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?

Again, as has been explained many times on this thread, for most of us vegetables aren’t an afterthought. Boiled non seasoned veg may be how you like to cook them, but really not the norm for most of us (other than elderly people perhaps!)

I think it's fair to say on a country by country basis you eat the food they do the best with the product they have the best in.

India/Sri Lanka vegetable based dishes are divine. Meat based not so much, but the meat they have is expensive and not particularly nice in my experience.

Caribbean/Thailand the fish cooking is divine, but they're islands and the water is teaming.

My personal favourite is Spanish cuisine. Rich and varied combinations of meat, fish and vegetables. Basque cuisine is divine, and then completely different in the coastal regions.

We have meat. It's good quality and reasonably priced. Our fish is fished to buggery, and expensive. Our veg is over imported. A tomato here does not taste like a tomato in Greece, where you could make a beautiful dish. That said, we probably haven't made the most traditionally of what we have. I love a roasted beetroot with a little sea salt, but my mother will only consider it as something that should be pickled. Programmes like Masterchef have opened vegetarian cooking up.

All that being said. You will be walking over my dead body to stop me getting to fish and chips. I seek the divine in every destination. Top of the current leader board is the fish shop in St Agnes, Cornwall. It was like crack.

Honestly, OP, you sound so out of date.

Sure, there are lots of chicken/burger/pizza places around, but most people don't eat like that all the time. And this kind of fast food and others exist in the rest of Europe too; it's not all piles of luscious fresh fruit and veg.

There are veggie or veg-heavy cafes and restaurants EVERYWHERE. Pret, Eat etc are full of salads. Look at a cookbook section in a bookshop; veggie and vegan books are huge sellers.

'curries- originate from Asia' is just one of the oddest comments I've read in a long time.

Traditional British vegetables are root vegetables and brassicas. Not necessarily the easiest to prepare and most inspiring flavours.

Salad is seasonal and very much subject to sunshine hours and weather patterns.
It's easier to get a consistent fresh and flavourful taste on mediteranean vegetables grown locally and not being delayed by going through mass distribution chains.

I love eating fresh food while in the Mediteranean, it just has much more natural advantages. It's not about respect.
Also Indian food is so enriched with spices that it's difficult to not taste good. Eating vegetarian food was far easier in India where your body isn't fighting to stay warm and craving carbs and fats.

In hot climates, meat is more difficult to manage safely.
In colder climates like Scandinavia, meat and fish become more practical. Also there is more advantage in having body fat as an energy store through unreliable seasons and potection against cold weather. In hot climates, it's a disadvantage where overheating is the greater hazard to health.

In Mongolia, animal fat is the most prized part of a meal. It's what gets you through a harsh winter, and is a sign that your grazing herds are healthy.

Longer cooking times aren't an issue when you have to keep a fire going all the time anyway. In hot climates, there's often less fuel, and you want to reduce surplus heat.

Traditional diets are about what grows and what nourishes the population in its environment.

Since the 1970s/ 80s, Britain has been very responsive to international foods beinf introduced as supermarkets expanded.

I may have overdone divine in my post. I'm was drooling when I wrote it, forgive me if I've gone to far

Also, I kind of want a T-shirt printed with 'Give Vegetables Some Respect!'

"All we are saying, is give peas a chance"

Ok, off piste here. But I like nothing better than a gently boiled, still crunchy, broccoli (unsalted), but with an added blob of butter, to accompany a sauteed chicken breast, with all of its oily/ buttery seasoned juices. I actually don't like veg to be disguised in lots of herbs and spices, because then they just taste of the herbs and spices, not the vegetable. I eat a lot of roasted veg, but then they too are just roasted in good quality olive oil, with a twist of pepper. Nothing else. Delicious.

Well I made the most traditional British meal on Sunday - a roast dinner, literally the definition of meat and veg. We had:

• A shoulder of pork with crackling - 750g between 4 of us so not overly generous
• Kale blanched and then sauteed with garlic, chili, orange zest and a squeeze of orange juice
• Carrots braised in white wine, celery, butter and a bit of dill
• A jar of roasted red peppers laid out on a plate
• Roast potatoes

I do think that the above is a much more "typical" British meal these days than what you describe as being boiled to mush. British veg in season (brassicas/root veg) but livened up with flavours, aromatics and preserves from abroad eg. orange, garlic, chili, jarred red peppers. Yes, the veg dishes were "sides" but that doesn't mean they weren't a) delicious and b) respected.

Todays breakfast chat was all about what veggies had to be on the Christmas table for various people because they so love them

just nicely ( well horridly would be daft) boiled or raw according to taste - no need to spoil a good cauliflower with cheese sauce or Brocilli with butter - if you don't like veggies and like the taste disguised that's not everyone else's problem

I think a big reason why people are so reluctant to eat vegetables ("it's not a proper meal unless there's meat" etc) is because so many people grew up eating over boiled, unseasoned and otherwise unflavoured vegetables. It's a real shame.

Yes - I agree. It's partly the insane worship of meat in this country - everyone knows it MUST be the centre of every meal.

I'm a veggie because I'm squeamish about animal suffering but in principle I'm not bothered about people eating meat - just how it's produced. If we all ate meat as a special treat a few times a week, the world would be a better place.

But honestly - the reaction you get from meat-eaters when you omit meat from a meal and make vegetables the focus - it's as it they're facing starvation. And it's because they've been conditioned not to value or appreciate how delicious vegetables can be.

My veg gets much tender love and care Thankyou 😊

I’m vegan (and second generation in a veggie family) so is DP and vegetables are a thing in this household. One reason I prefer vegan restaurants is that they actually serve a large variety and volume of vegetables within a dish. Most ‘mainstream’ places have only a cursory vegetable element or side salad.

Ermmm I am a veggie. I find lots of the veggie food is breadcrumbed and unseasoned or fairly tasteless with multiple products made to look or taste like meat.

Rather than using lots of seasoning and really enjoying the unique and delicious tastes of vegetables.

Yes you can MAKE these but they are not sold as vegetable dishes that much.

Yes, I know there is rubbishy meat-free food like that around, but whereas that used to be the beginning and end of veggie food, it very much isn't now.
Many cafes and restaurants IME have beautiful roast veg dishes/salads etc with lovely oils, herbs, spices and condiments.

@Undineimmor massive straw man you're setting up there. I don't recognise those as "our favourite dishes" at all, do my initial reply still applies!

You said the aubergine was the tastiest thing you'd eaten in months. Is the problem in your kitchen?

Interested to know where you live OP as I don’t recognise what you’re saying at all.

I'm obviously in the minority,but I love vegetables and eat loads of them but prefer them to taste of what they actually are. I hate that if you buy a salad anywhere these days it automatically comes covered in some kind of, usually highly calorific, disgusting slimey substance, and vegetables seem to be going the same way.
We're going out for a meal with DH's extended family between Christmas and New Year and because we're a large party we've had to order in advance. I have ordered one of the vegetarian options but asked for it without the sauce and the side salad without dressing because I actually want to taste the vegetables, not ginger and balsamic vinegar or whatever they're planning to coat everything in. I bet it won't happen though,rarely does.

Ok buddy 😅

In home cooking, I disagree, although restaurants that cook veggies well are few and far between. I guess they cook to mainstream public demand. This week we have had

Onions, brocolli, sprouts, carrots, peas, sweetcorn, celery, kidney beans, tomatoes, garlic, potatoes, mustard, green olives and oats. plus fresh pineapple, apple, satsuma, banana and pear. Plus home made greengage jam on our toast. That's in 3.5 days.

I didn't grow up cooking but I like veg and my dm used to boil them to a pulp. My favourite recipe books are by Antonio Carluccio, who could turn any vegetable into a feast. 🙂

Am in Grimsby,, why?

Because, like I said, I don’t recognise what you’re saying at all. Maybe Grimsby is a bit stuck in the past with their veg cooking compared to many other places in the UK!

I think boiled or steamed vegetables are nice as a side to a lot of meat-based meals actually. I cook about half-and-half meat/fish and vegetarian dishes, so I'm perfectly competent at cooking them in different ways.

But with a roast dinner or a casserole, I don't really want roasted carrots and sautéed broccoli. I like them plain, and with no fat.

(I really don't like it eating out when you have to order vegetables separately as a side, or you get one sad slice each of carrot and parsnip and a tiny floret of broccoli. I like half a plate of vegetables!)

How saag aloo a vegetable dish? It's potato mostly not proper veg?