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?

Are you looking a chain restaurant menus instead of what people eat day to day?

Everything with chips sounds like a pub chain menu. In real life we probably have fish & chips once a month, and burger & chips/chicken & chips once in a blue moon.

Meanwhile we have had roast pork with roasted veg, leftovers with salad & crushed new potatoes, and salmon with Mediterranean veg this week and are having vegetable curry tonight.

@Twitchie Potatoes are a fabulous veg. The right varieties have a delicate flavour, they are high in fibre and vitamin C (if you eat the skins), and much less dense than other forms of carbohydrate like pasta or bread.

Pair them with leeks to make a stunning winter soup.

Oh dear! I was thinking to myself how lucky other posters are to be living in areas where people are eating good healthy food and enjoying their veggies and then you said you live in Grimsby!!

In Grimsby loads of people are on benefits or very low income (it's a deprived area, food factories, cheap retail and fast food industries are the main job providers). Loads of people are on zero hours or/and 12 hour shifts (or longer), almost everyone and their nan smokes or worse and the kids probably wouldn't recognise a fruit or vegetable if it were a satsuma in the foot of their stocking.
If you go by how people are in Grimsby @Undineimmor of course you think nobody likes vegetables.

I absolutely love potatoes and I eat too many. Just don't think they're what we think of when we think of a vege based meal😂

Potatoes don't count as one of your 5 a day do they? I mean obviously they are vegetables but they always seem to come under carbohydrates rather than veg when you see those charts covering what we should be eating.

I definitely see them as an after thought, something i have to eat because i'm told to. So does DP and most of my family.

But then, both DP and I both hate cooking. if it takes longer than 30mins prep to plate i'm not interested 😂

Well I've never been to Grimsby but according to Tripadvisor, Pal Bar, Nasturtium Bistro and the Pig & Whistle look great and have an array of non-boiled vegetables, vegetarian and vegan main dishes on their menus.

I accept that they're not where anyone's going out to eat if they're on a low income but that is not a problem unique to Grimsby.

Doesn't resonate OP, perhaps it's regional? I'm rural SW. Probably a different eating culture.

'It was honestly the tastiest thing I had eaten in months.'

Sounds like you are the problem not everyone else?

I’m much more looking forward to all the vegetables on my Christmas dinner than the turkey. We are divided in our household though, my dp wont eat anything other then peas and sweetcorn where as I’ll eat pretty much all vegetables and our children have thankfully taken after me a Like most vegetables. I do think there is a lot of people that don’t like vegetables though.

When and where I grew up (Belgium, born in '58) vegetables were boiled or stewed to extinction and being forced to eat them was officially recognized as torture. We've changed - a lot, and so has the UK. So I think YABU. Of course things need to become even better, but we're on the right way 😊

It depends on who you are I love vegetables

YANBU, OP. I grew up on an Asian diet where vegetables are often the main cours

When people say they don’t like vegetables like okra and aubergine because they’re slimy or soggy I secretly think that’s because they don’t know how to cook it.

Blimey - things must be grim in Grimsby!
This is not how it is round my way and no-one I know eats like that.

Yes, and no. There is some great stuff done with them, but still a lot of boring boiled veg.

Mumsnetters, help me out (no judgement please, just trying to do better).

This thread has really shocked me. The "outdated" and "no one eats like that" that everyone is referencing is how I was brought up and how I cook/eat. I've just never known any different.

Both me and my husband were very much brought up with the cook a freezer pizza, maybe shove some sliced cucumber, boiled carrots or tinned baked beans on the side. I've only ever known veg to be boiled and dumped on a plate (was told off for adding any butter, salt etc as bad for health).

Any tips for starters? How are you cooking your veg if not just boiling it? Please enlighten me with your tasty vegetable ways!

Amazing. I live near that too!

I tend to agree with you. I usually find cooking just boiled vegs in a frying pan with a bit of butter, lemon, salt and garlic does the trick. This combination always seems to work for me. And doing "poelees" when you mix different vegs in a pan with ripe tomatoes and some tinned ones, with some feta crumbled on it. Lovely.

Ironically Lincolnshire and the east of England are the vegetable growing heartland of the country. I was brought up on Linc's 1970s school dinners where cabbage, swede and potatoes featured strongly, but I didn't really learn to cook them until I started getting a weekly veg box with vegetable based recipes in.
Unfortunately fruit and veg and markets and greengrocers are only for the posh now. PP is right to say there's no branding and added value in fresh food so no profile given to it.

Get some good veggie cook books OP, there are loads!

I don't always dress veg up - just because I was raised with boiled veg and I actually like almost all veg in almost all forms. I've just had a bowl of gnocchi with tofu and pesto with half a head of broccoli chucked in the water while they boiled for speed and convenience. Still love it when I have slightly more time to roast the broccoli covered in some soy sauce and miso paste, and with sesame oil and seeds sprinkled on after.

I'm dreading my OH "helping" with the Xmas dinner because he will prep carrots to boil whatever I say, and I want to roast them with the parsnips with a drizzle of honey and maybe thyme or rosemary.

I'm also looking forward to mum bringing her (Delia's) spiced braised red cabbage, more than even the roast potatoes!

We should have a thread of lovely ways to cook veg.

I know what you mean. I lived in Australia for two years and the salads that are readily available at salads bars in food courts or cafes, restaurants etc were just a whole other level to anything I've had in the UK. Even when I was fortunate enough to be invited to BBQs or social events that Aussies hosted,their home made salads were so much more delicious and inventive than I've ever had here.

I'm sure you'd find similar in London or other major cities but I'm from a smaller city in Scotland where cooking veg in the way you describe is still very common.

Are you talking about your own cooking here?

Not true

I think the problem is that in the UK we tend to serve unseasoned, boiled vegetables as an unwelcome side dish to meat.

Speak for yourself, not the case in my house. Although i do find that in some countries the heavily seasoned veg dishes are actually just terrifically salty, or that what you taste is all the spices/seasoning and not the fresh flavour of the actual veg.

YANBU

Justice for vegetables!!