To think vegans can’t really complain if they don’t like what’s on the menu when the menu is clearly advertised

[Foodreviews]

NC as I’ve been talking about this IRL

Now we’re allowed to eat out again I’ve been checking out the reviews of a few different restaurants and am astounded how many people complain that the restaurant didn’t cater for their vegan requirements

I’d get it if the restaurant claimed to do so, but from the examples I’ve seen, the menus are clearly advertised on line

Most have maybe 1 vegan option, and often not loads of other options anyway

In my head it’s like going to a Chinese restaurant and moaning that you can’t get a vindaloo or going to a pizzeria and moaning you can’t get sweet & sour chicken and egg fried rice

If the restaurant doesn’t serve what you want, surely you go elsewhere rather than slate the restaurant on review websites because they didn’t make you food that wasn’t on their menu

I can see why restaurants don't want to offer vegan options, from a purely financial point of view. You could go from day to day not having anyone order a vegan option and if the ingredients can't be put to use elsewhere in your menu then it's just money down the drain. I know that must be a complete pain if you are vegan and want to eat out but the restaurant business is notoriously difficult and it's a lot easier to make a living selling a limited menu with dishes that you know sell in bulk.

This was the case where I worked last. In all the years I worked there only once did we have a vegan in. Once. I can only assume it was because of the style of restaurant it was. It was a fancy pants but very traditional place in the Scottish countryside so haggis or Game such as venison, duck or pheasant dominated the menu. There were actually a few vegetarian options and they steered clear of the boring goats cheese and caramelised onion, mushroom risotto and nut roast bleurgh options and were very tasty but there was really only one vegan option. The veggie dishes were dishes that used ingredients utilised in the main, meaty menu but adapted to be meat free. Vegan was much more difficult due to lack of suitable long lasting ingredients and the only vegan that ever came in was very rude to the wait staff and mostly the chef when he came in to the restaurant to work with her on creating a suitable dish (it was a quiet Monday so he had the time). Instead of taking his options into account she just went on and on at "him discriminating against her" and that it was disgusting that the menu was a big fuck you to vegans etc etc,
I can imagine that she too would have been a one star reviewer as in the OP.

My dd is pescatarian but has now also become lactose intolerant. Having just come back from a city break we quite happy with most places able to offer at least a couple of vegan options and find some oat milk. And yes, it is easy to check one line first. It will, however be problematic to go put to an extended family meal as they always choose a Sunday Roast type place with maybe one vegetarian option.

Not a vegan.
I think it’s perfectly fair to leave a low star review with the comment that the vegan options were too limited.
It would be wrong to leave a shitty made up revenge review about bad service - but perfectly fair to say, “1* only one vegan option”.

Just to add, I don't think the woman was an absolutely horrid cow because she was a vegan, she was an absolutely horrid cow who just happened to be vegan.

The purpose of leaving an online review is ultimately to assist other people who may be trying to decide whether or not to go somewhere.

Other vegans will find a review saying "poor vegan options" helpful. Omnivores will presumably ignore this feedback because it doesn't apply to them, much in the way that a vegan would ignore a review commenting on the hamburgers.

As a vegetarian, I agree with you. If you can see the menu only has one thing and you don't like it, don't go. Eating out can be a bit crap as a veggie but if it really bothers you don't do it. But then I'm quite intolerant of fussy eating and it annoys me when people have long lists of likes and dislikes, especially on top of dietary requirements. The worst is when people are fussy about something at someone else's house, made specially for them. If someone goes to the trouble of making me a vegetarian dish I feel like I've used up my 'fussiness' card and it would be unbearably rude to then say 'oh but I don't like mushrooms/goats cheese/ spicy food' but I see other people do it distressingly often.

I think you have a fair point, but it must be difficult for vegans when they go out in a group or to a restaurant of someone else’s choice and have no choice whatsoever

This. I am pretty much the only veggie in my family and social circle. I can’t really drag everyone along to my choice of restaurant every time, especially when they’re either committed carnivores or, as in the case of family, just think I’m being “silly” and do I want yorkshire puds with my roast chicken?

Veggie choices are often limited to one dish. Usually halloumi or mushroom based.

I usually end up with a bowl of chips or a side dish. Not ideal.

Being in the restaurant trade is very difficult right now. Even pre-covid, restaurateurs were finding it hard to cater for vegans.
The thing is , veganism is a long term philosophy. It’s been around a while and it will never go away , unlike carnivorism.
My son’s partner came to stay with us ( we are in a bubble , by the way) and we would have loved to take them out to a restaurant.
We couldn’t. Not one restaurant anywhere near us could offer anything to my son’s vegan partner.
Even vegetarians were very poorly catered for.
Most gastropubs near us couldn’t even offer anything that was meat/fish free.

*Not a vegan.
I think it’s perfectly fair to leave a low star review with the comment that the vegan options were too limited.
It would be wrong to leave a shitty made up revenge review about bad service - but perfectly fair to say, “1 only one vegan option”.

No it's not. Vegans are 1% of the population. You knew there would be 1 option, because 99% of places have menu online or contact us.

What is fair is to score what you had, the service you had, bit add that options are limited

I recall sitting in a restaurant in Sicily years ago and an American couple moaning loudly about how there weren't enough vegetarian options. I thought this was odd as the place had five or more vegetarian pasta dishes alone. I noticed because I'm pescatarian (with a preference for vegan options these days) so am familiar with boring, restricted menus and that one really wasn't. I think some people have odd expectations.

That said, if it's not somewhere high/highish end with a very brief menu, then it's a pretty poor show if there isn't a number of vegetarian meals to choose from and a couple of vegan options. Times have moved on from default goats cheese or risotto in most places, thankfully.

@schrodingersImmigrant actually approx 7% of the population are vegan and 14% are vegetarian so it's a big chunk of the population who often have crappy, lazy options on the menu. I've been both veggie/vegan for the last decade and I'm SO sick of risotto, tomato pasta, hummus wraps and goats cheese tart. I wish more restaurants would put more effort into making innovative tasty veggie dishes

@Higgeldypiggeldy35
Vegan society - 1.16%

Thing is, it is perfectly possible to have several veggie options. Veganuary or whatever it was proved it. Nando’s, for example went from one haloumi burger as the veggie option, to 3 or 4 dishes. Chinese, indian, japanese, thai etc eastern style often have a big veggie choice.

As for the places- yes you, subway, that think Tuna is vegetarian, i got bored of arguing with them and just don’t go any more.

"veganism is a long term philosophy. It’s been around a while and it will never go away , unlike carnivorism. "

Carnivorism Omnivorism is not going to go away and will remain the majority lifestyle in the West for the forseeable future

Restaurants want to make money

• they aren't lazy, just business oriented

If there were more than a tiny % of vegans they would offer more dishes

Thing is, it is perfectly possible to have several veggie options. Veganuary or whatever it was proved it.

Veganuary is different. There is a hype and people who normally would order it do. Come feb, people are back to chicken wings.

It's like pancake day when places who normally don't do pancakes have them. Doesn't mean it would sell all year round

[quote Higgeldypiggeldy35]@schrodingersImmigrant actually approx 7% of the population are vegan and 14% are vegetarian so it's a big chunk of the population who often have crappy, lazy options on the menu. I've been both veggie/vegan for the last decade and I'm SO sick of risotto, tomato pasta, hummus wraps and goats cheese tart. I wish more restaurants would put more effort into making innovative tasty veggie dishes[/quote]
...
Grossly inflated figures
Just over 1% are vegan in the UK

Are you counting all those of us who are omnivore but who might enjoy an attractive vegan option sometimes ?
I'd politely eat vegan if a friend cooked it, but I wouldn't choose it when paying to eat out

@bigchocfrenzy actually you're right I did a lazy Google and they were the first stats buy it is more than 1% the stats from the began society are two years old, around 7% are veggie. But that doesn't include many meat eaters who like to have a veggie option.

Vegan ingredients that can’t be used in other recipes? What, like vegetables?

YANBU
Most of the restaurants I have worked in change their menu every few months, we seldom got any vegetarian or vegans in and as the menu updates and few people have ordered a vegetarian or vegan meal then less are likely to appear on the next menu. It's supply and demand and when there's not been huge demand for it, they won't supply huge amount. A kitchen can only hold stock for so many dishes and when numerous of those dishes and never order, the next time they change the menu they're likely be replaced for something much more popular

Maybe vegans could first decide how many of them is in UK🤷🏻
1%? 3%? 7%?

Gets distracted from the point of the thread and muses... "what should be the collective noun for vegans?"

A smugness of vegans?
An entitlement of vegans?
A discontent of vegans?

As a vegetarian I object to the fact that the vegan option is generally a vegan used version of what used to be the veggie option. ‘Oh but you’re can eat that though’ you may say - but I’ve have a few vegan options which were just horrible - nasty dairy alternatives that coat your mouth and taste weird. They could do a vegan option but no, they just swap the veggie one. I’d also guess that a lot of the vegan food has been introduced to cater for the Veganary crowd and part time vegans (who try to eat a few vegan meals a week for health/eco reasons). Don’t get me started on quorn...

I became a veggie in the 80s - the ‘cheese less cheese salad days’ as I call them. ‘Ummmmm can I just have the cheese salad - without the (Non veggie) cheese?’. I still get delirious with overchoice if there are more than 2 veggie options on a menu.

You work around the options or call ahead to check/ arrange something. Best was when I went out and a vegan was in the group - she grilled the waiter on everything on the menu after announcing that she was vegan (‘Can you just check with the the chef how the polenta is cooked? Does he make his own stock? What oil is in the pasta sauce? Is it organic’). She ordered the lamb chops.