I want Vegetarian choices, not just Vegan!

[ThisMustBeMyDream]

For 25 years I have eaten a vegetarian diet. I am vegetarian because I don't enjoy meat or fish.
I like eggs, cheese and all other dairy products. So I am not vegan.
This summer has shown to me that increasingly restaurants and supermarkets are making their vegetarian dishes vegan. So using substitute milks, cheese etc. I do not want substitutes. I am not vegan. I do not like any of the substitutes (I have tried them as I had a dairy free son for 3 years).
What can be done to protect those who are vegetarian? I am actually genuinely concerned about how places are doing this. It's much more common than people probably even realise (unless you're a vegetarian!). I want food choices when I eat out.

@Idontlikethatship there are more x vegans than current vegans because the diet is lacking in essential nutrients and vitamins which is why I got sick. Some people can cope on a vegan diet but it all depends on how your body absorbs nutrients, your age, sex, if you’re pregnant or sick - all these things make a difference to what your body needs. It didn’t work well at all for me and I know quite a few x vegans now

My point is nobody is perfect (well except me ).

Also that environmentally friendly footwear costs £££...and a lot of people simply don't have £££...so you just gotta do your best .

@FuglyBitch
Ah the avocado rears it’s ugly head. Well at least now the amazon has been burnt to a crisp, at least there will be more space for avocado plants

Yanbu OP.

Though personally I do appreciate the vegan options ( I'm not vegan or vegetarian) as I have to avoid dairy ( medical reason).

They will offer what people want to buy. Maybe it's the increase in veganism that is the problem. Maybe many veggies have gone vegan.

Thank you Idontlikethatship. You are very kind. In fact, you are almost as kind as me .

So many people on this thread (and others) don't understand business at all. Just because you want something on the menu, doesn't mean the owner has to put it on there! They will put on the menu whatever returns them the most profit. If in every 10 meals they produce, 8 want steak, 1 wants veggie and 1 wants vegan (I don't know, I haven't done the research, but the business owner clearly would have done); then the vegan and veggie individual dishes are going to cost more to make (not necessarily in terms of ingredient cost but in chef time costs).
At the moment, there (clearly) aren't enough people ordering veggie dishes to warrant their own dish.

Some people seem to be missing the point. Cater for vegans. But don't give your vegan option as the veggie option! Both are needed

Absolutely agree op. I’ve been veggie for 30 yrs. I’ve noticed the same as you. 2 veggie choices have turned into 1 vegan choice in many places. Sometimes it ok, but often tasteless. I also find that many vegan burgers/curry’s are too hot and spicy (probably because the chef can’t be bothered, so bungs loads of chilli in to make it taste of something). If meat eaters suddenly had only a vegan choice, there would be an uproar!

Restaurants........Stop being lazy and give your customers a choice. Our dinners usually cost the same as the meat eaters too!

Lots of us don’t feel the need to have dairy constantly, nor the need to eat meat at every meal.
But when we do have cheese, we don’t want something made from nuts that have travelled halfway round the world and then combined with E numbers in a factory; nor when we choose meat do we want some micro-protein made from genetically-engineered fungi in a lab.

watching

Hardly any reporting on the rainforest

"because the diet is lacking in essential nutrients and vitamins which is why I got sick."

The only thing a vegan diet doesn't provide it B12.

I saw a vegan getting quite shirty in a restaurant with a waitress about the dish they were given. Reminded me of the rabid cyclist brigade.

Vegans and rabid cyclists pretty similar in my book

Wiltshire, the diet certainly can be lacking in essential nutrients, but so can a meat or vegetarian diet. NHS guidance I think is saying if it's done properly, it is healthy. I get that not everybody likes enough vegan food to stick to a healthy vegan diet, but a healthy vegan diet will most probably not make anyone sick.

Maybe one day I'll get round to giving it a go myself

There is nothing wrong with a vegan diet but there is so much wrong with restaurants/pubs/cafes versions of it.
Many places a have taken vegetarian dishes,removed dairy and egg,replaced them with processed substitutes and the result is abismal.
Mind you I live rurally and we are still at the cauliflower everything stage for veggies.

Not a fan of avocados myself. I think I've eaten them about twice since starting my transition to veganism a year ago.

But indeed the damage caused by growing and shipping avocados is all my fault .

Just to add to the moan, everything vegan is chock full of nuts. I'm nut allergic and it's getting impossible to eat out. Even the frickin salads ffs.

Another vegetarian who loves cheese. You are completely bonkers op.

(I’m also gluten free but that makes me weep)

Hello vegan haters. Are you like this in real life?

I suspect that if you were to eat the dairy free chocolate cup cakes from Morrisons you'd never realise they were vegan unless you were told. Or the M&S spiced ice buns.

The cheese taste thing is strange. I found that the hardest thing to give up when going vegan. Yet, 20 odd years down the line, I can't stand it. I had some by accident and felt very sick. It tasted horrible. Taste buds and likes change once one has got over the addiction.

They will offer what people want to buy.

Or whatever's cheap and easy to make that anyone unwilling to eat the meat dishes will have to choose ie 'pulled' jackfruit in a bun or a massive slice or grilled cauliflower

Restaurants are simply responding to perceived demand. If a menu has say 12 items and 90% order meat they will have 2 non meat dishes but to suit all the non meat eaters they choose gluten free vegan often. Dd moans there's often only one veggie option in nice places but it simply reflects the customers (after all there's specialist vegetarian restaurants for the discerning vegetarian), that said she is fussy too

A restaurant with 24 items obviously has more scope - halloumi is still very much on the menu around here in pubs etc.

If enough people give them feedback they may think again.

I work with a vegan who constantly brings in cakes telling us that ‘we won’t even notice the difference, they taste EXACTLY the same’.
You totally can...

Good luck to going veggie then vegan *Clara”.

Why do you need to do it slowly? You’re right- people don’t need dairy daily. But I like it occasionally (and we are discussing meals out).

YANBU!

I have pregnancy induced dairy intolerance so the vegan fad is quite handy for me.

I know what you mean OP, in the supermarket the "free from" stuff seems to attempt to be free from every possible allergen or food choice. That's processed food though, the best food is the stuff you can make at home.

@HugsAreMyDrugs
No one thinks it’s any one persons fault. It’s the concept of collective fault.

Like eating cheap chicken is no one persons fault, you could eat it only twice, but you’re still part of the problem, it’s a collective fault.

If you don’t understand that, then you don’t understand humans.