Mushroom. Fucking. Risotto.

[CompleteBarstool]

We're on a rare trip away, been looking forward to it for ages especially about having some lovely food.

Now I discover tonight's veggie option is mushroom risotto. Mushroom. Fucking. Risotto.

What's the meal that makes your heart sink?

I feel like everywhere I go the veggie option is mushroom risotto or macaroni cheese. Or something with godforsaken halloumi in.

@BalladOfBarryAndFreda - I agree with @00100001 suggestions:
The majority of meat dishes can't be made veggie, by swapping out the meat with tofu, veggie mince, lentils, soya chunks, veggie sausages

However, I would suggest not using meat substitutes. I don't want something that has a meaty texture/taste.

I use paneer in any curry that you can put chicken in. I also like pastry parcels made with either puff or filo pastry. I do a lovely one with beetroot, feta and spinach. Mushroom pate en croute is also lovely.

Veggie of 30+ years here. Hate mushrooms. Hate goat's cheese. The two options that always seem to be on the menu. Eating out is almost always disappointing in my experience.

So sorry op, my dinners gonna be vegetable tagine with fruity cous cous and feta parcels on the side. I can’t wait

I love mushroom risotto, although does need to be a good one and my Dad makes a great one, so been a bit spoilt for lesser versions now!
HATE stuffed peppers!
Also developed a serious intolerance to chilli and onions of all things, so that there has totally screwed up any chance of 99.99% of veggie foods / meals out! Great!

Bloody hate mushroom risotto when out. Its rarely cooked well and seems to be the go to option for vegetarians by restaurants and venues who can't be arsed to think.

It could be worse, 30 ish years ago the 'vegetarian' option often turned out to be fish

I love grilled aubergine halves with a yoghurt and pine nut dressing. Never seen it as an veggie option!

Had a lovely veggie and lentil pie with cauliflower mash topping on holiday recently.

Goats cheese and roast pepper tart/stack/pizza whatever.

Bolognaise. The ultimate monday night dinner.

Went to an expensive restaurant the other day. The only veggie option was a tomato risotto. Thankfully I still eat fish, so did have some options - ended up ordering 2 starters instead of starter and main though.
My heart sinks when the veggie option is also vegan. Giving up meat doesn't mean that people don't want to eat butter or cheese!
When I'm queen of the world I will insist that restaurants offer 50% vegetarian options unless they are a specialist restaurant.

I think for me mushroom rissoto is like oh I don't know what to cook for a Veggie so I'll just do mushrooms and rice and then it's a mushroom risotto wahayyy

I hate scallops, clams, mussels 🤮🤮🤢 not a fan of beef Wellington or anything liver or kidney.

I love anything lamb

When I was vegetarian, my heart sank when it was a goat's cheese tart/goat's cheese anything (whyyyy do people think that if you're vegetarian you'd rather have the vile substance that is goat's cheese rather than whatever cheese everyone else is having) or something really spicy.

One of the reasons I stopped being vegetarian was because it wasn't practical for me to take lunch to work, and these were often the only options, or something really small (like half a stuffed pepper) compared to the meat options that would leave me hungry.

Oh and I hate lasagne

On the upside OP the mushroom risotto will likely have butter in so won't be vegan.

Basically, we do want something we could easily make at home or buy from Tesco. The point of eating out is to get something different or something that's so time consuming to make at home that I wouldn't bother.

@TheWindOnTheMoon

Mushrooms are disgusting imo I've been vegetarian for over 30 years and remember restaurants not being able to offer anything other than a cheese omelette or salad. Then there came the vegetable lasagne which wasn't too bad.

But I always begrudged (and still do) going out for a meal and having no choice of dish. Meat eaters could choose anything off the menu but vegetarians had to have whatever was on offer as an afterthought and vegans often just got a look.

It is at least better than it used to be then.

I find it’s worse. Most stuff is vegan. Not all veggies want to eat vegan.

Thanks birdkin and @Grasshopper90, good tip about yutaka brand kimchi!

Recipes are mostly all Maangchi , and some My Korean Kitchen. Also great vegetarian Korean favourites are black bean side dish (can be made few days in advance), potato and carrot stir fry, tteokbokki without fish sauce or fishcakes, and they really have some great recipes for courgettes. This one is particularly amazing www.maangchi.com/recipe/dububuchim-yangnyeomjang

When I have a veggie coming around, I just make it all veggie. Once all the Korean dishes are served up, I think it dazzles people a bit and they really don’t miss the meat. Although the veggie needs warning in advance that everything is okay to eat 😂 And if they’re not able to eat spicy… I’m not sure what I’d do about that!!

Anything with goat's cheese, feta, or slathered with cream.
🤮 to all three.

@30degreesandmeltinghere same and was usually a tomato, bit of iceberg and cheese. That’s not a salad

🤮They might be able to knock up something else.. I'd ring and ask, give them a bit of notice. Must could at least do halloumi burger type thing. I'm sure they can do something else. My husband is vegetarian and this veggie option would make us change restaurants. Or else he would end up with a big plate of chips

Where are you going that serves both those things for the same price? Although imo £8 for a main is good value.

Well I made up the price. But I've been places where a cauliflower steak is only very slightly less expensive than the real thing. I get that there are overheads in a restaurant but a nod to the fact your ingredients are about an eighth of the price of the meat equivalent would be nice. A tenner for a piece of cauliflower is nuts imo.

Would the answer be more restaurants that only offer vegan and vegetarian dishes? I'm neither but would happily go with friends if the choices were appetising for all.

Mine have been mentioned.
Boring tomato pasta
Mushroom risotto (or basically any kind of) risotto
Stuffed peppers
Main course salads as the only veggie option. I don’t want meat-I don’t need health food

Wtf is a cauliflower steak?
(I'm in Italy so mushroom risotto would be pretty good tbf, the first vegetarian meal I was offered was a ball of mozzarella rolling round a huge plate with boiled cabbage on the side- as others have said, we've come s long way, but. )