To all those restaurants downtown that consider themselves vegetarian friendly because the offer salads as their veggie option on the menu, give me a break. Just because I don’t eat meat doesn’t mean that I ONLY eat vegetables. I go to restaurants for a nice meal; I can chop veggies up at home. A vegetarian chooses to replace the meat portion of their meal with another protein (i.e. lentils, soy); they don’t just eliminate it and survive on sides of veggies! There are four food groups: try to create some dishes that incorporate them all, and if you can’t even succeed at this oh-so-difficult task, then simply tell me that you can’t cater to my diet.
—Can’t survive off of greens alone
This article appears in May 7-13, 2009.
Get some steak in ya, loser.
The OP is completely right. If a restaurant isn’t capable of serving a proper vegetarian meal, it shouldn’t claim to be vegetarian-friendly. The thing is, veggie meals are not rocket science! I’m a terrible cook, and if I can do it, so can the people who are actually trained (and paid) to create tasty meals for customers. And, if a restaurant is not interested in serving veggie meals, don’t claim to be.
No…. I agree with the bearded onion. I’m sick and tired of vegetarians and vegans. Get off your ducking high horse and eat the meat. Your body will thank you for it. Look in the mirror. Do you see those teeth? You have them to chew meat with.
Vegetarians are okay, but have you ever thought that demand for soy/meat analogue products is so little that salad is the only option? Restaurants will not put something on the menu that’s gonna make them lose money, and it sounds like in this particular restaurant that there is no demand for it. That’s just smart. Remember OP, you choose to be a vegetarian, it’s not legal requirement for restaurants to provide it.
If you don’t like what they serve, then don’t eat out! Keep in mind that the majority of us eat meat, so it’s something your going to have to get used to.
Don’t eat out _at the restaurants you don’t like_, you mean, psssh. Voting with your money is how you deal with anything (that is not a legal issue) you don’t like about any business.
Also, there are quite a few good (actual) vegetarian-friendly restaurants in Halifax, and this site is probably a great resource to find them.
Go to the farmers market if you can make it in and concoct some own recipes. There’s a few online that include lentils and bok-choy.
Do chefs everywhere a favor… stay home
Do Chefs everywhere a favor… stay home
Salad’s not food. Salad is a promisary note that food will be coming later. That’s why when you order meat, they automatically bring you a salad, whether you want it or not.
guess they don’t use tvp.
I think I know what the OP is talking about. Many times when you go to a restaurant, there will be a green V next to items on the menu that are supposedly vegetarian, though often they contain cheese with rennet in it if you inquire further. If they are going to put the V in there, then it should be an actual vegetarian meal, with protein, veggies and grains of some sort, and no meat products whatsoever.
Properly salad is a palate cleanser, but Americans changed it to be an appetizer.
Too much soy is not good for the endocrine system, it screws with hormone levels – particularly estrogen and testosterone. In Asian countries where they eat a lot of soy it is typically fermented, and that seems to have a role in balancing the hormone issue.
Nuts and quinoa are great sources of protein, though you can combine certain vegetables to make complex proteins to replace those found in meat (this is more difficult, however).
The Dr is right though, if there’s no demand for the veggie options a restaurant is not going to put much effort into creating dishes…though notably some people are just plain lazy and won’t take the time.
I don’t get why people are vegetarians in the first place. Is it because they think killing animals is wrong? How does refusing to eat meat help animals exactly? Unless everyone converts the same amount will end up in the frozen isle. It’s obviously not healthier for you… my friend is veggie muncher and she doesn’t give two shits about her health or animals… she thinks it’s trendy.
i think if you can get enough of the protien and whatnot that meat gives you you can be healthy.
i don’t get the not drinking milk or eating eggs part because they come from animals (you don’t have to kill them for that), as for not wanting to kill the animal for meat, well thats what supermarkets are for, already prepared. you want to kill your meat go live on a farm.
personally i like meat, can’t live without it.
There as many reasons to be vegetarian as there are vegetarians/vegans/whatever. Some hate the cruelty, some hate the slaughtering, some hate the factory farming (eggs/milk) and others hate the environmental impact.
To each their own, just don’t stink eye me when I am enjoying my steak with a tall glass of milk wearing my leather jacket.
“salad isn’t food…it’s what food eats”
One restaurant will never be able to satisfy everyone in the local population, that’s why we have options. Go to an actual vegetarian restaurant (we do have some here in the city), not a “vegetarian friendly” restaurant. And as far as vegetarians go, I would assume it’s too hard for a “vegetarian friendly” restaurant to determine what to serve since some vegetarians will eat egg and cheese products and some won’t etc. etc.
I’m a vegetarian, have been for many years, and choose to eat that way due to a variety of reasons. I’m not militant about it, I don’t have any problem with anyone who chooses to eat meat, and I certainly don’t try to shove my views down anyone’s throat. I do realize that there are some arsehole, holier-than-thou vegetarian/vegan types out there, and trust me, they annoy me as much as they annoy anyone. But do me a favour, bitchers, and stop lumping all of vegetarians into that category. Just because someone has a different dietary preference than you does not mean they deserve to be derided for it.
The OP made no mention of expecting his/her dietary needs to be catered to at every restaurant, but merely stated that if a restaurant claims to be ‘vegetarian friendly’, it should have actual vegetarian meals on the menu, not just a smattering of salads.
I don’t know about you guys, but when I go out to eat, I like to have a delicious and satisfying meal for the money I spend. If a restaurant I was heading to claimed to have vegetarian options and ended up having only salad, I’d be a little peeved too. I certainly don’t EXPECT restaurants to cater to my dietary preferences, but if they claim to, I expect them to deliver on those claims, and salad sure as hell doesn’t cut it.
Thank you Meow, I was going to say most of that. The bitch is not about a lack of veg options, but about false advertising. Don’t claim to be veg friendly if you’re not.
Also, one of the biggest reasons to be vegetarian these days is because rainforests everywhere are being leveled for one reason, so grow food to feed to cattle. We spend far too many resources on cows, mostly due to the fast food industry. We would have far less environmental problems if we didn’t eat so much beef.
I’m not a vegetarian, but has anyone ever noticed how the vegetarian meal is ALWAYS “vegetable lasagne” at any function/conference/banquet/etc…? I mean I LOVE lasagne (and veggie lasagne too), but I’d be pretty damn sick of it if that’s all I was ever served and I couldn’t eat anything else on the menu.
PAS I agree with you. I think the environmental impact, and the ethics of factory farming are some of the most convincing reasons to go vegetarian. However, I think both deforestation and factory farming issues can be addressed by reducing the amount of meat (especially beef) we eat. I don’t see it as necessary to cut it out all together….yet.
PK – I hear ya! Either that, or spaghetti with tomato sauce. I like spaghetti and all, but just tomato sauce, no veggies, no protein of any kind? Blah. Meanwhile everyone else is dining on prime rib and the vegetarians sit there feeling punished. Even worse is when you tell them you’re vegetarian and they offer you chicken….
Miles – I totally agree, which is why I don’t think it’s necessary to bust anyone’s balls because they eat meat. Though I do advocate, quite vocally when provoked, the benefits of not only eating less meat, but buying it from a local, sustainable source. My partner is a meat-eater, so the purchase and consumption of meat is still, in some ways, part of my everyday life. All the meat we buy comes from either small local farms, where the animals are raised humanely and without chemicals and hormones, or from hunted wild game, and we buy very little of it compared to the average household. It would be beneficial if more people would realize that you don’t have to have to be a vegetarian to enjoy a vegetarian meal, or at the very least, that meat doesn’t have to comprise the majority of every plate.
To the point of vegetarian meals: I honestly enjoy the odd vegetarian meal. I see why people are vegetarians, and I wish more people were like you, me0w. My main problem with vegetarians though is the insistence that they be catered to in every way possible, which is the vibe that I get from this bitch. Do vegetarians actually realize that they’re just another market to cater to? Which is why the chain restaurants out there all have “veggie lasagna” as their primary vegetarian option. Not to mention too, there is the misconception that vegetarian means healthy, when it doesn’t necessarily mean that.
false advertising…legit bitch
Also, Dr. Fever’s ‘the odd vegetarian meal’ is a glimpse of a possibility. I used to eat meat quite a bit (I’m not a vegetarian, but I do eat far less meat than I used to), but even back then I could not understand people who think a meal is not a meal unless there is animal in it somewhere.
There may be some nutrients that are easier to come by in meat, but NO-ONE needs it every meal, or even every day. Try spacing it out a bit.
Food guide only recommends two to three servings of meat a day. Most people exceed that, as I believe a serving size is about the size of your palm?
Im not a vegetarian either, allthough I do love those dishes, but health (as has been said already) doesnt go hand in hand with eating meat either.
Over eating, as well as over consuming (well, I guess theyre more or less the same) have detrimental effects on both our health and our environment.
I wish some of the trendy vegetarians would take a stand on the effects of industrial agriculture as well though – over producing anything, be it cows, pigs, or carrots, is bad for the land.
And to recap. I agree, the false advertizing bitch is legit, and there are a lot of pompous vegetarians/vegans out there. But – there are also a lot of pompous omnivores – like the woman who scowled at my for ordering a veggie burger. But thats neiter here nor there.
PS> Meow, props for not being pompous 🙂
Thanks, Gabrielle. I definitely have my opinions, but I try not to come across as self-righteous. I agree with you that industrial agriculture is everyone’s issue, vegetarians shouldn’t consider their diets automatically more sustainable or environmentally friendly than anyone else’s. I practice and advocate buying as locally and sustainably as possible, whether it’s meat and fish or fruits and veg.
Dr. Fever, please don’t paint all vegetarians with the same brush you would use for a handful of self-righteous militants. I really don’t think that vegetarians expect to be catered to anymore than anyone else does. Most of us are pretty used to fending for ourselves, as we realize our dietary preferences are a minority. If I’m over for dinner at someone’s house, I never request that they make something special just for me. I either bring my own veg-friendly main or make do with what’s there, and I’m always incredibly appreciative for anyone that goes out of their way to accommodate me. I certainly never walk into a restaurant expecting them to have vegetarian options, and I don’t think that was what the OP was trying to infer either. If they advertise as being veg-friendly and only have salad, that’s the same as advertising as a steakhouse and offering up bologna. The OP has the right to be peeved, not as a vegetarian, but as a customer they provided false information to.
I don’t see every vegetarian in the same light… I just think that most vegetarians are in it to be trendy. Therein lies the rub, these people go into restaurants and demand an alternative. They’ll go into a place like CUT and demand they make a special dish for them, or they cry discrimination. You’re the minority; I’d just to like to make that clear. I don’t feel that the OP has the right to be peeved, though, mostly due to the fact that they provided an “alternative” (be it salad or not), and thus it isn’t false advertising. It may be specious, but not untrue. The OP needs to know that there are only a handful restaurants in this city that are truly “vegetarian friendly” and they should frequent those. They shouldn’t go into a restaurant (chain or otherwise) that says they’ve got a vegetarian menu and expect the menu from The Wooden Monkey.
me0w, I understand that it’s not always for the same reasons but it’s hard to understand why when you refuse to cite at least a few of the possibilities. What makes not eating meat or anything it has touched so appealing?
Personally, I couldn’t go very long without meat…
I’m sure every tuna in the world is scared of me.
I’m probably on Tuna’s most wanted list.
Cats on the other hand…. love me for it.
me0w,
saying “vegetarians shouldn’t consider their diets automatically more sustainable or environmentally friendly than anyone else’s” is kind of like saying that motorcycle riders shouldn’t consider their vehicles automatically less polluting than cars and trucks.
Yes, there is an overlap with biggest bikes and the smallest cars, but the overwhelming truth is still there.
I’m almost certain you already knew that, but I can see people addicted to a high-meat diet misusing your comment to rationalize.
I totally agree with what you’re saying, ND, I was just trying to be fair, and point out that if you’re a vegetarian and buying corporately farmed produce from California, Chile, etc, you’re contributing to the unsustainable food chain too, and that being veg doesn’t automatically give you a clear conscience in that regard.
zZz – If you’re asking for me to spell out my reasons for not eating meat, I’ll be happy to do so, though I consider them to be entirely personal.
Many years ago, I was dealing with health issues that required me to change my diet, and eating less meat was part of that. Until that point, I had never really taken a hard look at what I ate, where it came from, and the effect it had on my body. Of course I was aware of factory farming and its effects, animal cruelty, etc., but like many people had considered it somewhat beyond my means, or at least inconvenient, to really do anything about. With this new awareness and further research, I really began to examine my values and personal outlook on many of these issues. I decided that meat just didn’t really jive with my personal ethics and spirituality, and so I just stopped eating it altogether. At first it was somewhat difficult (especially the smell of frying bacon, lol) but after awhile, I didn’t miss it at all. Besides meat, I’ve made a lot of other ethically based decisions about my food. I still eat fish on occasion, and if tomorrow I woke up decided I wanted to eat meat again, I wouldn’t feel at all guilty about it. Like I said, I consider my stance to be entirely personal, I don’t think it makes me morally, environmentally, or spiritually superior to anyone. As well, I don’t really advocate vegetarianism, but rather that all people should have a greater awareness of where their food comes from, and weigh it with their own personal ethics. Everyone is free to choose, and the more information you have, the more educated choice you can make for yourself.
MeOw, you just said exactly how I feel about being a vegetarian. But holey crap I do find that there are more meat eaters out there that seem to attack vegetarians then the opposite. Some examples: ” Get some steak in ya”, “Get off your ducking high horse and eat the meat”, “Do Chefs a favour everywhere and stay home”, hmmm a chef that can’t cook vegetarian does not deserve the title of Chef then. “How does refusing to eat meat help animals exactly?” … Duh! How does me not snapping your dumb neck not help you exactly?,”as for not wanting to kill the animal for meat, well thats what supermarkets are for, already prepared.”…yeah we just don’t want to get blood on our hand, that’s it. “My main problem with vegetarians though is the insistence that they be catered to in every way possible, which is the vibe that I get from this bitch.” Hmmm dunno Dr, I get a different vibe from this bitch.
This post is a prime ‘rib’ example of militant meat eaters. Miles excluded. After reading all these posts here do you actually see a vegetarian being militant? Having been a vegetarian for 18 years I find all the anti vegetarian comments tiring…heard them all before. I couldn’t survive without meat… bla bla bla. I don’t care what you eat so why do you care what I eat. When I was in my 20’s I remember going to a new Dr and she took my medical history. The first two words she wrote down were vegetarian, lesbian. I always found that disturbing, and confining.
As for restaurants, unless you specifically go to a restaurant that caters to vegetarians you’ll have to make do with their appetizers and salads which I have done on many occasions. However, having lived in bigger cities before I found I didn’t have to go looking for vegetarian restaurants like I do here. Bigger cities have more ethnically diverse patrons and create their menu accordingly. I don’t eat out here much mostly because I find I can make a much better meal, cheaper and with out the worry of how old, what touched and where my food came from. Just my personal preference. My partner is a meat eater who for the first six months of us living together ate vegetarian and didn’t miss it. She now eats meat again, mainly because I got tired of cooking and when it was her turn to cook she made what she was accustomed to, I just eat everything but the meat. Over the years I have observed more ridicule from my family, friends and coworkers from just not eating meat. I always find it so interesting that they get their shit in a knot over the fact that I simply don’t want to eat meat. I don’t go on about my reasons as they are personal. When I have dinner guests and I cook, I ask my guests if they have any food aversions or allergies as I like to accommodate them. For some reason however the militant meat eaters think it is unreasonable to be accommodating and how dare vegetarians expect to be catered to like anyone else, so yes I bring my own “meat” substitute when invited to a meat eaters place. Just my humble opinion. Bon appetit…what ever you eat.
Thanks for sharing me0w…
I support your decision so long as you realize that the cows and pigs and calves and goats and lambs are going to be slaughtered anyways. You seem to and so that’s fine…..all the more for me.
I do also agree that people need to wake up and stop feeding themselves the overly frozen, cheap crap and learn how to cook the local, fresh, and wonderfully tasting food. it’s night and day…. your tastebuds (and everything else it comes into contact with afterwards) will thank you for it.
zZz,
sorry, but “the cows and pigs and calves and goats and lambs are going to be slaughtered anyways”? No.
Where demand goes, supply follows. In this case…down.
I live outside of Elmsdale & buy organic beef off a local farmer. He guarrantees his meat meets organic specifications…doesn’t that mean that by eating an animal that has spent its life eating veggie matter.
I could be in fact be said to be eating a vegitarian ?
mmmmm tastey vegan this last one 😉
& that deer roast last weekend…I’m pretty sure their diet is all vegitation as well, droool !
MEAT & potato’s, the only way to make it better is to make gravy !
#@%$ – Thanks for being another example of a level-headed vegetarian. We do exist, and contrary to popular belief, most vegetarians are like us. Like any group, it’s only the extremists that people really take notice of.
zZz – yes, I do realize that regardless of my personal decisions, people will continue to slaughter animals for food. Just like those who choose not to shop at Walmart realize that others will continue to do so. I make decisions I can live with and stand behind, and can only hope that others follow suit.
More – Meeting organic specifications simply means that there are no chemicals, hormones or any other additives/toxins in your meat. All animals raised for food are vegetarians, or at least you want to hope they are (see Mad Cow Disease). I hope you throw at least a few fruits and veggies in with your meat and potatoes, lest you contract scurvy 🙂
Dogma, ok if the majority of the population all of a sudden turned veggie… then yes, demand would be gone. Outside of that extenuating circumstance, they will be slaughtered anyways… for my plate and those of my fellow carnivores.
zZz,
I think we are arguing two different questions.
You are talking about whether there will be ANY slaughtering, and if that is all you are trying to say, then you are right. There will be for the foreseeable future.
…but…
I am talking about whether there will be THE SAME AMOUNT OF slaughtering. If you are trying to say that that will not change, then you are wrong. Reduction in demand for meat results in less meat production.