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?

Never mind mushrooms, it is the cauliflower everything that gets me!
I was staying somewhere recently where the only starter I could have was cauliflower bites or something such as. The main was a Cauliflower and spinach curry (bleugh!!!) and none of the sides, including the vegetable ones and chips were labelled even vegetarian! they did have bone marrow as one option though .

I ate elsewhere. Cauliflower this, cauliflower that-bog off.

Try being vegetarian and gluten-free! I was actually a vegan when I had to become gluten-free, but it just wasn't sustainable. I had to reintroduce dairy into my diet in order to be able to eat anything that didn't taste like cardboard!

@Berlinlover
im so sorry to hear that! I hope you're generally doing ok now?! Even if eating out is a nightmare.

so being vegetarian is my 'choice', though after 35 years, I cannot contemplate not being. So it's certainly not a 'choice' I'm prepared to change for the ease of eating out.

My additional issue is being T2 diabetic & low carbing to control it. Now, as a vegetarian, especially a non egg eating vegetarian, eating out is VERY VERY LIMITED. Before I was/knew I was, I just ate whatever was available (admittedly occasionally whinging about life outside stuffed bloody peppers!)

non vegetarians low carbing there's plenty of choice

vegetarians not low carbing, there really is still a lot of choice (though admittedly more limited since the quick/easy vegan options moved in)

but mix the two vegetarian AND low carbing, it basically means going without or dissecting dishes with the wait staff & building something edible (not so bad in a family group, but nightmare with a bigger/social group)

So I'd say, try to be grateful for your current options, & after reading @Berlinlover 's post, I'll do the same!!

👋🏻 to @Biwi who was really there for me during my 'oh fuck, how the living hell do I do this low carbing shit' stage xx

At those prices I just wouldn't go

I have/had vegetarian friends and colleagues, throw a vegan in for good measure.

All do say that it is a) really expensive and b) in general the choices are low. None of them eats fake meat and the vegetarians are fed up with onion tarts and mushroom anything.

They know that we carnivores wouldn't be happy eating in an all vegetarian/vegan restaurant as for us it won't be a treat. I may be happy to eat a non-meat meal but if I go out I love eating something I don't cook myself and that is often meat or fish based.

But the OP's prices are high so I would assume the meat dish prices are also on the high spectrum and just represent the restaurant in general.

I recently read that 5.8% of the UK is vegetarian and 4.7% is vegan but despite vegetarians being the larger group restaurants lob us in with vegans for their ease. It is very annoying. It is also annoying that in many places there will be just one veggie or vegan option. If this was the situation for meat eaters they would soon lose all custom.
I make a point of checking menus online if I am going out and suggest another place if there is nothing I can eat.

It is annoying and it wouldn't kill them to have some nice vegetarian mains in the freezer at least. Lazy chefs. This is why I eat fish sometimes too.

I go to the Bannatyne Spa in Bury St Edmunds. The restaurant there is mainly vegan and vegetarian with one beef and one chicken option! There is much complaining on the trip advisor.

Vegan food sucks. I want proper vegetarian options to be available again.

I’m veggie and don’t find this a problem at all! In fact I actually like the limited menu sometimes as I have less decision making to do. I eat anything and a good margherita would make me very happy.

I do agree with pps about the vegan creep into replacing veggie items and I find that annoying. I’m happy with some vegan dishes but definitely don’t want vegan cheese for example.

I am veggie for animals being important reasons, but despite that I always say to people about vegetarianism, better a happy meat eater than a miserable vegetarian. If I felt the way you do I think I would consider eating fish when out and about.

@Blueuggboots

yes, proper vegan food can be amazing!! Trouble is most places offering vegan options aren't actually cooking vegan meals, just swapping out plastic vegan cheeze or whatever. Or just leaving out components.

A good vegan restaurant is an amazing find!!

( not one of the hippy dippy weirdo pure organic home grown lentil type places)

might have to look at a weekend in Chester!!

My posts were clearly lighthearted though. The 'grin' emoji on both of them should have made that obvious

Thank you @CafeCremeMerci

For a long time I could find opportunities for good food eating out then the vegan movement started getting militant or worse lots of people became vegan but still wanted to eat “like” a meat eater and now lots most, nearly all restaurants have decided to just stick a bit of jack fruit or bloody beyond meat on the menu and completely disregard any vegetarian creativity!

Restaurants who used to do lovely unique dishes with lentils or unusual vegetables or falafel etc just stuck a beyond meat burger with vegan cheese on the menu and thought that’ll do.

that being said i almost always have a great time with Indian food. Loads of veg options good Dahls etc

Chinese quite often do mixed vegetable dishes

turkish places for falafel and humous and nice salads

im in the minority that while I don’t like the price I’m very pleased with the amount of cauliflower options as it’s replaced a lot of the vile mushroom dishes that were standard.

@Brandnewskytohangyourstarsupon if I’m in a place like that i quite often find a pasta dish I like the look of and ask them to remove the meat or seafood from it, decent ones do and sometimes ask if I would like an alternative so I get broccoli or asparagus or peas etc instead of whatever the original ingredient was.

bad ones either don’t do it and I normally have a backup dish in my head to order instead or act like it’s a big deal and I end up with a plain dish with a sauce.

I just rarely go out now. It’s not worth it

The vegans have won. If we go out then we take our own sandwiches along with our own drinks.

As I’ve said, there is pizza or chicken wings, no pasta at this restaurant.

Sorry I wasn’t talking about that restaurant specifically as obviously there is no advice I can give about that except suck it up or don’t go.

I was talking more in a general way.

I have been veggie for several years on and off (4 years and counting this time).

I agree that the stock choice in restaurants being vegan is really annoying, as is the fake meat. I choose not to eat meat because I dont like it, I dont want something fake that almost tastes like it but with an even stranger consistency. I tend to eat out the same places that I know I can get decent food because otherwise it can be such an expensive disappointment.

And dont get me started on beetroot! Not all veggies are tripping over themselves to eat it in every meal.

Not all vegans even want fake meat replacements. There's only one vegan sandwich at M&S and always fake meat... Gimmi an antipasti and hummus any day! Vegan pizzas always seem to have fake chicken or fake pepperoni on.... I think fake meat has its place, but veggies always win for me

(I do bloody love a Beyond burger though) 🤤

I'm a vegetarian for over 30 years now and I do get what you are saying, I think eating out in general is more expensive these days, eye wateringly so in the past couple of years and that is for everyone not just veggies. I keep hearing about how we need to get out and support hospitality more since the pandemic but it really is prohibitively expensive a lot of the time.

I also know what other veggies mean about the new vegan options obliterating the old veggie ones which contained dairy and eggs. I am pleased about the upswing in veganism and all the new options they have and I am often happy to eat vegan food (not the fake meat stuff though) but it would be nice to keep a few of the old veggie ones as well and lots of meat eaters also enjoy them. I do understand though it makes business sense for a restaurant to kill two birds with one stone.

Overall I tend to stick to Indian, Japanese, Korean and other specialist restaurants when out. I usually find Italian places to be fine as well with some nice pastas, risottos and pizzas to choose from. I have had to go to places though where everyone else gets a nice meal and the veggie option is clearly a freezer to microwave job and that isn't nice especially if you still pay the same as those getting freshly prepared food. Still it is me who chose to live and eat this way and so most of the time I just suck it up.

Overall I am less enthusiastic about eating out these days in general due to the increased cost of everything for everyone.

I think YABU for not suggesting somewhere better!

Any veggies on any of the other pizzas you could ask for as additional toppings?

My sister cannot eat wheat and is a long standing vegetarian. She’s pretty much given up eating out. And flying is a nightmare too. My nephew is vegan and seems to have a decent choice.

I don't find this at all in the UK. Everywhere I go has vegetarian/vegan options. I think we are very lucky (it's got much better since veganism became fashionable) (I'm vegetarian)
But...go to France, Germany, Spain............OMG. It's truly dire.

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

To be honest this sounds like a friend problem rather than a diet problem....