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?

I have just had a halloumi and avocado pitta for lunch on the back of this thread.

I think restaurants should have to have at a similar amount of meals without meat, not just one or two. So if they do 10 mains with meat/fish, they also have to do 5 that are vegetarian and two of them must be vegan.

Totally ridiculous. Around 10% of the UK population are veggie, far fewer are vegan. 90% of the population eat meat and fish. I am an omnivore and would happily eat a veggie meal but you can't start dictating to restaurants what they should and should not sell to cater to certain dietary preferences. Should they "have" to cater for halal, kosher, low fat, no nuts, gluten free etc etc etc.

There are restaurants which offer exclusively vegetarian food, should they "have" to offer meat to the omivores??

And yes OP you are being unreasonable, halloumi is lovely. Had a great veggie fish and chips dish one with battered and deep friend halloumi goujons, chips and tartare sauce. Delicious.

Halloumi or goats cheese do it for me. I'm fed up of risotto and stuffed peppers.

At the last christmas do I went to I actually had the roast but gave my turkey and sausagemeat to someone else (I'm not a moral veggie, I just don't like meat).

My veggy friend calls it the 'veggy bottom' - as in the token gesture on the bottom of the menu. I'm not a veggy myself, but often eat veg options both at home and out and the single option annoys me in the way the token woman on BBC comedy panel shows annoys me!

Also, apologies for straying off thread a bit but I remember visiting Poland as a student in the early 90s and the only possible options they had for veggies at a posh restaurant in Krakow (waiters in black bowties rushing to push in chairs, etc.) were cherry and cream pancakes and chips. My mate and I were so hungry we were relieved to get anything at all, but we did look slightly askance when they served it all on the same plate!

30 years veggie, still stunned at the lack of choice. Even IF you buy the profitability argument (really? Even though veggie food is MUCH cheaper than meat?) they could at least change it periodically. Where I live 2 places that don't do ANY veggie options at all (one now closing through bankruptcy maybe if they'd had a veggie option veggies and their companions would have given them more business?) the rest have each had the SAME single veggie option for at least 5 years!

YABVVU ... halloumi is the best cheese ever (and very versatile)

Luna But meat eaters don't eat meat at every meal. If restaurants made any effort with vegetarian food instead of offering any old crap as a token gesture, they might sell more of it, to vegetarians and meat eaters.

Seeing as they often sell a bit of pasta and some mushrooms for nearly the price of a meal containing meat or fish, it could be really profitable if they tried.

You could always have your Xmas lunch at a place like this (loved by all the meat eaters who have eaten there with me) www.theveggieredlion.co.uk/files/3414/7861/9200/Red_Lion_Xmas_2016.pdf

I wouldn't mind haloumi.

On the other hand I am heartily sick of:

Mushroom risotto
Goats cheese and red onion tarts
Vegetable lasagne

Also I am going for a Christmas set lunch with both vegans and veggies and the options for them are a soup for starter (pretty boring to be fair) and main course is a roasted pumpkin warm salad thing with pine nuts and leaves, with the addition of cheese for the veggies.

If restaurants made any effort with vegetarian food instead of offering any old crap as a token gesture,

But if they don't want to, they don't have to. I am not a chef or restaurateur and don't know what's profitable and what's not. If there were truly a demand for excellent veggie food and lots more of it, there would be people doing it.

Was in a cafe a few months ago and the only veggie sandwich options were Cheese and Tomato (sold out) or Mozzarella and Pesto (not always Veggie). Asked the lady behind the till if they had (or god forbid could make) anything else veggie and I was offered Tuna and Sweetcorn - pointed out I was a vegetarian and the response was "Oh, what about ham and tomato?"

I had a veggie option (I am not veggie) the other day purely because it had halloumi as part of it. Yabvvvvvu halloumi is lush!

yep, it's almost always a tart with at least two of goats cheese, mushrooms, squash and red onions. If not a tart it's a risotto or a boring pasta that you could do at home in 15 minutes. Or a salad I guess, which to me is OK if it's a work thing and/or priced accordingly, so 8-10£ for the fancy salad vs 15£ for whatever meat thing - after all if it's work or obligatory you're not there for the food and I, at least, don't need the calories of the starter+main+dessert at a work meal.

But as we're all veggie in my family, usually we just don't go to the 'here's another boring tart/risotto' type places. To me one sign of a good chef is to have something creative and nice for all diners (within reason). If they can do veg well they are much more likely to do everything else well, because it shows care for their diners and attention to quality and detail.

I hate red and green peppers.

Every jeffing wedding reception I have ever been to has smothered the veggie option in a red pepper sauce.

I always hate Christmas parties, I'd honestly be happy to have the same as everyone else just minus the meat. I love roast veg, yorkshires, stuffing etc. but absolutely everywhere cooks all of that in animal fat so I can't have it.

Last year it was stilton pie which I forced myself to try a bite of, almost barfed and just went without in the end. To make matters worse I went to my partners families for actual Christmas dinner and absolutely everything was cooked in goose fat.

I've said I just want to make my own dinner and bring it but my partner has told me off and said it would be rude. Surely it's ruder to expect them to change the entire way they cook just for me?

Just be grateful it's not aubergines and courgettes in a tomato base... yuck! So sickly and tasteless.

Luna but how would they know if there was greater demand for veggie food or not if they don't offer it? Most people would just choose from the one or two veggie options and not say anything about the lack of choice, and if they did, is that message really going to get from the waitress to the person in charge of menu? (probably the owner?) Not necessarily...

Halloumi is wonderful and very versatile but the current fad is to shallow/deep fry it and add some chips - hey presto, pretend fish and chips. The worst has to be risotto. It takes a good 45 minutes to cook a risotto so when it appears at the table in 5 minutes then PING has been experienced. My heart sinks as I attempt to devour the bland mush before me.

Its normally Risotto where I go.

So what would an ideal special occasion vegetarian option, or two, be? I would do something like a chestnut & sage risotto or pearl barley dish with fried duck egg and vegetarian Parmesan on top but seems would not be well received on here

God, it's so annoying.

I'm actually being excluded from a Christmas dinner because I'm a vegan. I'm in a club and they have decided to have the Christmas meeting in a restaurant; they sent out the choices and there was beef, turkey or fish. Not even a veggie option. After this was mentioned to them they threw on the obligatory shitty veg lasagne, but this is no good to me either and still no suitable starters or desserts.

When I asked if I could still come to the meeting but not eat I was told no. Which is a bit shit, really, especially since I pay my subs for meetings.

At last year's family Christmas gathering, the restaurant offered me mushroom risotto. When it came, it was actually plain boiled rice with some fried mushrooms plonked on top. What's the point?

Fucking mushroom risotto. Hate it and it's so often the only veggie choice on a set menu.