifestyle.

The Northern Ireland food scene is also an important influence on Fakeout. While the book features takeaway staples recognised across the UK, Daniel wanted to reflect the dishes and food culture familiar to people here.

“I really wanted the book to reflect the kind of takeaway food we actually eat here,” he said.

“There are plenty of the Chinese and Indian classics everyone knows, but there are also dishes inspired by the takeaway and chip-shop culture I grew up with in Northern Ireland. I wanted someone to flick through it and immediately recognise food they genuinely order and love.”

Rather than presenting healthy eating as a complete lifestyle change, Daniel’s approach is about finding ways to enjoy familiar food while being more conscious of what goes into it.

After months of developing recipes, photographing dishes and bringing the book together, its launch marks a major milestone for the Taking Meals creator.

“Fakeout has probably been the biggest project I’ve taken on since starting Taking Meals,” he added.

“Every recipe, photograph and page has had a huge amount of work put into it, so finally being able to release it is a massive moment for me. I’m proud that something which started with me cooking and filming food at home in Northern Ireland has reached the point where I can launch my own recipe book.”

Fakeout will be available from Wednesday, September 16, through Taking Meals.

Readers can sign up for early access and receive 50% off at launch: taking-meals.kit.com/b66f37f938