To think that vegetables are not given any respect in the UK?

[Undineimmor]

In other parts of the world, salad is a whole dish. Vegetables are valued, spiced, seasoned and cooked well. They are respected and their incredible, unique tastes really brought out .

Eg the other day I had some thinly sliced fried aubergines in a little soy sauce and spice. It was honestly the tastiest thing I had eaten in months.

Ditto eating some Saag Aloo.

I think the problem is that in the UK we tend to serve unseasoned, boiled vegetables as an unwelcome side dish to meat. I just wonder how we got to this place and how we can bring it on back?

Do you mean main dishes being veggie? I’m jealous if so! I live in rural France where vegetarians are seen as lentil eating aliens lol

This doesn’t resonate with me at all. Are you sure you’re not visiting from 1970?

If you are going by adverts, of course they are going to be for beige food. That's what companies make. We don't tend to get adverts for fresh produce because they aren't made/manufactured by a particular large company trying to make a profit.

Agree 100%. If you've been to Souther Europe in the summer, the fruit and vegetables are really something else.

@NoraLuka

Yes, all the restaurants I have been to recently have vegetable dishes as equal billing to meat/fish. There are even a couple where vegetables are the main dishes and meat are side you add on. We also have lots of vegan restaurants.

My former MIL is in her late 80s and she still remembers the days when "The Garlic" entered culinary scene in the UK

This is actually fascia when one googles when garlic arrived to England😶

Not sure why but the thought of “marginalised vegetables” is making me laugh.

Burger and chips, chicken and chips? These aren’t our favourite foods!

I think this must be someone trapped post-war when there were still some vestiges of rationing, and a lot of items were simply unavailable because supply chains had not been restored. So local and fairly plain it had to be.

Elizabeth David has clearly passed her by, as have all the other major food writers and even telly chefs. Or (mainly/totally) vegetarian dynasties such as Jane and Sophie Grigson.

(Wondering if OP was written by a person tbh)

Chicken andchips- not a vegetable in sight

Aren't potatoes vegetables? Misses point of the thread

@Undineimmor

in the UK we tend to serve unseasoned, boiled vegetables as an unwelcome side dish to meat. I just wonder how we got to this place and how we can bring it on back?

As has been suggested, we left that 'place' decades ago. I am curious about your life circumstances if you don't know this.

I think part of the reason is that in much of the UK the quality of vegetables is not a patch on what it is in Southern Europe.

When I lived in the Med area, our local market had fresh, seasonal produce which tasted completely unlike what I could get in a UK supermarket. In the UK it was all there, but just didn't taste anything like the stuff from the market. So you have to work much harder to make it tasty, and many people just don't have the skill/can't be bothered.

Very normal around here for main dishes to be veggie

That comment is mint!
I don't mean the herb... 🌿😁

This is exactly how it worked in all the restaurants I went to in Rome - you order a main then a vegetable side separately, so it doesn't seem to be a British thing.

That isn't my experience at all! Are you British? I only ask because I've been seeing claims online from non-Brits recently that all our food is unseasoned and boiled, but that hasn't been my experience in my own lifetime (I'm in my 40s). Roasting everything, including veg is the go-to cooking method (sometimes frying or sauteeing), and most veg is at a minimum salted.

People boil sprouts, peas and sometime broccoli. Maybe baby carrots, with salt. If you are British, perhaps you're thinking of people's experiences of rationing? Or using a very old cookbook? 😄

While the op is wrong that 'increasingly vegetables are being marginalised or seen as an optional extra rather than essential.' - very much the opposite - she may have a point that there's a class/culture/privilege aspect to this.

I think food in general isn't respected (by most). It was interesting growing up with parents who lived in poverty (think 6 kids in one bedroom). Nothing was ever wasted. They'd use everything- bones including the marrow, Veg peelings, nothing ever left to rot in the fridge, etc etc. It's definitely rubbed off on me. I'm often surprised by how much food gets thrown away and how it's almost become the norm to buy stuff that's on offer 'just in case' for it to then be chucked because it's mouldy. Anyway, missing the point of the thread here.

I think you are speaking for yourself, rather than for the nation, OP.

Your list of "our" 'favourite dishes' seems to be a list of takeaways rather than home-cooked or restaurant meals.

I know that we currently have 11(!) different vinegars (used with salads), loads of oils, several miso pastes for other base dressings, jars of capers, anchovies, various preserved tomatoes, etc, for salad and veg dishes, never mind the copious and varied veg in the fridge and larder.

We aren't alone in very regularly eating a huge variety of veg and salad dishes - most friends' kitchens and fridges are similar.

I totally agree. So many dishes are just meat and potatoes then the odd vegetable dish/salad which will sometimes not taste that great. At my DC's school, the meals are mostly based around carbs and meat. Then there is a salad bar that kids can help themselves from but not many do.
I guess historically this is what our diet was based on due to climate.

That is great!

Yeah I get what you're saying. I love tenderstem brocolli sautéed in garlic and lemon juice or garlic mushrooms - but they are very much a side dish. Whereas if I went to a Sri Lankan restaurant, I would eat a range of gorgeous dishes and none of them would involve meat.

The quality of fruit and vegetables I can get from local farm shops, farmer's markets, veg delivery box etc is every bit as good as anything I've had in France, Spain and Italy.

Our supermarket vegetables have (until the last couple of years) been cheaper, unseasonable (and therefore often exported from far away), and less flavoursome.

Some of our fruit and vegetables are significantly better in the UK, even from supermarkets, such as apples, strawberries, raspberries, parsnips and potatoes.

I would say Wetherspoons- which has to be regarded as a favourite- is offering meals without the veg, and you have to buy a side salad or similar.
That’s been a change since Covid reopening. They used to come with the usual garnish and veg options. I go there a lot for various reasons, and order a main salad and a main as otherwise I don’t get enough veg.

Even the supermarket ads for Christmas have a hierarchy- ones appealing for lower income demographic will focus on meat then dessert then carbs then shot with gravy. There wiill be veg in the background to be panned over but they won't get a close up. Middle class supermarkets will feature butter melting on brightly coloured veg as well.