I can't count the number of times I've been to an event at a presumably mid- to high-class hotel and had the "vegetarian plate" be the raw vegetable hors d'oeuvres (carrots, broccoli, zucchini strips) stuck in a steamer and plated with no herbs, flavoring, sauces, dressing-nothing. Or a plain pasta noodle with tomato sauce that, seriously, I could have one a better job of making when I was 10. Most of the time I want to scream, "See the beautiful potato-whatever, elegant asparagus and haricots verts, and brioche roll everyone else has? Just give me that without the piece of meat on the plate!" But of course the vegetarian plate came out 20 minutes after everyone else's did.
Let's not even talk about how difficult it is to find vegetarian food in airports ...
My favorite is when I go to Panera Breads and order a sandwich. Now, they have a vegetarian sandwich option, but it's boring. So I order a different sandwich, and ask them to swap out the meat for a few extra veggies. This apparently causes problems. For the cashiers, I mean. Do I know there's that one vegetarian option? What do I mean I don't want it? What's wrong with it? Why can't I be a good little vegetarian and eat the option they made for me?
And when I finally get through all that, they charge me extra for putting an extra slice of tomato and a bit of red onion on it instead of the bacon and the turkey. 'Cause that makes sense!
The sandwich makers in the mean time just whip that baby up, no sweat.
And don't forget bacon bits! People sprinkle that stuff on everything and then that salad I ordered because it was the one meatless option? Yeah, nevermind.
Yes, exactly! Because that one option is to your taste and you'd be just thrilled to eat it over and over and over while everyone else has 10 choices! I don't think I've ever been charged more for veggies, though, unless it's avocado. O.O
The local sandwich place puts bacon on their egg salad sandwiches and in their potato salad. The first time I ordered the potato salad, the cashier told me there was no meat when I did my due diligence. Grrr!
(And no one ever knows if the soup is made with chicken or beef stock!)
I just assume the soup is made with chicken or beef stock. It always is. I'll sometimes eat a soup with chicken or beef stock anyway, because it's about the only way I can eat soup.
There's a rumor that somewhere there is vegetarian Ramen, but I've never met that.
I do like Panera though, despite their stupid cashiers, because while they only have one option of each, there are different types of veggie options. Lots of salads of course, but also the sandwich, and on Tuesdays they do a veggie black bean soup that is delicious. Actually, I recently looked up the recipe online, and it's easy to make. Here it is. I skipped the cornstarch in favor of not purreeing as much.
Ugh, THANK YOU. I don't know what's so difficult about understanding regular, run-of-the-mill vegetarianism. I mean, if there's a vegan option on the menu, I'll usually take that over the lacto-ovo because I do try to limit my dairy intake, just living in Wilkes-Barre, PA makes veganism expensive and difficult because there aren't as many resources as if I lived in, say, San Francisco or New York. Also, when I was living at home, it just made my parents' lives a lot easier if I didn't object to cheese and things with eggs in them. I'm the only vegetarian in my immediate family, and I'm not out to hassle people.
What really blows my mind, though, is when you say you're vegetarian, and people go, "Oh, so, you eat chicken, right? And fish is okay!" Ugh, NO. What part of no meat do you people not understand? Now that I'm on my own, I do eat a mostly vegan diet, excepting when I go out for pizza on the rare occasion when I'm craving junk (and I haven't totally figured out good egg substitutes for making pancakes and stuff, lol).
Hello, sweetie! I keep meaning to interact with you more. :)
I'm the only vegetarian too, although as my sister's gotten older she's started eating a lot less meat. She has a weakness for steak, but otherwise she is that chicken-and-fish-but-ew-not-the-rest person. She never calls herself a vegetarian, though. Anyway, I have a lot of bad food habits because it was always, "Well, make your own food, then" and my family couldn't afford to get a bunch of special food for me. I'm only just getting into cooking up tofu
( ... )
I used my change in diet to force myself to learn to cook, because it's a LOT easier to eat healthy when you know what's actually going into the food you're making. I make a lot of Asian/Indian stuff, not only because there are a lot of recipes, but also because those are the kind of flavors that I like. Actually, you'd be surprised how easy it is to cook Mexican/Central American style food and keep it vegetarian or vegan. The only trouble in a restaurant is whether they cook with lard or with regular oil and what kind of stocks they use, but most of that part of the world eats a ton of beans, rice, and legumes, with basic chili and cacao infused spices. And you can actual sub out a lot of things. If you make some seitan, you can substitute that for pretty much any meat, and your carnivorous family will like it (assuming they can have gluten
( ... )
I've kinda always been vegetarian, so there was no change in diet. I still ate some meats as a kid, but they had all phased out by the time I was twenty or so.
Actually, TGI Friday's bar is very veggie friendly. There's a delicious fried green bean platter, and really good spinach dip natcho thingy. During happy hour they're decently priced. But yeah, the restaurant itself is... lacking. Really lacking.
I can't eat a lot of spicy food, but yeah, Mexican is easy to make veggie. Quesadillas are my fallback meals. I use just a bit of olive oil to fry them, and with some salsa and the better tortillas it's a decently balanced meal, especially with some beans on the side. Or vegetarian chili, which is about ninety percent beans.
I linked green_grrl up above to a great, easy black bean soup recipe.
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I can't count the number of times I've been to an event at a presumably mid- to high-class hotel and had the "vegetarian plate" be the raw vegetable hors d'oeuvres (carrots, broccoli, zucchini strips) stuck in a steamer and plated with no herbs, flavoring, sauces, dressing-nothing. Or a plain pasta noodle with tomato sauce that, seriously, I could have one a better job of making when I was 10. Most of the time I want to scream, "See the beautiful potato-whatever, elegant asparagus and haricots verts, and brioche roll everyone else has? Just give me that without the piece of meat on the plate!" But of course the vegetarian plate came out 20 minutes after everyone else's did.
Let's not even talk about how difficult it is to find vegetarian food in airports ...
Reply
And when I finally get through all that, they charge me extra for putting an extra slice of tomato and a bit of red onion on it instead of the bacon and the turkey. 'Cause that makes sense!
The sandwich makers in the mean time just whip that baby up, no sweat.
And don't forget bacon bits! People sprinkle that stuff on everything and then that salad I ordered because it was the one meatless option? Yeah, nevermind.
Reply
The local sandwich place puts bacon on their egg salad sandwiches and in their potato salad. The first time I ordered the potato salad, the cashier told me there was no meat when I did my due diligence. Grrr!
(And no one ever knows if the soup is made with chicken or beef stock!)
Reply
There's a rumor that somewhere there is vegetarian Ramen, but I've never met that.
I do like Panera though, despite their stupid cashiers, because while they only have one option of each, there are different types of veggie options. Lots of salads of course, but also the sandwich, and on Tuesdays they do a veggie black bean soup that is delicious. Actually, I recently looked up the recipe online, and it's easy to make. Here it is. I skipped the cornstarch in favor of not purreeing as much.
Reply
What really blows my mind, though, is when you say you're vegetarian, and people go, "Oh, so, you eat chicken, right? And fish is okay!" Ugh, NO. What part of no meat do you people not understand? Now that I'm on my own, I do eat a mostly vegan diet, excepting when I go out for pizza on the rare occasion when I'm craving junk (and I haven't totally figured out good egg substitutes for making pancakes and stuff, lol).
Reply
I'm the only vegetarian too, although as my sister's gotten older she's started eating a lot less meat. She has a weakness for steak, but otherwise she is that chicken-and-fish-but-ew-not-the-rest person. She never calls herself a vegetarian, though. Anyway, I have a lot of bad food habits because it was always, "Well, make your own food, then" and my family couldn't afford to get a bunch of special food for me. I'm only just getting into cooking up tofu ( ... )
Reply
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Actually, TGI Friday's bar is very veggie friendly. There's a delicious fried green bean platter, and really good spinach dip natcho thingy. During happy hour they're decently priced. But yeah, the restaurant itself is... lacking. Really lacking.
I can't eat a lot of spicy food, but yeah, Mexican is easy to make veggie. Quesadillas are my fallback meals. I use just a bit of olive oil to fry them, and with some salsa and the better tortillas it's a decently balanced meal, especially with some beans on the side. Or vegetarian chili, which is about ninety percent beans.
I linked green_grrl up above to a great, easy black bean soup recipe.
Reply
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