to wonder why many vegetarian menu options

[E320]

have very little to do with vegetables?
If I wanted pasta or risotto I could order those, but mostly these seem to be the only choices, unless in a "real" Italian, where you could order aubergine or a Greek or Turkish place, where there are stuffed vegetables.
I am very fond of potatoes, but even these don´t feature very often. Of course, they are vegetables LOL
Anyone else feel like this?
Disclaimer: I do eat meat and fish, but I do not always feel like it

Im not veggie either, but I agree that the menu choices are dismal! I can knock up very tasty veggie meals quickly, so why cant a restaurant?

I have been a vegetarian for 11 years now.

Restaurants are really lazy about their vegetarian options. They either serve:

Risotto
Goats cheese tart
Margarita Pizza
Veggie Lasagna

I like all these dishes, but it has gotten so very very boring. Very few restaurants seem to do anything remotely creative. I really appreciate the ones that do.

That is exactly my point. I do not happen to "like" rice, pasta or pizza very much. And quiche or savoury tarts are VERY high in fat.

I agree.

I am not vege but rarely eat meat and prefer to have a meat free meal 9 times out of ten and the choice is usually abysmal. Whats wrong with a veg stew or casserole like rataouille for example? Much less work than risotto, and far nicer!

Yanbu I am not a vegetarian But how hard is it to do a menu

Actually, I can answer why the menu is so crap having thought about it.

I used to work in my friends pub/restaurant and they bought alot of things in pre-made (locally by quality suppliers, not 3663 style crap!) and the ristto, goats cheese tart, spinach and rocotta tortellini etc (amongst other things) where all bought in.

So either they make everything fresh and there is a price increase to reflect this, or you reasonable prices and crap choices! Personally I would go for fresh made each time!

Have you tried the Giraffe restaurant? They have a very impressive veggie selection

Giraffe

It's always goats cheese, goats cheese and more goats cheese IMO

I like goats cheese but not every day

I always wonder why you don't see falafel often on menus as a veggie choice, cheap, easy to make, quick - veggie options in reatsurants are indeed poor

My DH is a veggie & his main issue is that everything seems to contain goats cheese, which he hates! I'm always puzzled that veggie = goats cheese, why not a nice cheddar ?!?!

Ha! 46 locations and almost half of them are within the M25! The nearest one to me is 40 miles away, but worth bearing in mind if we travel :)

Another bugbear of mine is when large chains seems to struggle with the concept of there being life outside London, dont get me started on that.....:o

catgirl I was about to say the same about sodding goats cheese.

When I was a pregnant pescetarian who doesn't like nuts, I was almost unable to eat anywhere other than Pizza Express and the Chinese for months.

Nightmare trying to eat out as a veggie when you're pregnant, and supposed to avoid goats cheese and brie.

Perhaps it is because they try to offer vegetarian options that meat eaters may choose if they are in the mood, and maybe meat eaters like goat cheese and veggie lasagne.

I would also consider things involving pesto to be as likely to be the vegetarian option as goat cheese (although pesto isn't always vegetarian anyway). In fact pretty frequently the vegetarian option involves both red pesto and goat cheese.

I have such problems finding veggie options that don't contain goats cheese which is why when I find places that do more than the usual dull options I tell all my veggie friends so that they too can experience nice veggie food :)

Wagamama does good vegetarian stuff.

Thai is great for vegetarian food.

I love falafel and often make my own, but bake in the oven rather than deep fry.
Agree that freshly made is totally the best and do not mind paying for the labour.
I was a bit "ugh" recently in Switzerland, when I asked about the rösti (potato cakes) in a restaurant. Even they were not home-made ???
As for places buying grated carrot salad in a glass jar, do not get me started.

The majority of the public are not vegetarian though.

We also seem to be very behind the americans in this country in that people see a menu and rarely question it. Decent restaurants are willing to try and accomodate requests if asked. ie, they have cheddar elsewhere on their menu, so if you ask for your dish to have cheddar rather than goats cheese, they can usually do it.

We have a lovely vegetarian Thai restaurant by our house, very cheap, delicious. Neither of us vegetarian but we go there a lot.

I've been veggie for 20+ years and have to agree that the selection in most places is quite poor.

One thing I've noticed is that there always seems to be a current trend for a particular veggie dish eg. 2 years ago DP and I went to Dartmouth for a weekend away. 8 out of the 10 restaurants we looked at had Mushroom Risotto as their veggie option (and some were charging up to £15 for it but that's another gripe in itself!!).

As for France, after a holiday there I usually can't face goats cheese again for some time.

Hang on ... the other lazy veggie options involve garlic mushrooms or spinach and ricotta!

Unless squeakytoy the goats cheese dish is a ready made one they buy in. I've asked that before then walked out when it became apparent that it was either a goats cheese tart (ready made) or a Jacket potato

A veggie here and it is always pasta even for Christmas! What is wrong with a deent nut roast?

Have you all tried POD - best salads ever, ever, ever. So interesting and tasty.

I worked in a pub/restaurant for many years that served generally good food, but the limited vegie options were quite frankly embarrassing ? maybe 1 dish if they were feeling generous!! To be fair, the pub was in the country so there was lots of local venison and beef etc. but because the chef/owner liked meat, he didn?t really want to make vegie dishes. I think they lost several customers because of it :(