To be annoyed that vegan options have replaced vegetarian?

Not if the restaurant wants to make money. It is a restaurant, a business, not an exercise in philosophy.

Restaurants are falling like flies where I am regardless of what they sell. I haven’t seen much evidence that vegan restaurants are especially prone to it.

I am amused by the poster who said that vegans think they’re special. I’m not even vegan or vegetarian but it looks to me on a lot of the anti vegan threads started by vegetarians that it’s the vegetarians who are put out because they aren’t regarded as special anymore.

@Rainbow1901 people don’t eat meat for ethical reasons, not because of the taste

I wonder if the trend will reverse, in time. The trend for veganism has peaked, I actually know quite a few ex-vegans.

Quite. So basically there is very little demand for vegan food but many restaurants have decide the vegan dollar is more important that the vegetarian one.

So the argument that vegetarians can eat vegan food falls down, doesn’t it? Because in that basis everyone can eat vegan food falls- but most people don’t want to. So basically restaurants cater for meat and fish eaters and vegans but not vegetarians, despite there being far more vegetarians than vegans.

I understand that but my point was about people who don't eat meat or fish. People who eat fish are handling flesh and dead animals, so I don't see too much difference.

https://weetwood.co.uk/app/uploads/2022/03/Vegan-Afternoon-Tea-JAN-2025.pdf

This is the nearest vegan afternoon tea to me. Afternoon tea isn't my thing because I don't have a sweet tooth at all, but as far as cakes go, they were lovely last time I had them (I was given a voucher as a present). The sandwiches were just the sort of thing I love, no complaints here.

We're going to end up with only those chain restaurants surviving, at this rate, except in wealthier cities/areas. All the independent restaurants in my home town are closing down, one after another. It's such a shame.

I was for years!

I'd have sent it back, it's ridiculous. However this is all down to the idiot militant vegans who seem to think what other people eat is any of their business. Obviously I'm not including all vegans in that before I'm accused of vegan bashing, only ones like whoever made the FB post.

I own a restaurant. It is down to margins. The hospitality industry has been absolutely battered by covid lock downs, increased energy costs and food prices, NMW increase, employers NI increases, and the cost of living crisis in general. It's a tough place to be. We cannot carry menu items with low sales and potential high wastage. I would love to carry more vegetarian menu items however the wastage is too high as we buy everything fresh and make all our food from scratch. No fake meats etc. However because we cook from scratch and don't buy in prepared frozen items chef will happily flex a dish and add cheese, egg or other non-vegan products for our vegetarian customers.

If you are vegetarian try restaurants that specialise in cuisines from largely vegetarian cultures as the vegetarian and vegan dishes will be amazing. Or go higher end where you can guarantee everything is made fresh on site. I'd also recommend calling ahead and asking if they can accommodate specific requirements. We will flex our menu if given notice.

Sadly a lot of restaurants simply reheat packaged meals. Everything is portioned and costed so something simple like adding cheese isn't done because it completely messes up their stock control and pricing. Depressing isn't it.

I don't like cream either @AnnWalkersLeftSlipper .
I eat a lot of non-dairy food, but not deliberately.

Gluten-free bread and cakes aren't tasty, an often the vegan option is also gluten-free and vice versa.

In fairness, I don't know a single vegan who appreciates a 'cauliflower steak'. All I've seen about those is vegans and vegetarians complaining about them. Whichever chef came up with that has a lot to answer for. Not seen one on a menu for a long while, thankfully.

Free from bread? Most bread is vegan?

You might think the rest of it is 'yuk', but you're not a vegan? Vegans think cream etc is 'yuk'.

It’s very lazy and a cost cutting exercise
I’m gluten free too and completely fed up of GF foods also being vegan as with my IBS have to avoid so many pulses beans nuts and vegetables
95% of the time I cook from scratch but sometimes if I’m out and about have no choice

There are vegan restaurants, but the couple near me had to close as there wasn't enough demand. Despite the vegan agenda being pushed quite heavily, and a lot of people (not all!) who are vegan being quite noisy about it, actually only a tiny proportion of the population is vegan. One vegan cafe near me turned into a sushi bar, and the other into a (beef) burger bar lol.

Free-from bread -yuk
Dairy-free spread - yuk
Vegan filling - might be OK, might be yuk

Free-from scone - yuk
Free-from clotted cream - yuk

There are ways of making a point without sounding so insufferable

Those restaurants either fail or learn to compromise.

Make the whole menu vegan then - I mean, if vegetarians can eat vegan so can all the meat and fish eaters.

I don't eat meat and I can't say that I have come across this problem. Granted, I don't eat out that often but I've just checked the online menus of the four places I would be most likely to eat at and there wasn't any fake meat in sight and there were plenty of cheesy options. I looked at an Italian run pizza cafe, a Vietnamese street food place, a pricy gastro pub and a chain type pub/restaurant. The pizza place doesn't do fake cheese, but has three veggie pizza options and pasta with tomato sauce for vegans, the Vietnamese place has lots of tofu options, the chain pub had mac and cheese, veg thai curry, cheese and leek pie, veg chilli, a bean burger and a cauliflower cheese tart to go with the carvery. The pricier place had halloumi and falafel as V and VE alternatives to several dishes, mushroom stroganoff, a shepherds pie made with lentils rather than fake mince, a bean burger served with cheese.
The many local curry places always have a paneer option, no fake meat on the menu.
Macdonalds is the only place I've come across fake meat.

That is true BUT from a restaurant's point of view, the 5-7% eat food that the 1-2% don't. So for costs and practical reasons it makes more sense to provide options for the 1-2% that the other 5-7% can also have, rather than making it that the 1-2% can't use their restaurant (or cafe/pub/whatever).

They're not just losing out on the 1-2% if they don't, they're potentially losing out on families with one vegan, parties with a couple of vegans, huge dinner gatherings who have only 1 or 2 vegans but wants somewhere suitable for everyone.

I find vegetarianism weirdly old fashioned now.

In the old days a lot of people had the rosy idea that dairy came from cows who produced milk without calves, or that all calves and chicks grew up to become dairy cows and egg laying hens themselves, etc

But now everyone knows that's not the case, surely you're either against the meat industry or not bothered by it...but I don't get the halfway house?