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

mrspink -spinach and ricotta was the veggie option pre-mushroom risotto (spinach and ricotta lasagne, spinach and ricotta ravioli, spinach and ricotta filo pastry parcels, spinach and ricotta quiche......)

Oh I love garlic mushrooms so that doesnt bother me!

What I often do is have a starter such as garlic mushrooms, and then soup as a main.

Pasta at Christmas?

I put some filo pastry in a yorkshire pudding tin, caramilise some red onions and put them in the bottom. Then I top with crumbled stilton and chopped walnuts before cooking (works with other types of cheese if you don't like stilton) Yummy :)

Not a vegetarian myself, but having lived in India they know how to make vegetarian food there! Indian restaurants a good option perhaps?

veryconfused: YY to nut roast! I've only once managed to find a nut roast on a menu outside of Brighton (where I see them everywhere since moving down here!) I love nut roast, it's easy to make and nice, so why don't restaurants make it on Sunday's more often? Or just at Christmas?

I went to a pub a few weeks back that had one veggie option. It was a delicious meal, but one option out of fifteen dishes? One fish option too, weirdly enough!

I was going to say the mushrooms thing. I've only recently started eating mushroom and most restaurants have some form of mushroom as a main veg option

People need to be more inventive!

MamaMary -yep, Indian restaurants are generally an excellent choice. Thai, as mentioned before, are often really good. Chinese can be hit and miss.

bogeyface -I've been known to have 2 starters together as my main course if I've not liked the look of the veggie main meal option.

It depends where you are in the country I think. Brighton is brilliant for meat-free food and it's not considered a 'veggie option' IYKWIM - plenty of meat eaters will have non-meat options and not even think about it. Even Sunday lunch in most pubs has at least one or two vegetarian roasts. London is pretty good too as are a lot of the bigger cities. Go to some smaller towns however and yes often it's one or two veggie 'options' of goats cheese or pasta.

It really bugs me when people think food without meat in it is solely for vegetarians (unless of course you're somewhere you've had to pre-book something and then it's annoying when people who could have had something else nick your pre-booked meal). Surely it's just food and even abject carnivores can sometimes choose something without having to categorise things as 'vegetarian'. I have friends who are big meat eaters back in their native South Africa and every time we go anywhere with them they make a huge issue out of DH and I not eating meat like it's some nasty disease we've been struck down with rather than a conscious decision. They'll tell everyone we are out with 'they're vegetarians!' and then try to help us choose things off the menu we're 'allowed' to have :)

All that said, this thread has made me laugh because it reminds of a stand up comedian (Sean Locke I think) that was moaning about veggies.

"Is there a vegetarian option?"

"Yes, you can fuck off!"

:o:o:o

bogeyface

I'm not a vegetarian but I do believe that vegetarians should be better catered for then they seem to be.

Veg lasagne and mushroom stroganoff seem to be the default options round here. I make a good veg lasagne and don't eat mushrooms.

Indian is the best option!

Yup, South Indian vegetarian is delish.
Also Lebanese.

I'm a veggie and I actually don't really have this problem, but then I go to restaurants which do good veggie food!

I agree that functions are terrible at providing for vegetarians. I paid over £80 once for a 3 course meal of lukewarm soup, uncooked risotto, and the tiniest bland cheesecake ever.

I've been a vegetarian for ages and really don't struggle eating out, Indian, Thai, Japanese always have veggie options of their dishes, most high street places have good choices (Nando's seems to have more veggie options than chicken, GBK veggie burgers are awesome, Italian restaurants have loads of vegetarian anyway, Giraffe has a fair amount etc).

I guess a traditional bistro might not have a great veggie option but there are so many other types of restaurants that I'd just go elsewhere.

YY to Lebanese!

Where we can, we try to eat in veggie cafes and restaurants as there is more choice. Not always a better choice though.

I don't eat out that often so I'm not massively bothered if I have to order something featuring goat's cheese. But for the love of God do not charge me a tenner to eat a bit of bought-in pastry with 'salad leaves', while everyone else is tucking into a hot dish and 3 veg.

And when there is a buffet and everyone eats the cheese sandwiches and there's only ham left :(

When I got married back in the 90's the hotel would not tell me what I was going to eat for wedding meal - they said 'chef will decide on the day from what ingredients he has'.

I was but we had really set our hearts on the hotel and the meal for meat eaters(vast majority of guests) was just what DH wanted (and im not a big eater) so we caved - turned out to be Rissotto with various autumn veg which was OK and anyway I had no appetite - but with advancing age and stroppyness I think we really shouldnt have let them get away with treating us like that

Nowadays it is easier to get nice veggie food but there is still a heavy realiance in Pubs etc on Cheese of one kind or another - and though not Vegan i dont like to eat cheese at every meal for a week (as Ive had to on Holiday before now when DD was small and didnt eat spicy/chinese etc)

Even more difficult to feed a veggie child off a childrens menu. Cheese and tom pizza if you are lucky!

Personally love a Nut Roast and i usually get them at carvery (when DH goes for his 'turkey fix' )although they have to 'make' it specially.

must be a total nighmare for vegans

It is McHappy, I got a fantastic desert/cake recipe from the allergies forum for my friend who eats with us alot. He only ever eats out at friends houses who understand his restrictions, restaurants are a complete no no. He was performing once and hospitality arranged a special vegan meal for him. It was brocolli quiche.

Seriously. Egg, milk and cheese! You couldnt make it up!

I think there's a number of reasons

• In some cooking cultures- French, Italian, Spanish etc- vegetarianism is very very rare, so the chefs aren't interested in it. In cuisines where a high proportion of the native population are vegetarian (Indian, Thai, Middle eastern) you'll have more choice

• In restaurants where they're box ticking, there's a tendency to try to combine vegetarianism, veganism and common allergies (dairy, wheat) in one dish to reduce the number of low-volume dishes on the menu, which further limits what they can make.

• Lower volumes= higher costs, so unless veggies are prepared to pay a premium they have to limit to a few dishes to get the volumes up for thos dishes.

I think you are right Richman, but it doesnt make sense that they pick such crappy options!

Rataouille, that I mentioned before, ticks all of those boxes and is cheaper and tastes alot nicer than a bought in goats cheese tart that only ticks one box.

When it comes to purely veggie (or almost completely veggie) restaurants/cafes I've noticed that they are often the wholefood type of places -there seems to be a common misconception that all veggies like to eat food handwoven from lentils or knitted with natural yoghurt

:o Norbert, all of course served with bread that has the taste and texture of wet cardboard.

So true- the one near me is called the "Life Cafe". I refuse to go there because if I'm going to drop a few hundred calories on a cake, I want it to taste nice.

A vegan, wholemeal banana cake (no added sugar- flax seed optional) is not cutting it.