Being vegetarian is so tiresome.

[Brandnewskytohangyourstarsupon]

I’ve been vegetarian for over 25 years.

Just arranging dinner with friends who are raving about a particular restaurant. It’s a m at eaters dream of a place I’m sure gorgeous food is sold.
It’s Italian so there’s the usual vegetarian offerings of over priced margarita pizza available and it really pisses me off.
There are also some overpriced sides available but it boils my piss to pay £14-16 for a bit of cauliflower.

It’s the majority vote to go to this place.

I don’t want to bring it all down because there’s very little choice for vegetarians so I’ll do as I always do, eat before I go, order a drink and order the cheaper side to just be sociable.

Its always the same I find, always the same.

If you are vegetarian, how do you navigate this?

Suggest a really good vegetarian or vegan place next time then.

I actually gave up and went back to pescatarian three years ago, as was totally fed up of vegetarian options being completed withdrawn for vegan options everywhere.

Not sure what the answer is.

Well there's an easy way to overcome that!

My sister has been vegetarian 40 plus yrs .Its awful worse now that a lot of places just do a vegan offering and box ticked .She seldom bothers going out for meals as can't bear being offered an overpriced crap salad .
Yes I know there are great places but it really really depends where you live .

Middle Eastern restaurants should make carnivores and vegetarians happy

I don't think anyone would be happy paying £16 for a side order of cauliflower.

But you've chosen to be veggie and you agreed to go to this restaurant so you can't really play the victim here. Next time be more assertive and suggest a restaurant that suits you better.

I don't find this at all and I'm vegan. Perhaps it depends whereabouts in the country you are? I've also found London easy. Maybe contact them in advance and see if they can do you something different?

It’s not just me then.

Im the only vegetarian I know so no one would go to a vegetarian or vegan place on my suggestion.

I love to spend time with my friends and couldn’t give a shiny shite what they eat, so I would never make any kind of fuss.

Yep I agree (vegetarian of over 30 years). I try and stick to Indian food when eating out.

It doesn’t usually bother me as I say, I eat before I go and generally suck it up and eat something vegetarian.
But this time when they sent me the menu, my heart sank.

Ok well, onwards!

In ascending order of extremity:

Call the restaurant ahead of time and ask if they can prepare something off menu.

Do some research and organise a meet up at a restaurant you like.

Offer to host and cook.

Don't go.

Eat meat.

Haven’t given up yet but this is a good point. The overtaking of vegetarian food by vegan with the inevitable fake meat is really irritating. Mostly because if you think it’s difficult being vegetarian, try being vegetarian and Coeliac, which two of us are. Most of the fake meat is not gluten free and so that means no option for us. Have to plan in advance, there are a lot of good places if we can plan but makes it difficult to just eat out ad hoc.

I don't think the bulk of the cost is ingredients. I think more of it is rent, energy, rates, staffing etc. This is why you still need to pay for draught soft drinks, even though they cost almost nothing in and of themselves.

So essentially, I usually find at least one appealing option, and I just accept that I have to pay a similar price to the meat eaters for a similar all-round experience.

If sides are 16 that's simply properpricey place nd I am assuming mains are eye watering.

Suggest a different restaurant, if they're your friends, they'll want you to enjoy yourself too.

Chinese and Indian restaurants are normally great at catering to both vegetarians and meat eaters.

I've been vegetarian for 30 years and usually find Italian restaurants pretty good. You can decide what toppings you want in your pizza, I've never been limited to just Margherita. I usually find there are pasta and salad options too. I grant you it's not exciting but I don't find my options too limited.

I'm another vegetarian who is fed up of all meat free options being vegan, I rarely eat out now because of it.

Show us the menu then!

Completely agree about the vegan options making veggie food less good. Some cuisines are better than others for veggie. I find mediterranean, indian and middle eastern have more choices than others.

I resort to fish when eating out. No one I know will eat at an all veggie restaurant. The choice just seems to have got worse, the veggie option is often fake meat. One local place I pick does things like different curries where you can pick the protein source - choose prawn, chicken or tofu which is OK and has a veggie chili and a meat chili. But anywhere "special" which is a bit innovative seems to be incaple of a decent veggie meal, I had a steamed lumped of celeriac in one - it actually sounded lovely, but was a lump of celeriac with a blob of pesto and a miniscule sprinkle of plain unroasted hazelnuts.

You could call the restaurant and say: I really dislike the few veggie offerings on the menu. Please can you make a... for around the average main course cost price? Suggest something you like, that is in season.

I agree with PPs that Middle Eastern, Chinese and Indian restaurants are the way to go as there is always loads of choice. Italian, French and modern British are the worst. It's always goat's cheese starter and a slab of celeriac or cauli roasted for mains.

Try being Coeliac eating out!

The friends have found this particular restaurant and tried it out and are delirious about it.
Absolutely loved it, food, atmosphere amazing!
Sent the menu.
Theres a margarita pizza for £22, or one with mushrooms for £24. Sides like chips, garlic breads are £8-£9.
The rest is all steak, meats, chicken dishes.

I don’t drink alcohol either and the drinks are really expensive with a bottle of Diet Coke at £4.50…

This is why I eat fish. I’d have to learn to bloody photosynthesise otherwise.

Oh my, I feel really bad for you too. It’s even more crap for you x

Not putting the menu up as it’s a tiny local village restaurant.