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 need to know about the Scottish macaroni cheese pie.

You're all wrong, goats cheese is lush, halloumi isn't. So there.

goingtobeawesome it's exactly as it sounds-hot water crust pastry filled with macaroni cheese and baked. Disgustingly stodgy but the best comfort food I've ever eaten. I've never seen one outside Scotland though.

Here it is.

I wouldn't mind a choice of only one or two dishes if they weren't the same one or two dishes that I've encountered for years

Then go to some different restaurants!

As we can tell from just this thread, you are all complaning about the lack of choice, and how its "always the same things". But an insane amount of different things have been complained about on here, a seemingly endless lists of ingredients and dishes. So perhaps all you need to do is visit each others regular restaurants, and hey presto, problem solved.

YABU - twenty years ago the standard veggie fare was either vegetarian lasagne or a bloody pepper stuffed with rice. Halloumi is a vast improvement. Also, who can ever have too much halloumi?!

It's usually mushrooms which I loathe.
I hate when menus just say "vegetarian option" but not what it is and sometimes the waiting staff don't even know.

There are a few great local pubs local to me that serve good veggie options. The majority at least have moved away from vegetable lasagne or even worse mushroom stroganoff!

Thank you. I'll give it a go once I can eat again.

Goingtobeawesome it IS awesome, same pastry as a scotch pie (hard to describe but kind of softer base but the sides rich and crispy) filled with Mac cheese and topped either with grated (good strong scots) cheddar or mash yum!

Here's an idea foxtrot - hire a better chef! If you're the owner he/she should be doing as you ask anyway! Not veto-Ing all your ideas!

Eastmids no hate

Frustration! As I said I like most veggie foods (and those I don't it's probably I just haven't tried em yet!) it's the thought of ALWAYS being given the same often regardless of where you go too as the restaurants all seem to be serving the SAME veggie option for a decade!

It's lazy!

On holiday in Barmouth, fishfingers were in the vegetarian option for children in one place, and parmesan in one of the posh pubs. The fish restaurant had no veggie options (two pescatarians, one meat eater and one veggie in the group)

the only other options were jacket potatoes and beans, which ds hates.

You vegetarians seem full of hate. Collectively, you hate halloumi, blue cheese, Cheddar cheese, goat's cheese, cheese tarts, onion tarts, peppers, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, nut roast, risotto and lasagne. No wonder restauranteurs find it difficult to cater to you.

I suspect you're just being deliberately goady, but just in case you're hard of thinking:

'We vegetarians' are all individuals. Over the course of nine pages, a list of foods that individuals dislike (or don't even dislike, but are just sick of seeing on the menu every week) has grown. I haven't seen any one person say they hate all

Those foods. The only one on that list I actively avoiding is mushrooms. But if a restaurant has only one veggie option and it's mushrooms based, then yes, I'll be disappointed.

I think you could easily find meat eaters who dislike at least two of those foods and no one would think anything of it. They'd just order one of the dozens of other choices.

user147... I go to a wide variety of restaurants when I get to choose the destination. My favourite being a couple of wholly vegetarian places, and then some independent Japanese places which have great vegetarian dishes. The point is that often I don't get to choose the restaurant!

We didn't all make the choice to be vegetarian mind, I didn't. It makes me ill, always has since I was a baby being weaned onto foods (not weaned early before anyone asks) I'm aware I'm in the minority though.
That said, It doesn't mean we should expect to be served shit. Which happens all the time. I don't even go out to eat anymore. There are lots of meat alternatives ranging from specialist products (eg quorn) to natural things like lentils and chickpeas. Yet everything is always overpriced (I always spend £2-4 more, sometimes more than that, compared to my meat eating companions). Not seasoned or made properly and 7-8/10 is shit. and yes the lack of choice is a huge problem.

I've had so many pasta bakes in restaurants I never want to look at one again!

I've got a lot of vegan/veggie friends - we've found Indian and Ethiopian places to be the best for choice.

However, my new, local country pub does a surprising mix of amazing veggie options - all kinds of tarts and exotic cheeses and soufflés Mmmmm

TaterTots (in case you are hard of thinking) consider what a restauranteur should put on her menu when, in the course of nine pages, individual vegetarians moan about almost every dish they could try.

Of course they will default to two or three 'safe' and more popular options.

A carvery pub near me has a system where they have several regularly changing veggie options, but instead of ordering one separately, you just go up to the carvery with the meat eaters to get your veg and you pick up a choice of main there (just as you would choose your meat). There's usually a choice of about four, but they only make a few of each, and once they run out of something, that's it - thereby reducing the waste some people have mentioned restaurants would be worried about. It's great.

The problem is, people are choosing not to eat meat and then they are choosing to be picky eaters on top of it. Restaurants are businesses, not support groups for fusspots. Just eat yer mushroom and stop moaning!

"almost every dish they could try." really? The list isn't exactly exhaustive and mostly mentions the same kind of lazy pasta/risotto dishes that are a variation on a theme.

Of course they will default to two or three 'safe' and more popular options.

Two or three? If only.

Cocklodger - you don't want to be served 'shit' but you wouldn't mind 'Quorn'?? I've heard it all, now.

Being a vegetarian really isn't restrictive. It just feels restrictive when you're faced with menus that just have 1 or 2 vegetarian options and they're always the same boring, lazy choices. Plenty of meat eaters are fussy, but they have tend to have loads more options to choose from if there are things they don't like on the menu.

And you can't always choose the restaurant you go to. I'm going to a Christmas work meal where the only vegetarian option is bloody mushroom risotto which I hate! I do eat fish but the fish option is swordfish which I can't eat because I'm pregnant.

I would advise ignoring EastMidsMummy. She's clearly desperate to cause an e-argument for some reason. We've managed to avoid that nonsense for 200 posts so lets please try to continue to do so.

You're all wrong, goats cheese is lush, halloumi isn't. So there

There are almost no foods that I really dislike, but goats cheese is one of them. It's really, really vile.

I know this thread is generally about going to restaurants in large groups, but for me that's a rare occasion. Mostly if I go out for dinner it's with my partner, so we go to specific vegetarian restaurants. There are some really amazing ones around these days. Lots of good vegetable dishes at Indian restaurants too.