The Cauliflower Cheese Conundrum

[Speckly]

Earlier a friend I was out with asked me what we were having for dinner tonight. When I replied “Cauliflower cheese and crusty bread”, she said “With what?” When I told her that was our dinner she looked horrified and told me cauliflower cheese is a side dish. As kids we often had cauliflower cheese for our dinner (I’m early 50s) but I’m interested to know, is that weird? Husband and I usually have this as a main about once a month (not vegetarian btw). When I asked DH his views on the subject tonight, he said he enjoys it but that his family never really had it when he was young so he couldn’t comment. If it’s relevant at all, we live in Kent. So is it ok to eat cauliflower cheese as a main or should it only ever be served as a side dish?

YABU - Cauliflower cheese is a side dish. You need to jazz it up with some other stuff!

YANBU - Cauliflower cheese is a decent main course - ignore the haters.

I just don't get the cheese thing! I'd rather use my calories on ready salted crisps.

😁

Because the amount of ignorance on this thread, as with many others is off the scale

I eat higher protein and lower carb. I know what the optimum protein amounts are for your body to properly absorb the amount per meal or per eating session.

People are saying theres no protein or little protein in it and they dont know what they're talking about. The average main meal portion is around 20-30g of protein and thats without bread if one were to eat bread, we dont really eat bread. The body cannot take advantage of more protein than that per meal effectively.

Another poster said they wouldnt eat it because its 'carby'. Cauliflower cheese!!!

Lol.

Well firstly, I have never had cauliflower cheese with a roast, that is barbaric. Absolutely nothing wrong with having it as a main course, though. I quite often do this if I want something tasty and delicious.

We have it as a side, but I make extra and turn the leftovers into soup, so you could say I do both!

I grew up in Kent and we would often have cauliflower cheese as a main dish. In fact I was a bit shocked when I first encountered it as a side dish - felt a bit extra.

I never have it with a roast - don't like to mix cheesiness with gravy. I like it as a side with ham.

On its own or with a sprinkling of crispy bacon bits it would be a light lunch for me.

I wouldn't serve to family or guests as a main meal - it's akin to serving a dish of cheesy mash!

I see from the voting that the nation is split down the middle on this one 😄

Let me put a spanner in the oven 😀! It makes a good starter.

Oh, that looks delicious!

But some of the cauliflower has no sauce on it 😱

This. Extreme poverty and eating disorders aside, there's probably not a single person that's anywhere near deficient in protein. MN is ridiculous with it's cry of 'but where's the protein'. A meal doesn't need a great lump of meat to have sufficient protein FFS.

For me cauliflower cheese is not enough of a thing to be a main meal but too much hassle to make to just be a side dish.

I’d want some protein with it. I wouldn’t eat it with bread.
I usually have it with veggie sausage and peas for example. Or with fish.
But it’s yummy so would eat on its own if I didn’t have anything else!

The bread is carby.

I suppose it's the british version of Mac and Cheese (which I detest). If you see a consultant and are post menopause, they are now doing bone health scoring, I think because of Statins we are less concerned about heart health scoring. All of those who did the fad diets of the 80's are hitting 60+ and it shows in our bones. Anyway, cheese is now being encouraged. The consultant wasn't happy with me getting my calcium from lentil/chickpea/bean sources, he recomended cheese.

Love cheese so that’s a win 👏

We usually have it with a jacket potato. We have a lot of cauliflower with plenty of sauce, but I wouldn’t consider it filling enough for a main meal otherwise.

I hardly ever make it as a side.

My DM used to give us cauliflower cheese and chips.🙂

Now and then I make a cauliflower/macaroni combo, plenty of cheese sauce, extra cheese and breadcrumbs on top, brown under the grill. I’ve made this for unexpected guests when I had the wherewithal and not much else. Not a scrap left.

Cauliflower cheese and chips my god that sounds amazing!

Perfectly fine either way. It's just food.

Main dish / side dish is entirely up to you.

Silly thread. Eat what you like when you like.

Surely how filling it is depends entirely on how much of it you eat.

It’s a side for me. I like to fill my Yorkshire pudding with it. Anybody got any good recipes?

Personally I need some carbs with what is almost always my one main meal of the day.

"Discovered a recipe"?

It's cauliflower cheese with some pasta in it! Who needs a recipe for that?

Not much proteim so a side dish for us. Still delicious though

Main dish in the week. No bread with it that's too carby.
Side dish with a roast. Keep the gravy away though.

We also make broccaflowercheese. Which is broccoli and cauliflower cheese.

No, cauliflower is just cauliflower.

Cauliflower cheese is cauliflower and... cheese!