POV: you’re a vegetarian at a fancy restaurant

by Strawberry_Curious

48 Comments

  1. Whoa whoa whoa. There’s occasionally a poorly thought out pasta primavera or squash ravioli in there…

  2. And then the questions start: “Are you vegetarian because you care about the animals, or…”

    “I’ll have the Costco frozen tortellini.” ($23)

  3. NewTeeth2022 on

    Don’t forget the bean/mushroom burgers at up-scale burger joints that cost more than the beef burgers.

    Beef patty with pretty much all toppings on the menu: $18

    “Garden” patty with only caramelized onion and lettuce: $24 (+$2 for each additional topping such as pickle, tomato, etc.)

  4. That_Guy3141 on

    I’m just going to say it, in case you don’t know. Mushroom Risotto is usually made with chicken broth, especially if it’s at at fancy restaurant.

  5. Me as a vegetarian that HATES mushrooms: “I’ll have the baked potato.”

    “What, you don’t like mushrooms? You don’t like vegetables? Aren’t you a vegetarian? Dur hur hur.”

  6. And I hope we’re all aware that risotto is normally made with animal stock and Parmesan cheese…?

  7. Mushroom risotto, goat cheese and beetroot, pasta, and the inevitable there’s fish!

  8. Empty_Nest_Mom on

    Once had a VERY expensive beet risotto. It was that or bread and a unimaginative salad. 🤷‍♀️

  9. Clobberella_83 on

    The Mushroom Mafia strikes again! Vegetarians and vegans universally love mushrooms. Just put that shit in everything!

    It’s probably made with chicken stock too.

    Personally, I love to make risotto (veg stock) with roasted veggies.

  10. What would you like to start seeing on restaurant menus? Me, I want more heat and spice

  11. WildColonialGirl on

    Don’t get me wrong, I love mushroom risotto but a lot of risotto is made with wine. I’m a recovering alcoholic so that’s not an option for me.

  12. AlexstraszaMcQueen on

    For my 16th birthday my dad took me to this really fancy restaurant, and one of their vegetarian options (they had more than one!) was a risotto made with farro instead of rice (I think they called it “farrotto”) with root veggies — it was so delicious that I still dream of it sometimes to this day 12 years later!

  13. Scrabble-Rouser on

    A couple weeks ago I was ordering breakfast and asked to substitute something else for the bacon because I don’t eat meat.

    Server: “Oh! In that case, we also have turkey bacon.”

    Me: …

    Me: “How about some fruit?”

  14. It doesn’t take much ingenuity to cook a steak. It takes A LOT of creativity to come up with new vegetarian main dishes.

  15. Turtledonuts on

    My favorite game is “hmm, why is this vegetarian looking meal not marked with the little leaf thing?”

    I’ve found that italian places are the worst about this. The BBQ places admit that they put meat in everything, so you can just starve. The italian cook in the back who rants about the home country and his traditional fucking guanchale just put some lard into your “vegetarian” pasta or something.

  16. LOL Literally my worst nightmare/reality as a long-term vegetarian who cannot stomach mushrooms. I wish I did 😭

  17. intl-uni-help-please on

    My friend was so excited to show me the vegetarian option for her wedding and its a mushroom risotto with peas🫠 mushrooms give me the ick and i hateeee peas so i just smiled politely and planning on sneaking a pb&j in there somehow

  18. Vegans at a fancy restaurant: *cries inside and orders $13 steamed vegetables.

    We feel your pain 🙁

  19. Don’t forget that suddenly every dish that was always vegetarian will have bacon bits in it that aren’t mentioned on the menu and that you have to pick out

  20. BillyIGuesss on

    There’s always crappy burgers that are just plain steamed vegetables in breadcrumbs.

  21. curiositymagnet on

    My best friend is vegan. The worst was a few years back we went to this fancy schmansy cafe that she picked especially because many of the menu items specifically mentioned having the option for “vegan or vegetarian alternative preparation”. When we got to ordering she quickly discovered that the “alternative” they were referring to did not involve any substitutions, all it meant was that they would leave out primary ingredients while still charging the same amount.

    The vegan “alternative preparation” of their roasted cauliflower and chicken salad was some roasted cauliflower on a plate without any dressing since the dressing had dairy in it…

  22. This is why you check the menu first people. Even if its the fanciest restaurant in town, if you have shitty options for us plant based people dont expect my business.

  23. ZacharysCard on

    Boy do I love living in California. I won’t even consider a restaurant where vegetarian is an after thought and I still have more options than I can visit.

  24. I live in Israel and I forget every time I travel, how much of a vegetarian/vegan paradise I live in. Unless it’s like a steak house, every single restaurant has multiple vegetarian and vegan options, and even the steak houses will have a pasta and/or a salad option that are at least vegetarian friendly. You guys need to come here (especially to Tel Aviv) and live the good life for a while.

  25. The triumvate:

    – Mushroom risotto

    – Penne with red sauce

    – Butternut squash ravioli that is made from frozen and inexplicably costs 2x more than the most expensive meat dish on the menu

  26. Better than when it’s just one big mushroom “steak” or just slices of eggplant 😐

  27. Really enjoyed Cathy Burke telling the story of Gordon Ramsay saying he’d make her “a lovely risotto”, to which she replied “no you fucking won’t”

  28. randomstranger720 on

    Don’t order the risotto in a restaurant if you’re vegetarian, it almost always has chicken stock in it. I always ask and it has been made with chicken stock 100% of the time.

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