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 really miss the Giardiniera too! 😭

They won't make it with cheese at my local one.

I would be happy if the vegetarian option was vegan if it was nice not grim. I make things at home that are vegan but not fake meat. I don't intentionally make something vegan...it just doesn't have dairy etc in it.
In pubs I have a toasted sandwich and chips if the mains is a not delicious plant based horror. I went to one local pub where toasted sandwiches were ready made ham and cheese...I never went back.
There is no economic worth in losing customers because they can't eat anything.

@seenisambol 100g of halloumi contains 22g protein whereas 100g cooked haddock is 20g so your assessment on that front is at-odds with the facts. You are right that halloumi is higher in carbs and fats but if you are in the context of deep-frying in batter and serving with chips the difference is marginal.

@Allshallbewell2021

Recently I stayed at a 4* hotel "up North". On one meal the "choice" was butternut squash risotto. I can think of nothing worse! I asked for a plate of vegetables [from the other dishes] and it came with a bowl of the risotto! The Brussel sprouts were started last Christmas I'd guess.

Try being a vegetarian with allergies. I'm often allergic to the vegan option. To make matters worse, places can be ridiculously secretive about their 'amazing' vegan food and will only let you know if it contains one of the mainstream allergens. Helps me to a point, but I have other allergies, and I'd just like to know what I'm eating.

Since the rise of veganism, I've stopped eating out as much. It's not just that vegan 'cheeze' is terrible and can't melt properly - I'm actually allergic to it.

Most people eat meat and that includes most landlords and a lot of people who eat meat don’t seem to have much idea what a decent veggie option would be. Landlords focus their attention on their main target audience and know that so long as they offer us something we’ll tag along with our friends and family. I went out last night to a local Turkish restaurant (not my choice) and ate vegan because they simply didn’t understand the difference between vegetarian and non vegetarian cheese. If I had a pound for every time someone has said in response to my enquiry if the cheese they use is vegetarian that it’s not vegan I’d be doing rather well. As for those establishments which display a V next to dishes which contain Parmesan, I despair!
And now of course vegetarian options are disappearing from menus to be replaced by jackfruit and mock meats which clearly appeal to recently converted vegans but not this lentil munching veggie of 55 years.
I feel your pain.

When DH and I go out for a meal he often chooses a vegetarian main course, not because he's vegetarian, but because he likes vegetables! But over the last year or two he's not been finding things on the menu he feels like having, and when he does pick something, he is invariably disappointed.

There is something used in vegan food that does make me feel sick. Usually in ‘coleslaw’ or fake sausages (which is one of the few ready made things I enjoy). Not quite sure why it is - maybe a thickener? - but it makes me feel nauseous. I have to check things are veggie and not vegan.

Annoyingly, it seems to be a lot of people ‘eating plant’ aren’t vegans or even veggies, but people choosing to ‘save the planet’ (because often it certainly isn’t healthy), when the creation/processing/transport etc if the food is nothing of the sort. Over-processed, roadkill looking, fatty ugh.

I remember the ‘cheese salad without the - non veggie - cheese’ days of my early vegetarianism (early 80s). And I still think it’s getting worse for veggies to eat out (and eat healthily).

To make matters worse, places can be ridiculously secretive about their 'amazing' vegan food

yes

and i know you are talking about allergies but what winds me up is when the eleventy billion meat burger options go into great detail about the meat, the sauce, the onions, the herbs etc and the vegetarian option says ‘vegetable burger’

what the fuck is in it????

I remember being given a hunk of cheese instead of the meat…sometimes they’d grate it, good times 😀

100g of halloumi contains 22g protein whereas 100g cooked haddock is 20g so your assessment on that front is at-odds with the facts

There might be similar amounts of protein but 100g of halloumi contains 15g of saturated fat (75% of daily allowance) whereas 100g of haddock has 0.1g.

Echo all the folks above re. displacement of veggie food with vegan food.

Supermarkets, too. I used to buy veggie stuff from all the main supermarkets, but now most have dropped the veggie items with dairy etc., and replaced them with awful, nasty, over-salted, processed 'vegan' items.

It's just lazy, and - my apologies to committed vegans - many of the 'new' vegans haven't remained vegans, seem to have 'days off', or are only 'vegan' when eating with friends etc.

So, cooks/chefs/supermarkets - you've managed to piss off a whole cohort of customers!

Did you provide feedback, both at the time to the pubs and then in reviews? I do. Always polite, sticking to facts. But I am clear that i wouldn't eat there again, and why. Like many on this thread I am vegetarian and dont want fake vegan food, or food with no thought.

It's dodgy and rock solid bottomed baked potatoes which annoy me.

I think if you have at in high-end restaurants (like Adam’s in Birmingham as a PP mentioned) then you get amazing vegetarian AND vegan options.

If you eat in restaurants that serve particular cuisines (authentic, not chain) based on cultures that restrict meat for either cultural, religious or dietary reasons then you have amazing options.

If you eat in cafes or less formal places you usually get great options - toasted sandwiches, panini, soup, jacket potato, all-day breakfasts etc.

Where you get crap options is mid-range mid-price chain restaurants and pubs where the menu and food costs/profit is calculated at a corporate level, and smaller independent places who genuinely can’t afford to put lots of options on if it’s not making them money or they’ll go under.

I also find these threads fascinating because when you read them there’s basically no right choice for a vegetarian option - you’ll always find people individual vegetarians who hate goats cheese, beetroot, mushrooms, whatever, and then the ones who are bored of risotto, pasta, and so on.

Unless it’s an actual vegetarian restaurant it’s a thankless choice ask to design a general menu that won’t disappoint an individual vegetarian because there’s never going to be more than 2 options for them if they’re lucky and if they don’t fancy either what can you do?

I'm a veggie that dislikes mushrooms so slims the menu options down even more for me, luckily don't mind goats cheese or spicy or I'd be stuck with chips at many pubs.

I'm glad there's an increase of vegan options as it also helps out those with dairy intolerances as milk is often added where you'd not even expect it. However we need more choices where dairy or veg is the star feature not simply switching out to vegan so the majority can eat a meal they're forced to pick.

I've been to couple of city pubs that specialise in vegan food, one has menu with meat/fish dish and a vegan equivalent along with specials so plenty of choice and great for more dietary social inclusion in groups. These had great food quality & taste, but they had chefs who prepared a lot themselves so they were able to be more flexible so likely could add cheese if asked and perhaps worked with vegan base meals and then added optional meat/dairy but lot of places have moved to cheaper basic kitchen staff to mainly reheat meals and fry chips.
The dishes that did use some type of faux meat/fish were actually nice even as a meat eater at time, nothing like the crap they insist on putting in supermarket ready meals, they also properly made use of vegetables and not mushy or spiced to hell thinking they need to make up for some lack of flavour like many do.

Chilli might look less than incongruous in a trifle, though I can’t say I’m keen to try it.

Chilli cheesecake has a certain ring to it though!

Agree its mostly rubbish now, and it's not an issue of only having vegan choices its just that the choices are RUBBISH. I am veggie but est a lot of vegan, bit the pub options just tend to be lazy and crop cooking.

One of my local pubs (independent very pubby pub) manages to have an excellent menu for all, using a combo of fresh seasonal specials and standard (probs frozen) pub choices, but cooked well. One thing they do is a pick and mix burger menu. So you choose your burger (beef, chicken, fake meat, spicy bean or falafel) and then you choose your sides, sauce, bread from a varied list of options. It means you can cater to your own tastes and dietry requirements, have a few options, and presumably easy for the pub to manage as they're just mixing and matching standard stock. I think it's genius.

This was really stark when we were choosing the venue for our christmas do. One of the restaurants we considered had four starters. 2 meat and 2 vegan, both with vegan 'cheese'. Why? One was a veg soup, it didn't require fake cheese. It could have just been a nice vegan soup and could have been enjoyed by vegans, veggies and meat eaters alike.

One main was vegan (no veggie option) but at least that wasn't fake meat and cheese.

The place we ended up had no veggie starters (1 vegan starter, again with fake cheese) but there was 1 veggie main and 1 vegan main (again, fake cheese and it was virtually identical to the vegan starter, if I was a vegan I would have been grumpy).

I'm a veggie who will happily eat vegan meals but doesn't want fake cheese in particular. Proper meals, made with proper food, great. It doesn't necessarily need eggs or cheese. Presumably lots of vegans also prefer proper food and don't just want fake meat and cheese.

Some places will swap fake cheese for proper cheese, went to a burger place the other week in London which was very accommodating. Other places just won't.

At least Indian restaurants nearly always have lovely veggie options. Most will make you one of the veg side dishes as a main too, or let you order several side dishes tapas style.

I love spicy beanburgers.
I hate plant based burgers made of sludge...possibly cooked on a meaty grill for added flavour.
But I like a good Indian restaurant. Being able to choose from a menu is great.

Indian restaurants are your best bet and of Indian origin (not Bangladeshi or Pakistani - they do amazing meat dishes).
I think half of India is vegetarian.
And in India vegetarian food does not include any egg either.

OMG! Yes! I am vegetarian and there are so many lazy options now… vegan burger (usually dry) or salad. Blah!

Recently I had a meal out and ordered the burger (vegan) and was told it comes with a side salad rather than chips. Just because I’m vegetarian doesn’t mean I don’t want fucking chips!!!

It’s always a joke that I get flustered when I have a 2+ choice of dishes!

Being able to choose a dessert is a treat in itself. Or a cake in a cafe.
All through lockdown I looked forward to going for coffee and cake in a local bakery with a cafe. They never reopened the cafe.
I boycott them now. (As if they know or care).

I went to a local country pub last week where there was a vegetarian sprout, fennel, apple and blue cheese tart with caramelised walnut as well as a vegan beetroot and shalot tarte tatin. So you can find great vegetarian food in a pub!

Edited to add - this is not a fancy gastro/restaurant type pub but just a lovely pub which welcomes drinkers as well as diners and has a proper pub atmosphere. But they do great food as well.