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

@SerenityNowwwww

I am veggie and I’ve done my time (36 years) - it was getting to the point when you’d have 2 or more decent options and now it’s gone backwards so there’s the one token vegan dish on a menu of meat and fish. The vegan options generally suck.

Have to agree with this. Many places, when they realised they needed a vegan option, simply swapped out the existing veggie option for it. This might not be so bad if the vegan option was well executed, but unfortunately your average pub has little idea how to cook vegan food. I don't mind things which are incidentally vegan, but I do mind things being awkwardly converted. For example risotto - parmesan is important to the flavour and a vegan version just won't be the same.

Well Pret has opened Veggie Prets which is the biggest sign yet that chains do see the value in veggie food.

Of course you can. My diet is 95% vegetarian. VERY occasionally I will eat fish or meat- perhaps once or twice a year, if that. I tell people I am vegetarian because it's easier than explaining. I consider myself "mainly vegetarian".

This is why we get "Why can't you eat it? My friend is vegetarian and she would eat that/eats tuna/doesn't mind her food being cooked with the meat."

Haha, why do people persist in thinking "only occasionally eating meat" makes them vegetarian? What don't they understand?

Parmesan isn't even vegetarian though @LandlockedBlues. It is made with rennet.

You can get some Parmesan/ish cheese that tastes ok but your can’t guarantee restaurants use it. I was at an awards dinner and the choice was meat, fish or vegan. The vegan was ok but bland and dry (and very small portion!!!).

The ‘vegan’ at the table asked if they had any pesto sauce... the waiter asked me if I wanted the vegan desert option (a very exciting fruit salad) or the cake and cream - I almost took his arm off.

@SerenityNowwwww

I am veggie and I’ve done my time (36 years) - it was getting to the point when you’d have 2 or more decent options and now it’s gone backwards so there’s the one token vegan dish on a menu of meat and fish. The vegan options generally suck.

30+ years vegetarian here and I'd agree with you.

Even the restaurants agree the vegan offerings are bad- Once the only thing on the menu I could have was a vegan pizza ( not a big fan of pizza at the best of times but ho hum). The waiter asked if I was really vegan or would I like him to tell the chef to use real cheese!

I'm amazed at how some of the meat eaters here seem to begrudge us even a fraction of the choice they take for granted.

Im coeliac and agree YANBU, I have no choice in my dietary restrictions but I still manage ok, just have to check the menus before hand. Failing that a jacket potato will have to do

I'm amazed at how some of the meat eaters here seem to begrudge us even a fraction of the choice they take for granted. But nobody begrudges you choice. But you can't expect a business to keep many ingredients for the few vegge/vegan customers they might have. Mainly because they can't be used in other dishes because many taste odd. Every restaurant has to make that call. If they have a lot of coeliac, vegetarian, vegan custmers they will increase their offerings. If they don't there will be a token dish on the menu. They can't afford to do otherwise!

Choice restrictions are the price you pay for the choice you made... unless you find a restaurant like the one I linked to upthread. They do have enough vegan customers to keep a large number of dishes on their menu. But that diversity of menu is their USP.

But nobody begrudges you choice. But you can't expect a business to keep many ingredients for the few vegge/vegan customers they might have. Mainly because they can't be used in other dishes because many taste odd

Veggie any decent restaurant should be able to cater for. If they can’t do veggie fajita’s, as the example given above, then they’re a pretty shite “restaurant”.

Wagamamma’s, many indian etc have a “base” dish, so fajitas, curry, noodles etc then you have the option to add tofu, beef, pork, chicken, fish etc.

They don’t need loads of different ingredients. It’s when they bulk buy ready made “chicken fajitas” they become inflexible.

Even macdonalds has a reasonable veggie range. Same burger buns, wraps, salad, base ingredients to which they add chicken/beef/veggie burgers. If they can do it....

But you can't expect a business to keep many ingredients for the few vegge/vegan customers they might have. Mainly because they can't be used in other dishes because many taste odd.

Vegetables taste odd?

If they have a lot of coeliac, vegetarian, vegan custmers they will increase their offerings.

But they won’t get lots of veggie/vegan/coeliac customers if the veggie/vegan/coeliac options are poor, because most wouldn’t go anyway and order something and then complain about it. They’d just pick somewhere else.

I wouldn’t bother reviewing somewhere to complain about its poor veggie options unless it claimed to have good ones and didn’t. I reserve the right to roll my eyes about it though.

In my experience Wagamama is great. They will sort a lot of their dishes to be vegetarian and gluten free which aren’t actually on the menu as that. For Dd they will leave the beans and broccoli out, add extra mushrooms, etc. So with a bit of good will it can be done.

Doesn’t take them much to do but the good will gets them a lot of repeat custom. Dd is in our local branch so much all the staff recognise her and know her allergies.

It really depends on the cuisine. Cuisine which has good vegetarian base naturally will obviously have a good vegetarian choices unlike a cuisine which is heavily animal products base. That's a freaking common sense...

It also depends on the style of cooking. I find that noodle-type places (like Wagamama) and pizza places find it easiest to fundamentally change what's in a dish because they're very quick to cook and so they do them for each customer. If you're ordering pie, or lasagne, or a mushroom wellington, or even soup, then even if it's made from scratch on site (which is depressingly often not the case) then it hasn't been made for you so they're unlikely to be able to start making lots of substitutions.

@JacobReesMogadishu

In my experience Wagamama is great. They will sort a lot of their dishes to be vegetarian and gluten free which aren’t actually on the menu as that. For Dd they will leave the beans and broccoli out, add extra mushrooms, etc. So with a bit of good will it can be done.

Doesn’t take them much to do but the good will gets them a lot of repeat custom. Dd is in our local branch so much all the staff recognise her and know her allergies.

Well they’ve blown their goodwill with me by making their loos ‘gender neutral’ in the name of inclusivity.

@EveryPlanetHasAYorkshire

Parmesan isn't even vegetarian though *@LandlockedBlues*. It is made with rennet.

OK fair point, I admit I'm a lax veggie and tend not to worry about things like parmesan. Which makes it a bad example, but I think the general point still stands.

In 2020 someone should be able to go to a restaurant with friends and be able to order something gluten free or vegan. Please can we not compare these? I have coeliac disease which is an autoimmune disease, it isn't comparable to choosing a specific diet at all. If I were to eat gluten my body would attack itself and I'd become very ill.

I know some people are vegan for health/possibly allergy reasons but surely you'd check the menu online and/or call in advance to see what you can have or if they can alter something.

@SerenityNowwwww

Oh dear, last time I went to both my 2 nearest ones they had women’s and men’s toilets.

My friends a GF vegan. It's hard work trying to find somewhere suitable each time

OK fair point, I admit I'm a lax veggie and tend not to worry about things like parmesan. Which makes it a bad example, but I think the general point still stands.

You are by far not the only one. We had dish which could be altered to be vegetarian so conversation was often as this
"I am vegetarian so I would like it vegetarian"
"No problem. So no chicken and no parmesan" (You have to check because people are fucking idiots and there were people screaming about missing chicken)
"No! I want the parmesan, just not chicken"

I've had people who complaining about food being plain after no seasoning at all request. I had people complaining about roasted chicken leg having bones in. I had people complaining about "leave the teabag in" "the tea is too strong, I don't like it. Can I have a new one? Leave the teabag in"

You can never make people happy in hospitality😁

We're not vegan, but my teenage son is allergic to multiple things including eggs and dairy, so we eat plant based meals by default quite often. We find it far easier to eat out nowadays than when he was younger. In the last few years the range of plant based options has increased almost everywhere, though obviously some are better than others. He can even get a dessert that isn't plain fruit salad in most places now. Being able to see menus online is a real improvement too. Even living in the back of beyond as we do, there are enough eating places to make a choice in advance. If we look at the menu and there is nothing for DS we simply take our custom elsewhere. Its a bit hit and miss if we are out somewhere unfamiliar and haven't planned ahead for some reason but on the whole I think that most places are now much more allergy aware and offer a wider range of dishes for people with dietary restrictions, whether they are for medical or ethical reasons or just personal choice. 10 years ago we rarely ate out as it just wasn't worth the bother, but nowadays it is much easier.

@WaterOffADucksCrack

In 2020 someone should be able to go to a restaurant with friends and be able to order something gluten free or vegan. Please can we not compare these? I have coeliac disease which is an autoimmune disease, it isn't comparable to choosing a specific diet at all. If I were to eat gluten my body would attack itself and I'd become very ill.

I know some people are vegan for health/possibly allergy reasons but surely you'd check the menu online and/or call in advance to see what you can have or if they can alter something.

Exactly - I’ve been veggie long enough to know you check the menu before, I know how to negotiate a menu (ie ask for double starters as a main or sub the ham for asparagus...) and when you realise (if in a group situation) you aren’t going to get much to eat and just need to go for something incredibly plain or have a quiet wee word with the waiter and get something made up for you.

I’ve not died of hunger yet - but know enough people with real allergies or conditions that can mean a hell of a lot of pain or even death if they eat the ‘wrong’ thing.

The worst that could happen to me is that the staff make a mistake/don’t care enough to check I’d eat something with a bit of bacon in it, realise later and be pissed off with myself. Nor would I have the ‘sad horse’ face photo in the Luton Gazette ‘local woman devastated to find pepperoni on her pizza - ‘I’m devastated I tell ya - I was hysterical, I’ll never got over this, I've been vegan for 3 days and now it’s all ruined... I’m gonna sue” she said...

Another sympathising with the vegetarians that have had their choices reduced. As I only avoid low welfare meat, I have a lot more choices, but I have noticed that the veggie options have become vegan in many places. I'll sometimes choose a good cheese dish over ethical meat just because, but I've regurgitated more appetising stuff than vegan cheese.

From a business pov, I imagine that advertising a wide range of vegan options would put other customers off because they'd possibly assume the other options were limited.

Lots of people complaining about rank vegan cheese and boring vegan options. I would never eat vegan cheese or meat substitutes they have no place in a plant based diet, there is absolutely no need for boring vegan options or "lots of extra ingredients" there are so many vegetables, beans and legumes available there is no excuse for boring food.
If I'm eating out and don't want the vegan option I will simply ask for a plate of roast or steamed vegetables seasoned with fresh herbs and served with lemon to squeeze over them. It's never been a problem.