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?

@Allshallbewell2021 , do uou know if there is a Lounges near you? They do a decent range of veggie meals.
It's not 'fine dining ' but neither is the price.
I particularly like the bang bang cauliflower, the flat breads , and poached eggs ( perfect every single time )
They are family friendly, and good for big and small gatherings.

thelounges.co.uk/?post_type=lounges&s=Liverpool+

My parents have been veggie for thirty years. They tend to have a "put up & shut up" attitude to dining out but recently they say it's got worse. No, they don't want a fake meat burger thank you. Eff off with your TVP nonsense. They want proper, wholesome grub, not junk food. Think a proper lentil burger, or an excellent mushroom burger, or a decent curry, or a well-cooked mixed pulse stew. But, oh no, here's something that looks and tastes like meat. Or it's cold. Or it's badly thought out. Now piss off and feel grateful.

Another thing is cost. Here is a "cauliflower steak" (literally a roast cauliflower slice) that'll be £15 please. Erm, a cauliflower and sides does not come to fifteen quid even with overheads added. Flagrant over-pricing.

My parents find Indian/South Asian restaurants are much more accommodating. Mum has asked if it's possible for the chef to make a spicy mushroom curry and he usually obliges. Italian places are ok too, as well as Thai.

I thought it's because of things like white sugar that uses animal bones to clean it, or fish bladders for the winemaking process, etc etc.

More likely, they want to convince the unfortunate diner that the chemical concoction they have just been presented with was once (several chemical processes ago) actual food… Why on earth they think we want our burgers to look like meat and appear to "bleed" with beetroot juice beats me. I love a good old fashioned bean burger though and a traditional Glamorgan sausage.

It is heartening to see the collapse in sales of the fake meat products and the backpedalling of Cauldron Foods from their disastrous vegan sausages only policy. Much of the food I make at home is "accidentally" vegan. It's not actually hard to make real vegan and vegetarian food with real ingredients.

I have this weekend been to an event where the only type of food to buy was fast food such as burgers, hot dogs and chips etc. the vegetarian option was cauliflower and chips.

Like a piece of cauliflower is an acceptable or indeed nice meal for someone. And I do actually like cauliflower as a vegetable but can you imagine offering a meat eater a meal of say carrot and chips 🙈.

There are so many lovely protein options for vegetarians, bean burger, chickpea burger, tofu, lentils, there is no reason not to have something tasty as a vegetarian. And actually I do think it's getting worse.

Or indeed a mushroom burger which is in fact just a big mushroom in a burger bun 🤮.

Yeah - I don't get it. We're not vegetarian but we also cook some vegetarian meals at home and Gosh, there are so many delish and quick options!

I can deal with a garlicky mushroom with salad and sides pretending to be a burger. At least a mushroom isn't straight from the freezer.

Oh honestly back again. Most of what is fed to cattle in the UK is silage (made of, uh, grass) or crop residues that people cannot eat. And cattle are usually kept on land which is too hilly or too wet or too dry or too stoney or too infertile to grow arable crops. Most pasture near me is either currently under water or has been under water in the past six weeks, since it's water meadow, doing what it does best. It will grow beautiful grass in the spring, when it will still be too boggy to plough and sow, and the farmers will turn out cattle and sheep onto it. The cattle are currently wintering indoors eating silage, and the sheep are either on stubble turnips cleaning out and fertilising arable land, or grazing pasture on land which isn't sodden but which just doesn't produce decent crops.

You could argue for not grazing water meadows, but then the wildlife that loves them would suffer, and we'd lose a fabulous source of top-grade protein which we'd have to replace.

It’s not difficult to produce good quality vegetarian food and most pubs could do so fairly cheaply with a bit of imagination. A decent nut roast is always lovely and could be made in bulk and frozen without too much trouble. I completely understand the issues and Mirrormeback needs to take a good long look at herself for her totally arrogant comments.

You want to try being a coeliac where you literally have no choice and the offerings in restaurants, pubs, parties, wherever you go are usually one choice and disgusting!

whilst you sit there watching everybody eating the food, you love but unable to. The worst thing being your friends “God bless them”. Try to get you gf food which is also vile and you have to eat it to show some gratitude for their kindness, however misadvised it might be!!!

No sympathy, do you realise how many millions of cabbages are sacrificed for vegetarians like.

In addition you do realise cattle have to die for you to enjoy cheese?

Agreed. Ten years ago, you could get good veggie meals at most pubs. Then came the rise of veganism. Now the veggie option is almost always vegan, and tends to be either processed garbage or curry. I’m really not keen on curry and I’d really like some real cheese or egg from time to time. I also don’t want a processed vegan ‘meat’ substitute, I’d like actual real vegetables. There are twice as many veggies as vegans in London, and non-veggies also eat veggie foods, but it’s almost impossible to get nice veggie food in pubs nowadays.

My husband is coeliac too. He hates eating out as either there is barely any choice or cross contamination is just not taken seriously and he becomes ill for the next few days. 😢

I'd be happy with the vegan option if it were decent, it just never seems to be outside of large cities. 😕

Totally agree with this. Another lifelong veggie and things were getting so much better, until this recent shift to UPF vegan food. It isn't an environmentally friendly and healthy alternative to meet, and I'm totally uninterested in food that looks like meat. Yuck!

Given that we need to have a more veggie diet in future to help climate change, it would be nice to see restaurants offering more than one veggie option. There have been studies that if an option is first or more prominent in a menu then it will be chosen more. I'd love to see restaurants try this with veggie options rather than feeling like the poor relation.

Definitely this! (And great Carter username btw )

No idea about wine but sugar is not filtered through animal bones in the UK.

I feel your pain. I’m a vegetarian (although I don’t eat eggs due to an allergy). I except that vegan might be difficult to provide a varied menu for but vegetarian should be easy enough and it never is. No imagination at all, it’s always vegetarian curry, vegetarian sausages and vegetarian lasagne, none of which I particularly love. Pubs are the worst for this, even upmarket ones

Coeliac foods are not great ...I know my dds friend doesn't enjoy tea and a coeliac biscuit!

There’s. I obligation to make any meal interesting, the best places have good quality and varied/changing menus.
I personally don’t know any vegans and think it’s a huge minority, so while I understand your frustration, I understand why establishments don’t make this a big priority, they are a business, and will serve what sells. Simple. I’m surprised you don’t understand that.

i think a significant number of people confuse gluten free with vegetarian/vegan too. The number of times there is a story about someone with coeliac disease in the news and the comments are things like "bloody vegans trying to force their opinions on everyone else" when it's actually about someone trying to raise awareness of gluten free living. Similar with lactose intolerance. I'm sure a lot of restaurants (especially the boil in the bag type) order in pre made options that tick all the free from boxes in one so they can make minimal effort in catering for dietary needs. The result being bland and tedious "options" that no one really likes.

I think it’s because a lot of restaurants will just stick gluten free and vegan together so they can say they have covered all bases.

I remember in Subway once the person serving me was adamant the bread I wanted was not “vegan bread”. I pointed out that the bread I wanted was actually labelled vegan on the menu (and of course 99% of bread is vegan anyways considering it is pretty much just wheat and water). That seemed to confuse her even more as she then said it couldn’t be vegan because it has gluten in it…

I’m veggie too. Pubs are hopeless at catering for us, generally speaking. And chefs don’t seem to have a clue about what is actually vegetarian and what’s not, eg Parmesan being put on veggie dishes. Yes I know vegan Parmesan is available but in 💯 of cases when I’ve queried whether it is the vegan version, it’s been a no, accompanied by a blank stare. C’mon, it’s not like vegetarianism is a new thing, and things are labelled with a V these days, it’s not difficult to navigate.

Don't eat at pubs.