To expect pubs to serve a decent vegetarian meal?

[Allshallbewell2021]

Three pub meals over the past three months have been dire or inedible. One risotto (rice not cooked) one bean/taco meal (clearly from a tin really grim), one Xmas dinner butternut squash thing (clearly from the freezer, slimy and disgusting).
And not cheap either.
Tonight I had chips, peas and battered halloumi (too much straight cheese for anyone) but quite nice.

Is a good vegetarian pub option not economically viable?

I was pointing out that one vegetarian main course is not that unusual.
There is one vegetarian main course.

This just crossed my feed. An absolute perfect example of what non meat eaters are offered.

At least there is a choice of starter - mushroom soup or mushrooms in sauce.

Main course. Guess what! More mushrooms in a sauce.

Aren’t we lucky.

A relatively simple way for a pub would be to have base of a dish cooked that can then have either meat OR a veggie option added to for a few options. Off top of my head

A katsu curry on menu that can come with chicken or a veg option (I’ve had sweet potato or a kind of mini bean burger)

A beef, chicken, Halloumi or Vegan option for your patty & offer a selection of burgers that any patty can be added to - simple salad & mayo, burger sauce and fried onions, Mexican style with guac/salsa . Allow a choice of cheese.

Pie and veg and have a mushroom/jackfruit steak/cheese & potato option as well as a meat one

Sausage and mash where you can have veggie or meat sausages

Use a decent vegan pesto for a pasta dish (they exist, they don't need to have fake cheese & I doubt people would notice the difference) and have the option to add chicken or whatever to it if people wish

Fajitas where you can have as veg or mushroom or halloumi

In general if you made a lot of the base stuff veggie and dairy/nut/gluten free where you could (do you really have to use anything with gluten or dairy in to make chips examples) then it would easily open up more of your menu to people who have dietary restrictions of some kind.

If there was enough demand for it, pubs would have menus with more options for vegetarians and vegans. I think they just focus on normal food because that's what their customers expect, traditional "pub" grub isn't vegetarian except maybe a Ploughman's.

YABU anyway to expect a "decent" meal in any pub, it's been a long time since I had a good meal in one (i.e. not frozen/reheated type of thing).

Yeah I agree and this is how I cook at home for my various dietary needs family. But my point was that mid range chain places, including pubs, aren’t designing menus like this as it’s not cost-effective to have loads of choices i.e. produce and stock going to waste costs money. They design meals that are served ‘as is’ with little chef/cook intervention which you’d need more of (higher staff costs) if you offer lots of customisation.

Ah it's always mushrooms!! I hate mushrooms!

I think its a multi- part thing - firstly, a much larger number of pubs and restaurants mainly serve pre-prepared frozen meals, just re-heated, so all meals there are really a bit meh. If you're a decent cook yourself, then you're usually disappointed, whether vegan, vegetarian or a meat eater. Secondly, s previously said, many now just do a vegan vegetarian / allergy option as one, so there's not any real choice. Most pubs where they're cooking from scratch only have a certain number of dishes they can prepare. Finally, they all have to be prepared using different work-spaces, pans, utensils etc - so nothing meat-based can be prepped where vegetarian or vegan food is being prepped, nothing animal product (so cheese, eggs, dairy) can be prepped where vegan food is prepped etc. Many kitchens are really tight for space as it is, so sadly they just can't find a work around everyone is going to be happy with.

There are, however, some amazing places out there who do a great range of meals, catering to all, it's just finding them, and recommending them on.

But, most veggies check out a pub menu for something suitable first. If there is nothing on the menu we don’t go. It’s not like meat eaters who can pick from 5 or so dishes. You need to know if the one thing you can have is something worth having.

So if you are a pub with the standard risotto on the menu then you will be sitting there thinking that vegetarians don’t want to come to your pub.

Two pubs near me have got it right, I feel. They are small pubs with tiny kitchens, they are proper pubs, food is not the focus.

They both do pies, mash, peas and gravy.
Two vegan pies, two veggie pies and four meat pies. All the mash and gravy will be veggie or vegan accordingly. £8.

I’m perfectly happy with that.

I like pies. I would eat a pie filled with pastry! But not filled with quorn stuff.

I’m vegan and was vegetarian for years. I don’t tend to eat in pubs- Italians, Indian and noodle places like Wagamama generally have more choice

Me too! I always say slap pastry in an old shoe and I’d eat it.

Maybe places should offer a selection of tapas style dishes, so you could have one for a starter, 2-3 for a main.

Same. So does my vegetarian daughter and vegan son.

I have done this - asked for a double portion of Polenta and mushroom starter.

I had to laugh at the episode of the latest series of Two Doors Down when they go to a carvery and the vegetarian option is a risotto.

@MadeOfAllWork I didn't know there was a new series and missed some. I don't live in the Uk and can't access bbc player 😥

The last time they were at the carvery, Gordon had some sweetcorn fritters or something. They appear to have regressed their menu!

I wonder when theboys will get married. And I hope Sophie is there.

It is true (though would have to be tested in court). Clearly they can't deal with every allergy known to (wo)man but they must certainly try to deal with the well known ones like nuts.

And serving vegetarian food is a very obvious reasonable adjustment for those who can't or won't ear meat for religious or other belief reasons.

It's no more "discriminatory" fir a carvery not to have a vegan option than it is fir a synagogue not to have a hindu shrine available for thise with different beliefs.

That’s the worst analogy I’ve ever seen. 🙄

Going to a carvery is not a human right.

I must read the Geneva Convention… I just don’t remember that bit.

@HoneyButterPopcorn it's not in the Geneva Convention, it's older than that..
'And on the twelvty ish day they went to Brewers Fayre and had vegan carvery'