To feel that restaurants should provide more vegetarian options ?

[Lovelybangers]

Maybe to some people I am BU - but since quitting meat I have noticed that many menus have a very limited selection of non meat/fish options.

I was out this weekend for a family meal ( restaurant chosen by someone else) and the menu had 6 starters, 6 mains to choose from Only 2 starters were suitable and 1 main course.

I am certain that it can't be so difficult to add another choice - the main course option was very mushroomy - so if I didn't like mushrooms then I would have been going hungry.

DH was happy as he got to eat a big plate of roast beef - despite him being happy to share my veggie offerings at home.

I was just perusing a few local eateries' christmas menus -and many of them don't have ANY option for non flesh eaters.

Also the profit margins on vegetarian dishes must be astronomical - not like you're shelling out for quality meat and they are usually only a couple of pounds cheaper than the meat-heavy options.

Very punny i agree. Re madterchef. That would sort 5he wheat from the chaff!

If a small minority were meateaters then there wouldn't be an outcry, would there? It would just a few people complaining on an internet forum.

Oh I guarantee you, we vegetarians complain off the Internet as well. And also give polite feedback, (although that's often taken the same way - I got seriously huffed at a couple of years ago for expressing some disappointment over paying £9 for a bowl of Heinz minestrone soup).

These conversations always come down to meat-eaters complaining that vegetarians might get 10% of the menu rather than 5%, because then meat-eaters might only have 90% of the menu that they personally like the taste of.

Crazy!

Officially im a meat eater but i would love more choice. I only want to eat meat once a week.

I have polit3ly let restaurants know that they could more effort in to the one vegetarian option.

It is so unnecessarily lazy

More often than not it isn't actually the chef who is "lazy" as most places are chains these days where the chef has no say in the options.

Also the gross profit on the vegetarian dishes is in theory higher than most meat options but there is often more wastage as the dishes can only be kept for a certain length of time and if they don't sell (which sometimes they don't- more often than meat dishes don't) then they are pure wastage. And yes, I know the answer is to offer more dishes that vegetarians want to eat rather than the hated mushroom risotto or goats cheese tart! I don't have that issue much in my place of work, btw- just playing devils avocado

I am a chef in an independent pub restaurant and our specials change weekly and include 3 vegetarian starters and 1 main on top of the main menu which contains 3 starters and 3 mains. If I was asked to 'whip up a vegetarian burger' on a Tuesday at 3pm I might consider it depending on what vegetables I had to hand- ask me anytime Thursday onwards and you would be whistling im afraid. Unfortunately I would not have a chef spare to cater solely for 1 diner.

There should be more meat-free options, yes. If there's only one thing (e.g. mushroom risotto) and you're allergic to mushrooms, you're stuffed.

Try being coeliac, mind. Don't tell me the salad isn't gluten-free, if the only gluten on it is the bread on the side. Just don't put the bread on the side!

"Restaurants need to hire somebody capable of producing tasty veg options"

Should they?

DH and I are nearly silent 1/3 partners in a restaurant. My brother is the hands-on 2/3. I'm fairly sure there are no vegan options. Certainly nothing meat and fish free. You're right, I suspect that the chefs wouldn't really know where to begin with an imaginative and high-quality veg. option but, why would they? The business does well and we can afford to think about the 95% of the pop. who do eat meat.

VeryPunny

Why do you think it takes so little imagination to cook a meat dish. Minute steak and a couple of side dishes maybe. Perhaps these such untalented chefs' training was more traditional and it's what they grew up eating and appreciating and wanting to emulate or improve.

I think that insulting the chefs is fairly pointless and proves nothing other than your temperament.

Gluten free food usually tastes shite. Vegan is little better. It's like giving an artist a very limited palate and complaining the painting isn't as beautiful as when they had 'all' the colours at their disposal.

It's much, much harder to make a delicious veg. dish. Chefs and restaurants are judged on their food (amongst other things) so why would they make their lives more difficult.

I'd prefer some accurate knowledge about what's actually vegetarian to a wider choice. It's worrying to find that the only vegetarian option comes with Parmesan, for example. If you're in the UK, either it's not Parmesan or it's not vegetarian.

Having said that, one of the most popular restaurants I know has loads of vegetarian and vegan-friendly dishes on the menu. They're marked with dietary information in brackets but there's no specific no-meat section. Slightly more time-consuming to read through it all but for the restaurant it means they sell vegetable-based dishes to a meat-eating clientele who might easily bypass a separate vegetarian section.

Neither DH nor I are vegetarians, but we quite often choose something from the menu that doesn't have meat in it. So restaurants aren't just catering for the 'vegetarian' market with these dishes.

I've noticed that the prices of meat-free meals aren't all that much cheaper than meat dishes, so the mark-up and profit on them must be huge.

Totally agree! Me and my DP went veggie just under a year ago. It's 2016, hate being restricted to such a small part of the menu. Been to 1 veggie restaurant and it was fab, just a shame there isn't really many near me.

As a vegetarian for 17 years and now vegan I actually think on the whole it's getting better and better.
Wetter spoons and zizzi both have vegan menus on request, which are OK for a cheap group outing.

If you are choosing then Thai, Indian and Mexican places often have loads of choices as well, more varied and tasty too.
The worst places I find are the fayre and square places, regular pubs or obviously a grill place like Damon's. But if I ever go there for other people's birthdays etc I usually find there's something to eat, even if it is a bit uninspired.

Staff are usually really helpful in non-chains (where the food is cooked fresh rather than pre made microwave places) so try to go to these places and give them a ring beforehand. It's getting better all the time, but don't be afraid to ask for something.

I agree that it is much harder to cook a vegetarian dish. I only 'converted' earlier this year - and I do struggle to think up meals for us.

It does take some imagination - but yes, the mark up on those dishes must be higher than that of a fish/meat meal.

The restaurant I was at this weekend is a restaurant and pub - traditional. I quite like our local Indian restaurant as I am happy to gorge myself on the lovely vegetable sides. More than enough to go at there.

Another issue can be that some people don't even know what the difference between vegetarian and vegan is. My DM thinks I'm vegan - as I don't eat fish. I have explained more than once. If I WAS vegan I wouldn't have had anything to eat from the menu on that day.

As a lifelong veggie I'm not fussed if there's only one starter and one main that's veggie as long as it's not veggie lasagne but what drives me bonkers is when the veggie starter and main have the same base ingredient. All too often I'm stuck with mushrooms or goat's cheese for both courses. Nobody wants to eat the same thing for two courses of a meal!

devils avocado
The new vegan option...

In all seriousness, restaurants have to make a profit. I'd pick a veggie option more often if I liked the look of it, but when you're a meat-eater, veggie dishes are competing with meat dishes and have to be bloody good to have the same depth of flavour. Chefs put the veggie choice(s) on the menu, well aware that most of the omnivores who come through the door won't give them a second glance, so they'e not going to load their menu down with stuff that won't sell.

Furrygiraffe that was what happened at this particular meal.

The starters were a mushroom soup or garlic mushrooms.

Main was a mushroom and brie wellington.

Mushrooms (and garlic) galore.

YANBU
I am not a vegetarian but chose not to eat a lot of meat.
Non meat option tends to be very dull and unimaginative

bugger You're rather proving my point about chefs being lazy aren't you, when you say why should they make their lives more difficult. And yes, I do expect someone who is a professional chef to be able to know where to start when producing a "imaginative and high-quality veg. option" - that's why you pay them, to be able to cook. It's not difficult, as the majority of cooks on the Indian subcontinent, and in many Eastern cuisines will testify.

And saying that cooking vegetarian is like painting from "very limited palate" just underlines how blinkered and unimaginative chefs can be - anyone who calls the entire wealth of vegetables, grains, pulses, legumes and herbs limited can't really make any claim to being a gourmet, can they?

Perhaps your view would change after a lifetime of paying good money for shitty vegetarian options.

ANd I'm also fed up with the sleb "chefs" who bang on about how we should eat less meat and then fail to produce more than one token vegetarian recipe in their books. Honourable mentions to Hugh FW who wrote Everyday Veg, and Gordon Ramsay, who is honest enough to admit he doesn't give a shit about cooking for vegetarians.

Life certainly is more 'difficult' as a chef trying to cater for allergies and dietary requirements but I prefer it that way- I get bored easily and this keeps me interested in my job.

1 of my other chefs is fab, but has neither the knowledge or, if I am perfectly honest, th inclination, to sort out vegetarian/gluten free/dairy free/vegan meals. Which I am perfectly happy with as I am over the moon to do them myself! Like I said- keeps me interested!

btw- that mushroom and Brie Wellington is definitely 100% bought in from Brakes or similar!!

Really Silentbob ? How disappointing...

I'm still impressed by the Goodwill Pie recommended to me on here a few weeks ago. It was delicious. It did, however, take me about 3 hours to make! (and created a hell of a lot of washing up)

DH said he would be more than happy to have that in lieu of turkey for his Xmas dinner. He's a meat/fish eater - but tends to only really eat it when out in restaurants- very occasionally at home.

I mean disappointing that my dish was a pre-prepped Brakes dish. Not even hand made..

Yes unfortunately so- unless of course they took inspiration from the frozen dish and made their own but I'm clutching at streams there really cos why would you?

buggerForTheBottle No, I don't have any restaurant experience, hence why I was clear to say 'If I were in charge and could change these things', in a 'if I ruled the world' sort of way. I know it's menus work, but I would like it to be like that. So I if I was in charge I'd wave my hand and it would be so.

But here's the thing: I have a lot of veggie friends and don't really care for meat that much myself. So I choose restaurants based on the menu and often availability of veggie/vegan food. You might be turning a good profit but you may also turn a better one if you catered to a wider audience - I look up menus online and simply wouldn't book or bother complaining to a place that didn't have at least three veggie choices. And I live in a decidedly-non Brighton type area.

I agree, and I'm not vegetarian. However I almost never eat out without being with at least one vegetarian, (my partner and best friend are both vegetarians) and I often prefer the veggie option myself, so I find it particularly frustrating. It really limits options, and it often is pure laziness/lack of skill. A chain restaurant or pub, fair enough, though actually they're usually ok. But a proper chef should be able to come up with something interesting that doesn't have meat in it.

The idea that vegan/veggie food is tasteless suggests people with v little curiosity about food. There are amazing foods from all over the world that are vegan, particularly street food. I had an amazing lentil/onion spiced Egyptian dish in Burrough market on my last trip to London, most people who bought it because they could smell how awesome it was weren't thinking 'oh that's vegan' they were thinking 'oh that sounds really tasty.' A decent omelette would be better than another mushroom risotto for most vegetarians I know. I enjoy a good steak on occasion but i just think it's a shame that so much eating out follows the same tired meat and two veg formula- a bit more creativity would also be a lot more inclusive.