6th February 2012
Vegetarian Viewpoint
We were curious about readers’ views on vegetarian menus, so we posed the following question in a recent poll: how many vegetarian options should restaurants have on their menus?
9% of you think that there should be as many vegetarian options on a menu as meat or fish. Perhaps you were all vegetarians, and your answer stems from the frustration of having limited vegetarian choices on many restaurant menus (another goat’s cheese tart, anyone?).
Whilst dedicated establishments such as Terre à Terre in Brighton, David Bann in Edinburgh, and The Gate, London fly the flag for the UK’s veggie dining scene, such vegetarian restaurants are few and far between. So whilst it’s all very well suggesting, as 27% of respondents did, that vegetarian diners head to veg-only eateries, this is often not as simple as it sounds.
The majority of respondents - 65% - agreed there should be a reasonable selection of vegetarian options on any menu, as not everyone wants to eat meat or fish all the time. Whilst this could stem from the fact that cutting down on meat and fish is better for the wallet, a factor that’s not to be dismissed in these belt-tightening times, the poll response chimes with a growing awareness about the need for meat alternatives both on menus and in home kitchens. The Meat Free Mondays website recently highlighted advice given by an adviser to the Department for Environment and the World Health Organization, who suggests that for environmental and health reasons we should be cutting back our consumption to as little as once-a-week. And nowadays you can’t throw a heritage tomato without hitting a diner who isn’t concerned about sustainable, seasonal food that is locally grown, and resurgence of interest in vegetable-centric cooking is a welcome by-product of this mindset.
Of course, good chefs have always known the potential of veg as a medium for creative, delicious cooking, and the exciting vegetarian menus at restaurants such as Chelsea’s Roussillon, La Bécasse in Ludlow, and Northcote in Langho, Lancashire are testimony to this. These restaurants know that catering for vegetarians need not impose any culinary limits - on the contrary a meat-free menu is the ideal opportunity to branch out and experiment. The Good Food Guide is always on the lookout for restaurants, pubs and cafés that offer vegetarian options and menus, and for the latest edition of The Good Food Guide, the editors revised the vegetarian criteria to provide diners with more accurate information on the menu options available to them: now, restaurants are only eligible for the ‘V’ symbol if they offer a separate vegetarian menu.
Got any tips for great vegetarian restaurant? Tell us about them! All feedback is read, and helps to inform the next edition of the Guide.