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Whenever I go out for a meal, either at a restaurant, pub, café or a tearoom, there is always the suspicion that the food listed on the menu isn’t really suitable for a vegetarian. Even if suitable food has been listed at all!
Problems arise with simple foodstuffs as well as the more complicated meal. Cheese is probably the main area of concern. Most people in the food trade don’t seem to realise that simple cheese may or may not be suitable. Rennet may or may not be derived from animals.
Desserts are a minefield as they so often contain gelatine and/or pectin, plus who knows what?
Often in a place where effort has been made to show suitable starters and main courses, the desserts are not.
Some places do have vegetarian food, but don’t bother to show this on their menu or labels. Buffet type meals are a real hazard!
Some ridiculous experiences include being told in a hotel that the dessert in question had no meat in it, to simply being informed that the cheese was suitable, asking them to double check, only for them to see it was not. I have even seen staff using the same utensils to serve sausages and bacon as those used to serve the vegetarian meal!
A pub near Gloucester listed Scampi plus a Tuna Bake as suitable for vegetarians! Even when queried, the barman insisted this was correct!.
So there is a lot of education required in the catering trade, We aim to highlight these issues with food venues in the hope that they and their staff begin to realise how important these are.
Each venue listed on this site caters for vegetarians and prepares it’s food correctly. Most caterers will also prepare meat based meals as we don’t just want to list outlets that are vegetarian only, as there are not very many of these.
Our aim for this site
When going out for a meal, I would like to know, for sure, in advance:
- a) where this food is available
- b) that the food is suitable
- c) really suitable without having to ask 20 questions and
- d) what type of food to expect on the menu.
All courses should include a choice, including desserts.
The main aim of the site is to provide an easily accessed guide to suitable eating places, by location, either by town or region.
If you have any suggestions or comments, please email us at info@readyveggiego.co.uk
There are a lot of food outlets in the UK, so listing all of them will take time. If the area you are interested in is not shown, then I apologise. Please try again later or drop me an email stating where you are.
If you know of a good Vegetarian Friendly restaurant or cafe near you, then send me their name and address and I will ask whether they would like to be listed.
Thank you
Ian Flegg
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