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 think pubs tend to put on a couple of vegan meals to cover all bases. Shame if you're a veggie and love a good cheesy dish.

It's not something I've noticed as a veggie but I'm quite happy to eat vegan food too so I feel like I have more options not less.

This time of year is generally grim for eating out though, especially 'christmas menus'. It feels like everywhere is overbooked and trying to make as much money as possible so standards really fall.

Totally agree. Vegan cheese and fake meat is not food. It makes it impossible to eat in pubs and now sandwiches are going the same way. Vegan food can be great but not like that! I just want to eat whole real food.

I totally agree about the processed food issue. I make a lot of vegan food at home because DS1 is allergic to eggs. And you can make so many delicious things without resorting to the fake meat/cheese. It's even worse when you look at the nutritional info for some of the vegan burgers and realise they're full of saturated fat. And then there's the issue with them being highly processed and often tasting awful.

Chickpea curry seems to be the go to veggie/vegan option too. Which can be great but all too often isn’t.

The rise of veganism has truly ruined a lot of eating out for vegetarians. As PP says, I have previously requested proper cheese on a vegan burger and been denied. Ridiculous.

I think it massively varies in terms of demand for vegetarian food. I had appalling veggie meals on holiday the last few years in pubs in the Lake District and Norfolk but here in wanky East London the food is great at pubs.

Interesting what you say about a carvery.

My friend, a strict vegetarian for 40 years, said one of her best meals was at Hawksmoor, famous for its expensive steaks, in Borough Market.

A restaurant or pub that is serious about the food will provide a decent vegetarian meal.

Possibly because people are fed up of eating substandard food!

Tbh as a meat eater who also chooses veggie sometimes, most meals are hit and miss at the pubs I go to. You've just got a much more restricted choice as a veggie so lower odds of it being good. ..

If you are picking the venue you can definitely find nice veggie/vegan pub food but since OH went veggie I’ve really noticed how rubbish the offering can be.
We had a night away recently as a gift for his birthday and it took a fair bit of effort to find a pub somewhere nearby that had reviews of both decent rooms and decent veggie food. A number of the options were vegan, though they sounded nice too (tempura cauliflower dish, Thai green curry, two varieties of bean burger, halloumi burger or kebab, lasagne & macaroni cheese). All told around 1/4 of the menu was veggie. We have a few places in our local town that are also great. A lot of pubs do seem to only have a single fairly naff option. I suspect the issue is both that vegetarians/vegans are very much in the minority and that a lot of the people who try and eat plant based stuff a few times a week for environment reasons may be more inclined to have those meals at home and eat meat when out since it’s a lot cheaper cooking veggie at home and it generally isn’t eating out. As a result there is limited demand. Some places offer decent choices and more people who want veggie food go there. The places offering little choice therefore see less people ordering veggie/vegan and therefore feel it is not worth them having a better offering and it likely also explains why they opt for things that can be frozen to minimise waste.

This has just reminded me of a pub I went to a couple of weeks ago where the only veggie options were a four cheese pizza with "mushroom crisps" (no tomato base) or a "nourish bowl". So basically a heart attack or a salad. Bleurgh.

Thank you.

I agree with everything said about horrible processed vegan food ruining options for veggies.

We had a work lunch at TGI Friday's (randomly it's the only restaurant within an ok distance of our work) - I asked for the vegan burger but with real cheese and mayo. The waitress said they get asked for that a lot. When it arrived I really struggled to eat it as it was way too "meat like" for me. I've been veggie since I was 13 and the texture of meat gives me the boak these days.

Plus most meat eaters I know would happily eat a nice proper spicy bean burger or similar. I can't see any of them trying a UPF fake beef thing.

Always with the fucking cauliflower 🙄

Every year DPs friendship group organise a Christmas meal somewhere, which is usually around the £50 mark for three courses. I'm the only vegan and without fail my option is always utter crap. This year my main is a roasted cauliflower. No roast potatoes or chips or anything with it. Starter is a few veg crisps and dessert is sorbet.

I would mind less if I wasn't expected to pay the same price as people who'll be eating steak, cheeseboards, roast potatoes etc etc.

I always go in the interests of being polite and because I like DPs mates but definitely sacking it off next year

The question was is it economically viable, and it is really quite difficult now for restaurants- each menu item costs, in term of development, in terms of holding stock and wastage. Much of the growth in meat free demand (particularly from the restaurant side)has come from veganism.

We are expected to offer a choice to all guests including vegans - so we have 2 vegan dishes, that will also cover the vegetarians. It isn’t economically viable to run 3 of our menu options as meat free. We find that many of our guests who look to do reduced meat diets treat restaurants as the time they will positively choose meat as their treat day.

I get it though, the vegan options don’t cut it in my mind- but actually there aren’t enough veggies to make it worth our while

@Allelbowsandtoes - 🤣 I see your cauliflower and raise you 3 radishes on a plate for a starter and an undercooked white risotto with one pencil thin carrot on top!! This was for a family birthday so I couldn't really get out of it. And I paid £57 - I was incandescent but had to smile sweetly as to not upset everyone 😡

Yes you should expect better, no it doesn't generally cost more. I'm not veggie but I often use the veggie options to judge a menu cos it shows how much of a shit the chef gives.

I'm a chef, I create menus, I look at all the local places menus all the time (not for inspiration cos I do something very specific) & roll my eyes A LOT. Atm, locally, there are places (pricey!) that have one option per course, and they all contain the same base ingredients or elements, are much cheaper to make and hugely overpriced!

One place had half a pepper filled with cous cous, topped with breadcrumbs on a bed of potatoes & it was 15 quid. Like, Wtf? Didn't even bother to mention what the flavours were.

More often than not the veggie option is a concession dish to account for all diet options that avoid meat rather than just a good dish that anyone might want to try. 'just chuck that on for the veggies'.

We are expected to offer a choice to all guests including vegans - so we have 2 vegan dishes, that will also cover the vegetarians

As a genuine question - why not do one veggie and one vegan?

Vegetarians can't complain about poorly cooked food?

The Cauliflower “Steak” is so bad it’s almost funny. It’s literally a slice of burnt cauliflower.

I’m no longer veggie but I’ve definitely seen the decline of restaurant veggie options in favour of catch-all vegan, and frequently poor vegan at that.

The fake meat burgers are like eating wet cork with meat flavouring and don’t get me started on the vegan cheese.

Nourish bowls just seem to be an excuse to charge £16 for a soggy salad and then extra if you actually want any protein with it.

Absolutely agree. I’ve been veggie for most of my life and although things were getting much better for many years, there’re now getting worse. It’s not just pubs. It’s restaurants as well. Including certain chain types that whilst not gourmet, would still have done decent vegetarian options.

WTF is vegan cheese? Obviously that’s an oxymoron it’s not cheese. It’s highly processed food and chemicals. With no cheese in it. Now the veggie options are also vegan (and sometimes gluten free) they’re just highly processed bland stuff that falls apart or tastes weird. Once you start removing the cheese or eggs from things you lose a lot of the tastes and textures.

A place I used to go with nice cake now has most of them vegan and they just taste of nothing but sugar and artificial chemicals.

I mean I love radishes but if someone served me 3 radishes for a starter I'd die a bit inside.

I always end up hammered off the two gin and tonics I've had because I'm so hungry, then order takeaway when I get home 🤣

Why is it entitled to expect that the meal offered and paid for is edible? Would a meat eater be "entitled" for expecting their meat stock based risotto to be properly cooked? The OP's point is the quality of the food they are paying for compared to other options.

Most pubs and many mid range restaurants just heat up frozen/chilled meals anyway - if they can do that for meat dishes they should be able to do it for the others.

Because we were getting too many complaints and comments from vegans that there was no choice for them and they didn’t like having only one option. So we target ourselves to have at least two options for all guests.