Let's make food appropriate
Cheney Anne Markun
July 28, 2008
As my husband and I sat down in the cosy, wood panelled dining room of a traditional British pub, hidden away amongst the rolling green hills of England´s countryside I stared at the menu with a familiar sense of disappointment. The cause of my overwhelming feeling of sadness? I am vegetarian.
In all honesty, I do truly believe that vegetarian cuisine in restaurants, pubs and fast food joints has come a long way since the days when a veggie burger was considered exotic and indicative of an alternative lifestyle. I am not complaining about the availability of vegetarian options, in fact it´s been a long time since I´ve been somewhere that didn´t have a selection of choices for me to agonise over. For me, the problem is the suitability of the options we are given. Let me explain….
In the situation above I was in a beautiful, traditional building, sitting in front of a roaring fire and looking at copies of Constable paintings on the wood panelled walls. The ceiling was low and beamed and the pub dog was stretched out on a rug spread over the slate tiled floors, a more perfect picture of rural England would have been hard to find. Whilst my husband was busy mulling over hearty dishes of sausages and mash or tasty pies with potatoes and vegetables I was weighing up the obligatory vegetarian lasagne or some weird and wonderful pasta creation, served with vegetables that were definitely not grown in muddy English soil and covered in a sauce I was certain none of the locals would even have been able to pronounce. In most things, I applaud creativity and had I been seated in some café on the sunny streets of Rome then I would have been relishing the choices in front of me. However, I was not in Rome, I was in the Berkshire countryside watching the constant drizzle of rain that covers England for most of the year (there are two or three days in late August when it doesn´t rain here) and what I wanted to eat was something hearty, something traditional, something appropriate.
In fact, I believe that appropriate is the right word for my complaint - I believe that food should be appropriate. Appropriate to it´s surroundings and it clientele. There is no reason why this can´t be done, with the advent of brands like Quorn and Cauldron there is a myriad of meat free products that can be substituted to let us veggies enjoy the same things that everybody else can. I have a very good example of these ingredients being put to good use and that was on a recent visit to Robin Hood´s Bay, a small village on the North Yorkshire coast of England. Sitting on a wooden bench outside of a centuries old, stone built pub I perused the menu with glee. One of the foods that this area is famous for is the Yorkshire pudding, which is made using batter to form a bowl shaped pudding that is crispy on the outside, doughy on the inside and usually served filled with gravy, vegetables and meat. The menu before me had a large Yorkshire pudding on it´s menu which came filled with home mage gravy, country vegetables and sausages, or Quorn sausages for vegetarians. I was truly over the moon and, for the first time in a long time, was able to enjoy a vegetarian option of a traditional local food. This menu was most definitely appropriate to it´s setting and to it´s customers who, generally, having spent a long day hiking on the moors or a busy afternoon sightseeing wanted something hearty and filling.
When I was in California I most desperately wanted a proper American burger, with all the toppings and trimmings and I was so happy to find that everywhere I went featured menus offering me exactly what I needed - it was appropriate. Had these menu´s been stuffed with veggie Yorkshire puddings I wouldn´t have been so impressed because I wanted something to eat that I felt was traditionally American, not something that reminded me of windy moors and Wellington boots. My previous rant against pasta doesn´t mean that I don´t like pasta, in fact it´s one of my favourite foods and when I was in Italy I ate pasta every single day because it was Italian. I would have balked if offered my veggie cheeseburger whilst staring out over the canals of Venice because, again, it wouldn´t have been appropriate.
Choice is a wonderful thing, and I know that not long ago eating out would have been an absolute nightmare for me and my fellow vegetarians but, in this day of progress when we can all eat anything we want to anytime we chose, it would be wonderful if caterers and chef´s could take just a tiny step backwards and, before they go ahead and put that baked zucchini on a bed of Mediterranean leaves with a balsamic vinaigrette on the menu just pause for a second and think - is this really appropriate?.
In all honesty, I do truly believe that vegetarian cuisine in restaurants, pubs and fast food joints has come a long way since the days when a veggie burger was considered exotic and indicative of an alternative lifestyle. I am not complaining about the availability of vegetarian options, in fact it´s been a long time since I´ve been somewhere that didn´t have a selection of choices for me to agonise over. For me, the problem is the suitability of the options we are given. Let me explain….
In the situation above I was in a beautiful, traditional building, sitting in front of a roaring fire and looking at copies of Constable paintings on the wood panelled walls. The ceiling was low and beamed and the pub dog was stretched out on a rug spread over the slate tiled floors, a more perfect picture of rural England would have been hard to find. Whilst my husband was busy mulling over hearty dishes of sausages and mash or tasty pies with potatoes and vegetables I was weighing up the obligatory vegetarian lasagne or some weird and wonderful pasta creation, served with vegetables that were definitely not grown in muddy English soil and covered in a sauce I was certain none of the locals would even have been able to pronounce. In most things, I applaud creativity and had I been seated in some café on the sunny streets of Rome then I would have been relishing the choices in front of me. However, I was not in Rome, I was in the Berkshire countryside watching the constant drizzle of rain that covers England for most of the year (there are two or three days in late August when it doesn´t rain here) and what I wanted to eat was something hearty, something traditional, something appropriate.
In fact, I believe that appropriate is the right word for my complaint - I believe that food should be appropriate. Appropriate to it´s surroundings and it clientele. There is no reason why this can´t be done, with the advent of brands like Quorn and Cauldron there is a myriad of meat free products that can be substituted to let us veggies enjoy the same things that everybody else can. I have a very good example of these ingredients being put to good use and that was on a recent visit to Robin Hood´s Bay, a small village on the North Yorkshire coast of England. Sitting on a wooden bench outside of a centuries old, stone built pub I perused the menu with glee. One of the foods that this area is famous for is the Yorkshire pudding, which is made using batter to form a bowl shaped pudding that is crispy on the outside, doughy on the inside and usually served filled with gravy, vegetables and meat. The menu before me had a large Yorkshire pudding on it´s menu which came filled with home mage gravy, country vegetables and sausages, or Quorn sausages for vegetarians. I was truly over the moon and, for the first time in a long time, was able to enjoy a vegetarian option of a traditional local food. This menu was most definitely appropriate to it´s setting and to it´s customers who, generally, having spent a long day hiking on the moors or a busy afternoon sightseeing wanted something hearty and filling.
When I was in California I most desperately wanted a proper American burger, with all the toppings and trimmings and I was so happy to find that everywhere I went featured menus offering me exactly what I needed - it was appropriate. Had these menu´s been stuffed with veggie Yorkshire puddings I wouldn´t have been so impressed because I wanted something to eat that I felt was traditionally American, not something that reminded me of windy moors and Wellington boots. My previous rant against pasta doesn´t mean that I don´t like pasta, in fact it´s one of my favourite foods and when I was in Italy I ate pasta every single day because it was Italian. I would have balked if offered my veggie cheeseburger whilst staring out over the canals of Venice because, again, it wouldn´t have been appropriate.
Choice is a wonderful thing, and I know that not long ago eating out would have been an absolute nightmare for me and my fellow vegetarians but, in this day of progress when we can all eat anything we want to anytime we chose, it would be wonderful if caterers and chef´s could take just a tiny step backwards and, before they go ahead and put that baked zucchini on a bed of Mediterranean leaves with a balsamic vinaigrette on the menu just pause for a second and think - is this really appropriate?.
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