To be annoyed that vegan options have replaced vegetarian?

[Sacredhandbag]

It's only a silly gripe in the grand scheme of things but it's bloody annoying.

I've been a vegetarian my whole life but since veganism has become more popular and more and more people are becoming part of the movement (and good on them!) it's like restaurants, cafes and hotels have skipped adding vegetarian options and thought "well vegan options covers both so we'll just add a few of those"

No! I am not vegan. I am vegetarian. I still want my eggs, my cream, my cheese, my butter. I want a stilton and broccoli bake, not a grilled bit of cauliflower!

Afternoon tea (I'm a fan and have one as often as I can) is the worst for it. There's an ordinary menu and then there's a vegan menu and that's it. You order one or the other. I don't want chicken or fish sandwiches but I sure as hell want my scones with proper clotted cream! So I have to be specific about the sandwiches and say I want some from one menu and some from the other. Bloody annoying.

Any other veggies feel the same?

I mean they could just have one 'meat' option instead of offering different beef, lamb, chicken and fish dishes if they were really serious on cost and practicality.

I totally agree with you! Completely fed up with the vegan choices. Which is often a vegan burger. And they all have the same weird taste. Or that bloody cauliflower ‘steak’ thing. It’s not a steak! It’s just a bit of bloody cauliflower that leaves me starving after it!

Vegan choices also seem to often be loaded with garlic, which I don’t like

I completely agree. I have been a vegetarian since I was a teenager. It's fairly depressing to now be presented with a vegan burger as the only veggie choice. I don't like the artificial ingredients or the awful 'cheese'. When we were looking to book our work Christmas meal it was awful how many menus in various places had vegan fake meat in various forms as the only non-meat choice.

I also think this is worse for meat eaters. I eat meat but I also really like vegetarian food. If the vegetarian option is vegan then I am less likely to choose it, which will mean I will have a meat or a fish option instead. I definitely eat fewer vegetarian options in restaurants now that they are often vegan.

But you're deriding anyone who says their vegetarian because they still consume animal products.

Surely being vegetarian is better than eating meat (for animals, the planet and so on) so it's a massive step forward . So why wouldn't you encourage that instead of getting massively sanctimonious and judgemental.

I'm convinced many vegans are vegans because it makes them feel special. The worst thing for people like you would be for everyone to go vegan, as you'd no longer have something to feel superior about.

You don't do the 'cause' any good. Any reduction in the amount of meat people eat should be encouraged.

Nearly ten percent of people are vegetarian or vegan and I actually know loads of meat eaters who go for vegetarian options when out. There should be good options for people who don't want to eat meat, not just one vegan dish.

Most people at variety of meat. This all started when there was some temporary vegan uptake like 5 years ago iirc and just stayed that way.

I'm not vegetarian but I'd sometimes opt for a vegetarian meal out if it was something like a cheesy pasta or mushroom stroganoff.

I don't want just vegetables and I don't want vegan cheese so I don't pick vegan options.

I agree with you OP. There's a big difference between vegetarian and vegan food and I believe there are still many more vegetarians than vegans.

I went to a wedding recently where the veggie option was a HUGE celeriac. The sauce was nice and it came with some leaves, but the meal was basically a whole celeriac.

Baffling, and we were both stomach crampy and hungry a couple of hours later.

I'm not vegan but the vegan food I do like is 'naturally' vegan; Indian food has fantastic vegan options. When I stayed in Kerala a while ago we ate vegan for a week and it was some of the best food I've ever had.

I should have put it this way - I've always been vegetarian. I've never been omnivore (so btw, there isn't a risk of me going back to it) In my 38 years of life, I have never once had to worry that there won't be something I can have. Not once. It's never even crossed my mind to think about it or check a menu before I go out, there has always been several tasty options to choose from. People I have known for a long time often forget I'm veggie and some don't even know because I rarely mention it, there's no need.

It's literally in the last year or two I've noticed my food options are severely declining. I'm finding for the first time in my life that there is not one thing on the menu that I want. And instead of the little "V" that used to be next to dishes there's now just a "ve" one size fits all apparently!

We want our food back! 🤣

Yes exactly. Just no need for fake meat.

I agree. More than 20 years as a vegetarian and SO much crap fake meat around now. I want vegetables, beans and pulses and also pastry made with butter.

Yes, as an Indian veggie, I have also been almost vegan without trying. I cook food similar to food from Kerala.

Why are vegans presumed to eat fake meat? Gross UPF fake food bleurgh….

The thing is, vegan food IS suitable for vegetarians, whereas the reverse isn't true. The hospitality sector is really struggling, so it's just economies of scale. If you offer a vegan curry, then it's also able to be eaten by vegetarians. If you decide to make that curry with ghee and paneer then you're cutting down the market for who can eat it. If you have to offer the same curry made with ghee and without, it's going to add to the overheads of the restaurant and cut into the already tight margins. Not to mention the vegan meal also covers for common allergies (dairy and eggs), which again increases the base that it's suitable for and who the restaurant can get profit from.

I noticed National Trust scones are now vegan. This means everyone can order them. They do have cream and butter, but the basic scone is vegan. Perfect for everyone!

The percentage of vegetarians is about 5% of the population and vegans 3%, so for a restaurant, if they have 10 main meals, it's not worth 1 of them being veggie and 1 vegan, when 1 vegan meal covers both bases. The alternative is just having a veggie meal and excluding potential vegan customers (and the omnis dining with them)
If you go somewhere with a really extensive menu, then it's much more likely that they might add in a veggie meal.

But in reality I don't see what you're describing. I still see tonnes of eggs on veggie breakfasts, halloumi as the default on veggie burgers, burger buns made from brioche, pasta bakes with loads of cheese, baked camembert as the default starter, etc. There's definitely more places doing vegan options than 10/20 years ago, but it's by no means the default in the majority of places

YANBU. I’m vegetarian when eating out, and only eat meat at home when I (or DH) have chosen it ourselves. Vegan options in restaurants are often shit unless they’re prepared by someone with passion and flair.

Vegan cheese is awful!

Some friends and I went to a bottomless brunch where they served pizzas, 1 of our party was vegan and after a mix up in the kitchen in which we asked for 1 vegan pizza the rest normal we ended up with 3 vegan cheese pizzas. We all decided to try a slice and only the vegan could swallow it 😅

I don't understand your point?
Are you saying that because most people eat (?) a variety of meat it is some kind of right that they must be able to pick from lamb, beef, chicken etc, whereas vegetarians should be happy that there is one vegan option for them because it is more cost effective for the caterer?

I'm in my 50s and been vegetarian all my life, so I have had plenty of 'we could do you a cheese omelette' experiences so having non-meat dishes on a menu as standard is a bonus, it is just frustrating that we are all supposed to be grateful for the one usually uninspiring, cheap, fake meat option.

No it isn't.
Most vegan food at restaurant is crap And highly processed.
It's not suitable for a healthy diet. Or it's a no thank you from me.

The problem is that for a food provider/outlet, over 97% of customers are not veggie/vegan, so they have to provide for the 3% combined, offering vegetarian options and also vegan options is loss making, so by just offering vegan ticks the box for them as it also gives the veggies the option to buy something.
I am neither, just a dirty carnivore who enjoys a broad range of food, but just looking at it from the extremely hard and competitive providers point of view of which i do have long experience with.
Sorry - Doesn't help you out but until the balance is over 20% not a lot will change.

Yes, I can see why that's annoying for you.

Unfortunately, it's often cheaper ingredients and you can catch both vegans and vegetarians under it. Maybe don't buy it and go somewhere with vegetarian options.

Oh my God YANBU! I completely agree. I recently went to an event where the vegetarian main course was a hollowed out beef tomato filled with cold quinoa. Miserable.

In years gone by, the vegetarian option at similar events would be something warm, and cheesy and wrapped in filo pastry! I miss those days.

Asking us to eat less meat is one thing, but leave us with real cheese.
Have asked at several places to have real cheese on a vegan option and the answer has always been no.

Tiny steps after all are what we are encouraged to make.

I don’t identify with this at all or the attitude that the only meat free options in restaurants are all fake meat and cheese. Eating out isn’t just an opportunity to eat eggs and cheese, it’s to eat a variety of delicious food and I don’t mind if it’s vegan or not. I eat out regularly and enjoy it. Recently I’ve had several curries, dosas, tofu banh mi, mushroom and truffle dumplings, miso glazed aubergine, samosa chaat, a mac and cheese patty burger and many more I can’t think of right now. Food (much of which just happens to be vegan) which is fresh and delicious, and satisfying. I had a six course tasting menu at a vegan restaurant last week and the food was delightful, imaginative and beautifully presented. I was at a table with 5 omnivores and everyone loved it.

If a place has only a fake meat burger with dairy free cheese, then the vegetarian option it replaced was probably a bland, overcooked mushroom risotto because a chef who took pride in their kitchen wouldn’t be happy to serve that, so I wouldn’t want to eat there anyway. And if the food is delicious then I don’t care if it’s vegan.