AIBU to hate the veggie option?

[BabooshkaKate]

It's always halumi.

Why? Why must it always be halumi?

How many different ways can you do halumi?

Why do restaurants never think outside the box?

Percentage of veggies in uk stats vary between 2-15%

Some areas there are more than others

But - lots more meat eaters are choosing to have meat free days, have veggie options when out.

Ingredients - are not hard to find, most supermarkets stock loads of vegetables, pasta, rice, cous cous, quinoa, quorn, soy, tofu, lentils, peas, beans, various cheeses, eggs, herbs, spices, soy sauce, dairy, honey

And I'm not in a city I'm 90 mins away from nearest city 30 from nearest town! So if I can get the stuff (albeit somewhat limited re quorn etc) then no excuse for others!

Actually I agree that some vegetarian dishes are very labour-intensive and could be costly to prepare. I don't accept that this is the case if the veggie offering is something very basic like a few bits of pasta in tomato sauce or a frozen vegetable burger. (Just remembered that the last time I had one of those, the 'chef' clearly wasn't sure about the colour of it and kept cooking it until it was the same sort of colour as a well-cooked hamburger. When I bit into it, my mouth became full of soot. Yum.)

I wonder how regionalised eating patterns are? I might be wrong, but I seem to notice a bit of a divide between London and the south east, where loads of people seem to be interested in veggie food (often driven by health) and where I live in the north, where it's all about huuuuuuuge portions with a lot of meat on the menu. But this is just anecdotal. Could just be that my London mates are dead posh, and I'm a bit more a local pub kind of gal!

Graphista. Totally agree there should be more provision and that individuals can get good stuff online or local supermarkets. That's what I do. However that's not the same thing as a restaurant catering for low numbers of veggies/vegans/occasional non-meat eaters - as I said, there's a tipping point where you either face losses by not having those people turn up when you're catering, or you make a thing of it on certain evenings and make it great so everyone turns up and you don't lose money. Shove - it's the same round here in SW England. London just has so many places catering for everyone as do other major cities

Millie no I'm sorry I've worked in restaurants absolutely no reason they can't make good quality basic veggie food, it's cheaper ingredients than meat courses and really not hard to source - they're not JUST Serving meat! There's veg carbs and flavourings they already use for meat courses they just make something veggie with them.

I'm in deepest darkest Scotland about 1/3 of my local friends are veggie and 4 of those vegan. Even the meat eaters often have meat free days and choose veggie dishes when out.

I could live on halloumi.

Several years ago the veggie option in every restaurant seemed to be mushroom risotto. I like risotto but I'm not keen on spending £10-15 on a plate of rice and mushrooms - no exciting variety of flavours and textures, just a plate of mush.

As I said further up the thread I'm in France so not really qualified to comment which means I'm going to do just that I have however had a restaurant and a deli in the UK so have some knowledge - albeit years ago. It's NOT difficult or expensive for a chef to batch cook and freeze things such as veg tagines, really good veggie burgers & loads of other things so there is not too much waste. I do think it's seen as not that profitable so they only make a token effort if they have to.

It's not anywhere near as easy to find good veggie food here, although it's changing. We go to restaurant nearby where they always have one vegan and one veggie option. I'd seen tofu cooked 2 ways with Asian pickled veg & soba noodles which I rally fancied but it wasn't on when we were next there - so I asked. Sure the waitress said, we've got tofu, but it's not marinated, I'll ask if the chef will do something else with it. He did. I've no clue what he did, but it was delicious, very memorable

I lived in Germany for several years, there meats almost a religion! (With potatoes second )

I still managed and the better restaurants had fabulous veggie dishes and that was nearly 20 years ago!

Graphista you were lucky!

We went to Germany a few years ago (Bodensee) and I lived on cheese, salad and bread. Even then you had to check that the salad didn't come with meat.

Our veggie options near by are;
The Chequers
Goats cheese, red onion & sunblushed tomato tart

Roasted Mediterranean vegetable lasagne

Rose and Crown

Roasted Vegetable Provencal with Goats Cheese Filo Bundle & Mixed Salad

The wheatsheaf
Vegan roasted red peppers
3 cheese and spinach tart
Pea and mint risotto
Spinach and ricotta raviloli
Crunchy halloumi salad

Fromibiza that's shocking! There were rarely vegetarian options on menus but whenever I asked they'd happily sort something. But I was in Düsseldorf area which might have made a difference? (More international influence). I did eat a LOT of potatoes though but then I'm scots Irish so practically part of my Dna

When I was living on the Bodensee (30+ years ago), my one option apart from bread, cheese and salad (and beer and cream cakes, of course) was usually kasespatzle (sorry, can't do umlauts on this keyboard): little bits of chewy fresh pasta, usually in a cheese sauce with fried onions sprinkled on top of them. Delicious, but you can have too much of a good thing. I think they are mostly a southern Germany/Austrian thing?

Oh, and the work canteen sometimes had vegetarian main courses on Fridays (Catholic influence I guess - no meat on Fridays) which were things we'd view more as dessert, e.g. dumplings filled with plum or poppyseed paste.

Oh don't you'll get me missing all the lovely German food...

Try having coeliac disease. Most cafes usually only offer a sweet gluten-free option (mostly the ubiquitous orange &a almond cake - zzzzz) and if there'S something gluten-free and savory, it's usually flavour-free as well.

I've not had too much of a problem in Germany either, but I've been largely to cities which might be a bit easier? I think it also helps tremendously if you can speak the language and articulate what you actually want, because "vegetarianism" is interpreted in so many different ways in different cultures! (In Eastern Europe, a very long time ago, I had to explain that it didn't mean that I wanted vegetables WITH my meat!).

The most difficult place I have been to was Japan. I suspect this was partly because I couldn't speak any Japanese. Every menu everywhere seemed to be meat and fish, and I had to travel right across Tokyo to get to a veggie place. In visits out of the city, e.g. to gardens and other paid sites, I often couldn't find a single thing to eat all day at concessions, and just had to go hungry - quickly learned to take my own snacks! However, I did have one meal at a shojin ryori place which was by far and away the most interesting, fascinating, beautiful and unusual range of flavours I've ever encountered!

Japan has some great things for vegetarians and I managed fine there for more than a decade, but it would be hard if you can't read menus or speak enough Japanese to explain what you want.

Some places were useless for me (ramen bars, for example - all meat-based soup stocks), but tempura, sushi and soba noodle restaurants are all pretty-veggie friendly if you know what to ask for. Convenience stores also have lots of things a vegetarian can have for lunch, e.g. quite a few fillings for o-nigiri (rice balls) are just pickled vegetables, but they don't label things in English.

The biggest issue in Japan is hidden fish stock - dashi (stock) is used in all sorts of things (miso soup, dipping sauces for tempura etc) and is often, but not always, made with dried fish flakes. And no waiter will ever be willing/able to tell you exactly what kind of dashi has been used.

Yes, shojin ryori is amazing, but hard to find and usually expensive. The Chinese equivalent is also great, and Taiwan is a brilliant place to be a vegetarian - there are buddhist vegetarian restaurants (including cheap self-service places) everywhere.

Yes - I think the problem was the language & culture barrier, i.e. me and my pathetic language skills! Japan is a more different place than any other that I've ever encountered - one of the few places I've been and really felt unmoored from a lot of my reference points (which is a wonderful, if exhausting, experience). I've been to China and it doesn't seem nearly as different, culturally - not even close.

I did find a couple of vegetarian only restaurants where the fish stock wasn't an issue - but they did mean a trip. In Kyoto there was an amazing and eccentric place, where the chef had cats absolutely everywhere, including a tiny kitten only a couple of weeks old on the kitchen counter. She would break off from cooking periodically to feed it.

I don't think it matters what % of people are veggie, because you don't have to be veggie to order the veggie option. Definitely don't buy that as an excuse for "chefs"'s laziness.

My husband and I are both veggie (as are the kids), but we're also foodies so love exploring new places and cuisines. We find that when we go to non-British places the vegetarian options are less of an afterthought.

Lebanese restaurants have amazing mezzes which fill us up.

Ethiopian is great with the injera and lentil curries.

Oriental food - Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese

Indian - love the variety. Love paneer dishes too.

Tapas- we've been to a few tapas places recently where the evening is more about munching on small plates and drinking wine/sangria and chatting. Much prefer this than one stodgy meal.

If we do go to a more traditional restaurant it will be more to do with the ambience or the view or the live music. So then we can forgive and uninspired meal.

But a lot of places are now doing vegetarian tasting menus and some great chefs are leading the way- Jason Atherton, Pierre Gagnaire.

The issue is always when you are a lone vegetarian faced with a set menu, and then really at the mercy of unadventurous chefs. But those are the times I think that the evening is less about the food and more about the socialising. It stills pains me if I have to fork out for it though.

Oh god now I'm drooling for injera and lentil curries. Damn you, shutthefrontdoor!

I am vegetarian but have an allergy to dairy and wheat and I hate eggs.

Try eating out. I usually end up with chips and a side salad.

Oliversmum with a diet that restrictive you need to ring ahead so the restaurant can cater for you. There are lots of wheat free vegan options they could cook if given notice and I am sure they would be happy to.

Oliver's army that must be so difficult not just eating out.

I'm so surprised Japan was a challenge I've never been but Japanese food in uk is very veggie friendly. On rare trips to my nearest big city I've even been pleasantly surprised at Russian and Cambodian restaurants.

Zoe - this thread is making me HUNGRY!

Agree with ringing ahead and asking the restaurant. Years ago, I'd never have dreamed of doing this. I thought you just ate what was on the menu. Then my posh friends told me loads of people do it, and provided you give them plenty of notice, it isn't an issue. The kind of place that is accommodating does tend to be pricier, though.

Do you like curry oliversmummy? I think a lot of the dishes at my local would suit someone who was gluten intolerant and vegan.