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?

I agree. I want my vegetables to taste like vegetables and don't use seasoning other than a little butter and sometimes pepper. I love the actual taste of fresh veg.

We don't have that problem here OP. I think the problem must be in the restaurants or households your normally eat it. I also don't recognise the favourite foods you listed as favourites. For example tonight I had falafel and hummus with a fabulous salad, roasted onions in pomegranate molasses, chargrilled vegetables with halloumi and rice with chickpeas and roasted nuts. It was fabulous.

In terms of British food, yesterday I made a lovely rumbledethump with Brussel sprouts instead of cabbage and a thyme and herb crispy topping.

The day before a made a wonderful salad with dill, parsley and mint to help season it.

I really don't recognise the "problem" you are describing, although I do also like boiled vegetables too.

Maybe 50 years ago, nowadays we are all cooking things from Ottelenghi's cook books and eating the Jennifer Aniston salad. I was literally just discussing how we will char and fry the sprouts for Xmas Dinner, how we will cheese the leeks and what cider to cook my red cabbage in..... Its taken way more planning than the meat.
The only thing I guess is what you class as British cooking, because everything is so international now and fusion is king, I rarely cook British classics without any twists despite being British born and bred

I est my vegetables in many different ways. Just because we like food how they do it in other cultures doesn't mean we don't like veg. Historically the UK did not have a lot of options for seasoning, just a few herbs that originally grew in the UK but we have over the time been introduced to how others used seasoning and adopted then ourselves.
We know they got it right so rather than pretend that is how we originally seasoned veg, we know others got it right first due to easy access to spices and so do it their way.

Some people are bit in own bubble. Finally I understand what people on MN mean by it!

No, it's not 50 years ago. Many people still cook veg till it holds together just by sheer miracle.
And no, not "everyone" has Ottolenghi book. I mean like that can easily be shown by sale numbers.
While more people now cook veg better, let's not pretend many people (including some commercial places), even those born 1980+ don't butcher it.

I think that you are talking rubbish. More people than ever are vegetarian in Britain and many people are eating less meat. A wider variety of vegetables are available in all supermarkets, not just 'middle class' ones, than most of us ate as children. All supermarket websites include loads of vegetarian main meal options and various ways of cooking vegetables on their recipe pages.
If a few slices of aubergine with soy and spice was the tastiest thing you'd ate in months, that's down to you surely. As for sag aloo, well as you pointed out, that comes from Asia. Yet one of 'our favourite' foods you spoke rather scathingly about, was curry, from Asia. So you know that many 'curries' are vegetarian, or that the vegetable side dishes are not just veg with the bejesus boiled out of it
Yes, for some people the veg is a side dish. Even vegans and vegetarians don't eat just a plate of vegetables for every meal. That doesn't mean that no thought has been put into selecting and cooking the vegetables, side dish or not.

What part in particular @blackpanth ?

We rarely eat fish and chips or burger and chips, and if we do there's a big helping of varied salad on the plate too, with a fresh dressing. I don't think it matters that curries originate from Asia if we're talking about people's eating preferences and tastes- that and Chinese food are the nation's favourites for eating out. Roast dinners are a key part of trad cooking, and in my family they've always been served with masses of veg. (One gran had the 'put sprouts on to boil for Christmas in November mentality, but the other didn't, and not did mum.) I think times have significantly changed with what veg are available and food based shows/ social media channels are really popular. So I think what you say may be true of some people, but it's a huge generalisation to make it a national "we"...

@thinkfast what on earth is rumbledethump? It sounds amazing!

I disrespected a tomato the other day, when it's juice shot all over me when I cut it.

Told said tomato it was a little fucker. How disrespectful that was!!

It's kind of a Scottish variation of bubble and squeak. There's loads of different recipes online. Different variations.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/rumbledethumps_87486/amp

@SisterhoodNotCisterhood sprout mash

Your MIL sounds very much like mine. Salads are just various raw veg, no dressing (though she might have mayonnaise in a jar) and she doesn't keep lemons, herbs, olive oil, vinegar, black pepper.

One hot day at her house she suggested we have 3 different salads for lunch. I struggled a bit with this as really, all I could do was put different vegetables in different bowls, one lot with pasta.

My mum used to do the sprouts thing too - she'd start them way in advance and let them sit there, so that they were ready when the meat (the important bit) was cooked. Same with most other green veg - the cabbage used to make me gag.

This certainly isn’t the case in my house. We regularly have salad, or a dish that is mainly vegetable based. I also don’t boil my vegetables if leave them unseasoned. Yes back in the century this was common but I think most people have moved on these days with the exception of the elderly

I think you’ll find this is more a regional issue than a uk issue. The types of ‘typical’ foods you are describing are very uncommon to have at home where I live further south. Some pubs may stick to what they see as traditional ‘pub grub’ but even then that’s rare and seen as odd if not accompanied by vegetables. Yes marketing for food may miss veg, but people don’t cook based on what they see in an advert.

Food in the UK is not as bad as the OP it's making out but nor is it as good and varied as PP are making out

nowadays we are all cooking things from Ottelenghi's cook books and eating the Jennifer Aniston salad.

lol

KnittedCardi
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.

I agree. I want my vegetables to taste like vegetables and don't use seasoning other than a little butter and sometimes pepper. I love the actual taste of fresh veg.

Thirding this. I love roast veg, but green veg taste fresher somehow if they are boiled and IMO compliment richer foods better. The trick is to cook them briefly on a rolling boil, then serve immediately so that they don't overcook and go soggy.

Don't overfill the pan with water, it only needs to just cover the vegetables
Let it boil.
Add prepared veg.
Return to boil.
Turn heat down to medium.
Set timer for no more than 5 mins.
Drain & serve.
Enjoy.

That's not my experience at all. I make lots of veg based dishes and I know lots of people who do.

A good quality vegetable tastes fine all by itself (although seasoning is lovely too). The problem is that we grow for quantity and appearance, instead of quality and seasonality. Why do we bother with tomatoes grown in poly-tunnels in Holland? Why do we waste the chemicals and energy and transport costs on something that has no taste?

Me too

You think tomatoes have no taste?? You’re going very wrong if so. I grow my own and they have tonnes of flavour. Don’t put them in the fridge and make sure they’re ripe!

The ones in supermarkets often don't really. That's what poster meant.
They are harvested before ripening, same like flown in strawberries etc and never gain the taste

Absolute rubbish, now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to peel my British Jerusalem Artichokes bought from the farm shop yesterday.

have you read my whole comment?

Now these are famous for certain side effects 😁
Potato of the poor. Now it's quite the opposite. Very invasive as well

If we're talking vegetables in the Margaret Thatcher's cabinet sense (see Spitting Image), then the current bunch certainly don't deserve any respect.