Vegetarian Options

[Kingy]

If any of you are amicable to this, I'll even buy you lunch (nothing like some bribery) simply email me and I'll get back in touch in the new year:-
chrislewis@thelewispartnership.co.uk

Thanks in anticipation.

On the subject of lunches... Hope you don't mind some thoughts:

Just having a quick whizz through the website. It mentions that you'll cater for special diets if mentioned when placing an order. I'd be interested what training staff receive in this, as I've been put off eating at the Swan since my experience at a Christmas dinner a few years back. I'm vegan - which was mentioned at the time of booking - but when it came to the meal, a member of waiting staff tried to palm off a risotto quite clearly ladled with cream as vegan and when challenged categorically stated it contained no dairy.... when I asked another member of staff they admitted it did. I'm by no means singling out the Swan here but at a lot of restaurants, staff seem to lack basic knowledge in different dietary requirements. In some cases requirements are down to a choice not to eat certain things, in others it is down to an allergy - both should be treated with equal importance though.

Whilst I accept carnivorous people are in the majority in the population, the number of veggie dishes seem very limited. Increasingly a lot of meat eaters wish to eat meat free meals sometimes. Also, when with a group of people, the choice of place to eat is often based on the menu having something for someone in the group. On occasion I've been with friends (all carnivores!), and we've rejected places that couldn't cater for a vegan - so they lost the custom of not just one person but several.

The other thing that strikes me is that the veggie dishes you offer don't seem to be very easily adapted to remove certain ingredients (e.g. cheese) which presumably means more work for your chef if someone does come in and request something for a particular dietary requirement! There does seem to be a great deal of cheese thrown in to most of the vegetarian items and this isn't really a healthy way to get protein in place of meat.

Also, it doesn't inspire confidence when you have prawn crackers included in a dish labelled as vegetarian....!

I often wonder why places don't just choose vegan as their vegetarian options. I can't imagine that a vegetarian is going to mind vegan food and you've covered two groups of customers with one dish. The thing that really...really irritates me is when menus indicate which of their starter/main dishes are suitable for vegetarians and then leave you with no clue whatsoever when it comes to puddings. A goodly number of which will include gelatine. Also, things will be described as 'suitable for vegetarians' while including a liberal helping of Parmesan cheese, which is not vegetarian. To be fair, it is getting a lot easier on the soup-front, these days. Most will use vegetarian stock or at least be able to tell you about the stock.

Whilst sympathetic to the needs of henryscat and flossietoo (I am a carnivore with vegetarian tendencies) the thread has reminded of a quote from Mr F.Boyle (Scottish social commentator):-

"There is a vegetarian option........you can f*ck off"

 

[United57]

Save animals eat a vegetarian?

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

I’m a veggie and am sick of the same things offered in restaurants, its either some stuffed mushroom number or a baked potato!
Dito about the puddings, Vivera were most unhelpful when I asked about their cheesecakes!
The best thing I've ever heard is at school, the 'veggie' option was fish..... I argued with this 3 tonne dinner lady that vegetarians dont eat fish but she didnt believe me.....

 

[henryscat]

I’m a veggie and am sick of the same things offered in restaurants, its either some stuffed mushroom number or a baked potato!
Dito about the puddings, Vivera were most unhelpful when I asked about their cheesecakes!

Yes, there is definitely a lack of imagination at a lot of pubs / restaurants when it comes to veggie dishes. It is especially annoying at places where they've clearly given thought to the rest of the menu. The lack of imagination is particularly short sighted though given the growing number of vegetarians and increasing number of meat eaters cutting their consumption. Supermarkets are an interesting contrast where they all have a fair range of veggie ready meals. They're also moving away from segregating the veggie stuff in terms of where it is on the shelf and in labelling as they've recognised that everyone is buying it and not exclusively vegetarians (which isn't rocket science really!).

The best thing I've ever heard is at school, the 'veggie' option was fish..... I argued with this 3 tonne dinner lady that vegetarians dont eat fish but she didnt believe me.....

Conversation in a school canteen in Birmingham: "What have you got that's vegetarian?", "Well, we've got shepherds pie, that doesn't have much meat in it".........

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

lol!
I'm going to have to disagree about supermarkets, Sainsbury’s did a 'meal deal' a while ago, wine, starter/pudding and main for so and so amount but it didnt include a vege option, I asked at the desk and although the ladies were very helpful they suggested I choose one of the standard vege ready meals as a replacement, but the choice was only of 3 and not enough to feed 2 people.
Same with Marks and Spencer’s, there meal deal only had 1 vege option and they had all run out when I got there, I had a choice of 2 replacements.
As praise tho, The Hand and Cleaver didnt have any vege options on the menu, when I asked the chap he said 'what do you want, choose anything and we'll make it' and The Hollybush also has a delicious selection!

 

[hammerman]

personally, i think restaurants in stafford go about it the wrong way.....instead of trying to accomodate the vegetarian/vegan with a token 'beige' predictable dish on their menu they should consider compiling their menu to include meat/dairy free dishes that would appeal to a wider audience....i am known for my fondness of blue steaks but when in London freuqent Ottolenghi's which has a wide variety of interesting veggie/vegan recipes that i drool over..added link to a recipe... http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/kisir ...also he was on bbc4 over xmas "jerusalem on a plate"
find that Middle Eastern food has a variety of interesting non meat hot and cold dishes....maybe The Swan could pioneer this in Stafford

waterstones in stafford have a couple of his books.....or check the web...think he has a spot in the Guardian

 

[ChrisLewis]

Looks like its a trip to Waterstones in the morning, thanks for the recommendation

 

[Kingy]

personally, i think restaurants in stafford go about it the wrong way.....instead of trying to accomodate the vegetarian/vegan with a token 'beige' predictable dish on their menu they should consider compiling their menu to include meat/dairy free dishes that would appeal to a wider audience....i am known for my fondness of blue steaks but when in London freuqent Ottolenghi's which has a wide variety of interesting veggie/vegan recipes that i drool over..added link to a recipe... http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/kisir ...also he was on bbc4 over xmas "jerusalem on a plate"
find that Middle Eastern food has a variety of interesting non meat hot and cold dishes....maybe The Swan could pioneer this in Stafford

waterstones in stafford have a couple of his books.....or check the web...think he has a spot in the Guardian

I bought Mrs King Yotam Ottolenghi's "Plenty" for Christmas after watching him on The Great British Food Revival. I would definitely eat less meat if there were more recipes like his on a menu. We were lucky enough to eat at an Indian vegetarian restaurant in Bangkok last year called Dosa King (Dosa are thin pancakes made from rice and lentils). The food was outstanding.

http://www.dosaking.net/

 

[wizzard]

I’m a veggie and am sick of the same things offered in restaurants, its either some stuffed mushroom number or a baked potato!
Dito about the puddings, Vivera were most unhelpful when I asked about their cheesecakes!
The best thing I've ever heard is at school, the 'veggie' option was fish..... I argued with this 3 tonne dinner lady that vegetarians dont eat fish but she didnt believe me.....

You could have said to her "Do I look like a pescetarian?" that would have blown her mind.

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

Wizzard dont get me started lol, Im fed up of people saying 'Im a vegetarian but I eat fish' erm your a pescetarian dear.....
Kingy I agree there are so many delicious Indian recipes that are suitable for vegans and vegies that are amazing and appeal to meat eaters, but it seems you can only get a decent Indian in an Indian restaurant (spoons doesn’t count!)

 

[tek-monkey]

Yes, indeed we do.

 

[Kingy]

At the same time, and that it accepts are carnivorous humans in most of the population, it seems a very limited number of vegetarian dishes. Getting lots of meals free meat eaters sometimes you eat the meat.

SPAM is not a vegetarian option.

 

[henryscat]

Wizzard dont get me started lol, Im fed up of people saying 'Im a vegetarian but I eat fish' erm your a pescetarian dear.....

When I was having my hair cut the other day, overheard some woman saying "I'm a vegetarian. Well, I do eat beef and gammon though."!!!!!!

Kingy I agree there are so many delicious Indian recipes that are suitable for vegans and vegies that are amazing and appeal to meat eaters but it seems you can only get a decent Indian in an Indian restaurant (spoons doesn’t count!)

Agree, though what most Indian restaurants sell isn't authentic (though that doesn't stop it being tasty!) - you wouldn't find a vegetable dhansak or something like it in India. This place - http://hangingmangoes.com/index.php based in Burslem had a restaurant in Newcastle for a while and I sampled it a couple of times. Their food was absolutely amazing. Bloke in there was amused by people telling him he wasn't a "proper Indian restaurant" because he didn't have what people perceived was Indian food on his menu.

Spoons definitely doesn't count!!!

 

[tek-monkey]

Quite a few veggie options at Narvana, being a carnivore though I had a cute lamb instead

 

[shoes]

lol vegetarians

 

[The Stafford Beast]

I tell people I'm vegetarian (or pescetarian if they are lingual enough to know what it means) for ease of options because I simply don't like meat dishes. I eat fish, but occasionally (once every couple of months or so) I may eat either Nando's chicken or Ostrich meat, but that is all.

 

[United57]

THE VEGETARIAN'S NIGHTMARE

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

Were not trying to convert anyone or push our views, were just discussing food!
The Stafford Beast - what is Ostrich meat like?! Im pretty sure they dont sell that is ASDA!

 

[The Stafford Beast]

I had Ostrich in burger form at the Frankfurt Market in Birmingham just before Christmas. I also bought some from LIDL around March time this year. It is supposed to be better for you (lower cholesterol than most other meat). Not eating much meat I can't really describe what it's similar to, but it's nice and tender.

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

I think if you did describe it to me I wouldn’t understand! (10 years a veggie I have no sense of taste!)
Sounds very interesting tho! I went to the German Market in Bham and must have missed it....
Henryscat thankyou for the link - I am addicted to Indian food, I have a brilliant cook book that is amazing - one can’t get enough of chickpeas (oh lentils!) ! I have the quorn kitchen cook book which is very good x