[Food] Vegans/Veggies

[KZNSeagull]

Going off at a slight tangent, wasn't there a thread recently with veggie suggestions in it? Am in desperate need of an alternative to Quorn mince.

 

[Deleted member 37369]

Just back home after an amazing Sunday roast at the Caxton Arms. The veggie and vegan options were cheaper than meat options.

 

[Yes Chef]

I've been a veggie for over 30 years now, and also have no fundamental issue with the prices I pay when eating out, as most of the underlying cost has little to do with the raw ingredients that make up a dish.

I imagine [MENTION=34109]Yes Chef[/MENTION] could give us an idea about how the pricing of menu items works.

Sorry, just finished Sunday lunch!

A rudimentary way to work out the cost of a menu item is to calculate how much all the components of the dish cost and then multiply that by 4, which should give you a gross profit of around 65/70% (industry standard) - out of that g.p. comes VAT, wages, etc. Other variables always come into play though - location, clientele, competition, plus of course (callous?) business owners/chefs who will squeeze as much profit as they think possible.
There are formulas to work out how much to charge for things but you need a bit of know how too.
For the record, in my place the average price of vegan and vegetarian dishes is about £2 cheaper than the meat and fish ones, but full disclosure - I was vegetarian for a long time myself so probably have more empathy than other chefs.

 

[Insel affe]

I wonder if there's an added 'cost' in terms of storage/food prep etc to make sure the V/VG options are kept separate and not contaminated by meat.

Which reminds me ... on a short break to Budapest a few years back, Mrs HS ordered char grilled peppers and onions (might have been a few other veg bits) for lunch. She enjoyed it so much she mentioned it to the waiter when he took the plates away. He then disclosed chef's secret to getting all that flavour ... he grilled them in the same place as the meat so it' "picks up all the lovely juices"!

Neither Mrs HS or myself are vegetarian - although we have reduced our meat consumption by quite a bit. But if she had been and then found out she'd been eating meat juices ...

Ha, sounds very similar to when me and the wife went to Pineda outside Barcelona for a weekender, we’d been to the beach bar and wondering back to the hotel to get ready for the main gig in the evening, we saw a little cafe and thought it would be a good idea to line our stomachs before heavy drinking ensued, the wife was struggling to find something on the menu and asked the owner if he had any vegetarian options. He nodded and said he could make a veggie pizza. Ok sounds great, he walked from behind the counter and too a freezer where there were ice creams , he rooted around a bit, and took a pizza box to the counter and took a pizza out, got a knife and started flicking the bits of pepperoni off it, once the tricky bit was complete he popped it in the microwave…

Sorted

 

[dazzer6666]

Going off at a slight tangent, wasn't there a thread recently with veggie suggestions in it? Am in desperate need of an alternative to Quorn mince.

Try beef, it’s delicious

 

[Live by the sea]

Quorn is uugh, there are fortunately other much better alternatives nowdays . Try the organic store in church rd opposite Richards cafe, they have several .

 

[Deleted member 37369]

He nodded and said he could make a veggie pizza. Ok sounds great, he walked from behind the counter and too a freezer where there were ice creams , he rooted around a bit, and took a pizza box to the counter and took a pizza out, got a knife and started flicking the bits of pepperoni off it, once the tricky bit was complete he popped it in the microwave…

Sorted

What's wrong with that

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I’ve been vegetarian for nearly 40 years and my main gripe isn’t price it’s the fact that every restaurant assumes veggies like mushrooms. I can’t stand them which limits my options most of the time.

And butternut squash = tasteless slime....

 

[clapham_gull]

Going off at a slight tangent, wasn't there a thread recently with veggie suggestions in it? Am in desperate need of an alternative to Quorn mince.

I'm NOT a vegan, but have experimented in the past taking food into work for people who are.

I made some vegan pizzas and was quite surprised how good the cheese has got, particular the mozzarella. I think I used violife.

I also used yeast flakes to give them an umami cheesy kick.

The trick with pizza at home is to concentrate on the "boring bits" especially important when doing it vegan.

The dough fermenting in the fridge for at least two days, using one third semolina to two parts flour and buying a premium can of Italian tomatoes to make the sauce.

Premium vegetables like artichokes, olives and capers all help. You somewhat forget the cheese started as a coconut.

 

[Gwylan]

I have been looking at a few restaurant menus online tonight and i am staggered how much they charge. Surely vegan/veggie meals should be a lot cheaper than there meat equivalent.
...
Are you being ripped off??

In his book, Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain talks about this. He says that he has a reputation for hating vegetarians but he says it's not true, that he loves vegetarians, he buys cheaper ingredients and charges the same price for a meal - the mark-up is great.

While I accept this is true, I'm reasonably happy with it. I've been a vegetarian for 43 years and I'd much rather have a situation where every restaurant offers veggie options than the situation in the late 70s where it was nearly impossible to eat out. Brighton wasn't so bad - there were lots of veggie places even then - but the choice was really limited. I'd much rather pay a couple of quid more and have so much choice

 

[Pretty Plnk Fairy]

And butternut squash = tasteless slime....

sounds like Guppys jizz according to his thai ex

Regards

DF