Vegetarian: Day Four

96 Hours, and it’s whole lot better.

Breakfast: Apricot Danish

Lunch: A lovely Indian meal at Roburoo. Not sure quite what is was (I had a platter of various vegetable dishes not listed on the evening menu), but no complaints, and reaonable value for money at a single crisp fiver.

Dinner: A delightful plate of freshly-made potato gnocchi at the brilliant Pane Vino In Kentish Town. My enjoyment of this luscious vegetable bounty was tempered slightly when I went to collect my dining companion to discover his wife wolfing down a delicious plate of blood-rare beef, but hey, these are the temptations us vegetarians face every single day. It’s never easy, I can tell you.

Here’s a question: If I go to the Quality Chop House in Farringdon, there are vegetarian options on the menu. When I eat at the Hawksmoor Steak House, I can dig into a Leek and Endive Gratin. Even at the temple of meat, St Johns, the Stinking Bishop & Potatoes will do the job if I’m crazy enough not to order the roast bone marrow. Why is it, then, that vegetarian restaurants NEVER offer a meat option?

P.S. This isn’t really a serious question.

9 Comments

  1. Reminds me of these classic Viz Top Tips:

    Vegetarians coming to dinner? Simply serve them a nice bit of steak or veal. Since they`re always going on about how tofu, Quorn, meat substitute etc `tastes exactly like the real thing`, they won`t know any difference

    Invited by vegetarians for dinner? Point out that since you`d no doubt be made aware of their special dietary requirements, tell them about yours, and ask for a nice steak.

  2. Awesome, you are writing about food. Fake meat is the wrongest thing, eh. Veggie bacon is like shoe insoles. Cauldron’s mushroom burgers and chunks of halloumi goes pretty well on a barbeque, though.
    Having travelled to India and sri-lanka I learned that you really dont need to make veggie food look like meat to have a great meal everyday. Curry and all its variants could be explored forever. I dont eat a lot of meat, but I do love it!
    I made a sandwich reacently that I called Hippie Heaven:
    sunblush tomatoes/mozzarella balls from the deli
    smooth hommous with pine nuts
    hot falafels
    Wholegrain roll.

    The most meat-like-but-not thing I have ever eaten was a banana-flower curry in Sri lanka. It was like big chunks of well-cooked tuna!
    Good luck, there’s nothing like not eating meat for ages and then having a beef-rush from a steak.

  3. Hi Fraser

    Asparagus is in season right now. You can eat this, be a gourmet and vegetarian.

    Jane in Lewes.

  4. Hey Sharyn,

    you just reminded me, I had deep fried banana flower in Thailand. Sensational.

    And for filling, chunky, non-meat Indian – how about Paneer pakoras… or malai kofta perhaps?

    Hey Fraser – maybe after you finish your animal alphabet, we could have a veggie equivalent?

  5. Thanks Dan – that place is only a couple of hundred yards from where I work.

  6. Keep it up! I’m not sure you totally understand just yet, but you are doing a really good thing.

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