The vegetarian option

[evilharpy]

A thread in AIBU about "if you had your own restaurant" had lots of responses about vegetarian options usually being shit and always involving goat's cheese, mushrooms or beetroot which is sadly bang on. Although where our work Christmas lunch is, both the (only) vegetarian starter and main are based on chestnuts. I've seen another Christmas part menu that has three veggie starter options out of six, and two out of six mains, none of which involve mushrooms, goats cheese or beetroot. And no risotto!

Wondering if you are vegetarian (or not, but just like the veggie option on the menu), what sort of things would you like to see? I would like meat-free meals out more often but they really do often seem like an afterthought/token nod.

I feel sorry for vegetarians because round here every veggie offering in now vegan.
Cheese and eggs being extremely tasty I feel this must be a loss

This. So many places have swapped the veggie options for vegan.

Also some thought into the whole meal- if the only non meat starter is butternut based, don’t have butternut risotto as the only veggie main. The amount of times i’ve had variations on the same dish for both courses. Even had one waiter “helpfully” suggest that if I was having halloumi burger as a main, i might want to swap the halloumi starter - the squid would go wonderfully .

Speaking of, fish is not vegetarian. Looking at you Subway, and so many others who offer tuna as a “veggie” option. Woman in Subway actually stood and argued with me that tuna was veggie, and I was wrong.

Oh and fake meat. I don’t want textured protein dressed up as meat, or meat dishes like chilli or bolognese with the meat swapped for quorn or soy.

Well done veggie food is far tastier imo than anything meat based. If I can cook it, professional chefs should be able to!

As a vegetarian, I'm really annoyed with restaurants and supermarkets thinking they can cater for vegetarians with vegan food, I'm sure they see it as killing two birds with one stone. I'm not a fan of a lot of vegan stuff, (especially the over processed stuff) and I love cheese. It feels like we've gone from just being offered mushroom risotto/butternut squash lasagne (and I loathe mushrooms) to being expected to just eat the vegan option. Sometimes it's the gluten free option too.

@motherofawhirlwind

I always say I want something I wouldn't be bothered to cook at home so no pasta, easy risottos or burgers.

This.

I quite like pastry things and pub chips as we don't tend to eat them at home. Tbh I tend to go for meat options, they feel like more of a treat and better value.

I did choose a mushroom schawarma recently. Great idea in principle, but sadly it wasn't a patch on the home made version.

@AnneLovesGilbert

I’m veggie and also feel cheated if the meat free option is vegan. I get it’s convenient but it’s lazy.

Soufflé
Quiche
Roulade
Nut roast
Pie

And no fucking cranberries thank you very much. I don’t want dried fruit in my main course. Drives me batty.

Totally sick of vegan instead of veggie now.

Bloody parmesan cheese. Parmesan isn't suitable for veggies, it contains animal rennet so don't mark the menu with a (v). There are some other cheeses not veggie friendly but parmesan is the main offender.
I like a good veggie roast, so a decent nut roast, or I had a stuffed courgette once which was lovely, with veggie gravy and even a Yorkshire pudding without any animal fat.

I’m not vegetarian but sometimes I pick the veggie option as it’s preferable to
The mains. I’m keen on risotto especially with fennel, broad beans, peas.

I love a ravioli, home
Made pasta with a vegetarian filling and a sage butter sauce.

Gnocchi with truffle, black pepper and creamy butter sauce

being expected to just eat the vegan option. Sometimes it's the gluten free option too

Oh yes. The gluten free, dairy free, veggie, vegan, nut free option all combined into one. That’s why it’s always mushroom risotto 🙄

Anything as long as it isn't:
bloody goats cheese again
mushrooms in pastry
butternut squash
risotto
beetroot
pasta
a piece of vegetable masquerading as a steak

I prefer not to eat vegan

Mushroom risotto is usually lukewarm slop

The veggie option goes in fashions - for a few years now its apparently been law that restaurants with only one veggie option will make it with beetroot, butternut squash or goats cheese (or all three). I remember a time when cashew nut fettucini seemed to be the sole option on every menu for miles around.

I dislike the only veggie main having the same ingredients or conflicting with the sole starter option. A sizeable menu with only one "take it or leave it" veggie main is usually a bad sign, especially if that option is a poorly made risotto.

Also hate the increasing trend to have the only veggie option double up as the vegan, dairy free, nut free and largely flavour free option. This frequently is also the "diet" option on the menu. For bonus points this delight will be vegan fake meat. As a life long vegetarian I neither want nor like fake meat, in particular fake meat which is utterly devoid of protein.

Any of the above are guaranteed not to see me twice. I will travel for a good restaurant with a small menu which is regularly changing and can adapt recipes for specific requests with warning.

Veggie Haggis, you don't see that often enough, and it is so bloody tasty. We often have it as a Christmas meal with all the roasties and veg and veggie sausages, delicious.

Ah, completely agree with this.

How can we get restaurants to realise they're losing our money / return business?

@AudTheDeepMinded

Veggie Haggis, you don't see that often enough, and it is so bloody tasty. We often have it as a Christmas meal with all the roasties and veg and veggie sausages, delicious.

I totally agree. There’s one health food shop that sells it round here. I’ve never seen it on a menu.

What options should be available really depends on the restaurant. It pisses me off when the veggie option is totally different.
It also pisses me off when the veggie option is also healthy, like the mumsnet cliche massive salad.

It’s lame but for a standard pub meal, I love a really good veggie lasagne.

I don’t like fake meat out and about. That feels really lazy. I can have a beyond meat burger at home for a quarter of the price and it tastes the same.

stuffed kabocha squash
Eggplant and shallot ragu with creamy parmesan polenta
ghormeh sabzi Persian herby stew
Vegetarian Khoresh Bademjan (eggplant stew)
Mash Polo | Persian Rice with Mung Beans.

I've just had a flashback to my decade or so of summer holidays on the Norfolk Broads. Some years ago, I'm sure it's massively improved.

Our careful budget meant pub grub was as far as we could go with eating out. There were good and interesting pub menus out there (and I never did get round to trying the samphire at the chain ferry pub dammit) but the majority seemed only to have broccoli cheese pasta bake as the veggie option. Or the nice big salad.

It got so before he saw the menu my husband could tell the veggie option was pasta bake by the trembling of my lower eyelid. He called it my Wile E. Coyote look.

Is there a norm for what's in veggie haggis? I've never come across it.

The same main ingredient in both starter and main is so silly.

I'd like to see at least 50% of all dishes on the menu being veggie or vegan. I hate the fact that some places are only offering vegan choices now and losing the veggie stuff, especially when this usually translates as a burger with horrible vegan cheese. I don't like burgers much and HATE brioche buns and I'm so sick of this too often being one of the only two options. The other is usually a salad. I don't really want salad either.

The above especially annoys me in pubs. If I go for a pub tea, I want pub food. Give me pie and chips or sausage and mash or lasagne. I don't want fucking quinoa.

Another vote for veggie sausage and mash or veggie toad in the hole. One of the finest veggie meals out there and criminally underused on menus in pubs etc.

A veggie nut roast, that isn’t mushroom based, sweet tasting or with cheese!
Love anything butternut squash
Hate hate hate mushrooms being the main ingredient of every veggie dish
Love lentils

Something else that makes my blood boil:

So called 'festive' menus, where the veggie option is a bowl of bloody tomato pasta, or a risotto. I want roast spuds and stuffing etc, not a little bowl of something entirely unrelated to Christmas.

I'll eat most things, as long as there is no fake anything. Whole food ingredients.

@MissCreeAnt

Is there a norm for what's in veggie haggis? I've never come across it.

There's a lot of pulses! I really love the McSween version. Not sure if there is a standard recipe though.

Love all these replies although reading them is making me annoyed and hungry in equal measures. Lots of stuff here I agree with (despite being carnivorous).

Down with stuff masquerading as meat. Just no need.

Also down with everything vegetarian also having to be vegan and/or the only "free from" option on the menu that avoids all common allergens. Vegan cheese is absolutely pointless, awful stuff.

More pulses please. I love a lentil but you rarely see them in restaurants.

If I had a vegetarian coming for dinner I'd probably make something like a lentil-based shepherd's pie, or a potato and chickpea curry I make quite often.

A cauliflower steak should most definitely not cost the same as a sirloin steak.

Donkeys years ago I worked in a restaurant where they made vegetable soup... with chicken stock and no veggie equivalent. And no veggie option in the daily specials. It was in the late 90s but there were vegetarians around even then, I'm not sure what they were supposed to eat.

Try getting a Christmas (or indeed any) dinner out when you don't eat meat or gluten 😫

I’m not a veggie but if something has got chestnuts in it that will draw me towards the vegetarian option - interesting to see how veggies are put off by them! Also love lentils or goats cheese…

I’m not a huge fan of risotto personally