QOTD #49

QOTD is back with tales of suffering from the Borneo vacation; I've been sunning myself in lovely Greensboro, NC and stuffing myself silly with scattered, smothered and covered hashbrowns. Here's the first question of the new year:

How often do you eat a vegetarian dinner?

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Comments

michaelnatkin

Me: every time I eat dinner

Samuel_68313

Relatively often...sort of. I make a lot of dishes without meat but there's normally a trace of animal fat or stock in there somewhere. I don't do it for money, health, or moral reasons though but simply because I enjoy it. I actually find ideas like Meatless Mondays a bit contrived and unnecessary.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Never. We eat plenty of veggies.

Matthew_Snyder_68770

As I sit here pondering this query, I have come to the realization that I cannot remember the last time I had a veggie dinner. Which means there's a possibility that I never have done. Eek.

FrankM_3301

Strictly vegetarian? ...once a month (maybe), and usually in the form of a pasta meal. Otherwise, even meatless main courses frequently contain a meat or fish based stock... or some other meat based flavoring agent (pancetta, for example).

ajcampelli

Vegetarian: 1-2x per week

Mostly vegetarian - i.e. some meat/fish stock, fish sauce, animal fat, small amount of meat: 2-3x per week

Meat/fish-centric: 2-3x per week

This is mostly just driven by how I like to eat, and less about moral/environmental/economic issues.

And to be clear, my vegetarian dishes almost always include dairy or eggs.

Kyle_Swanbeck_13795

I eat plenty of veg with my meal. I cannot remember the last time I ate a strict vegetarian dinner.

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

last month was the first, highly overrated for us carnivores...

borgech

I'd say 3-4 times per week. More often than not, I eat a salad for dinner (stocked with whole grains, tofu, nuts, fruit, etc).

coryhansen78

Pretty much the same frequency and reasoning for me (that's not to say I don't appreciate the moral/environmental/economic aspects--they're just not the main drivers).

Tim_Sutherland_52834

2-3 times a month, but all my meals are vege heavy.

tshewman

Almost every monday (stir fry). Almost.....but not always when I travel (am in Germany at the moment).

Brendan_Lee_56950

I have been trying for the past year to eat at least one vegetarian meal each week. This week, I am ambitiously going to cook vegetarian 5/7 days this week and see how it goes. I've been inspired by what Puglisi writes in his book about how he'd rather save his money and eat a top quality piece of meat once or twice a week than shit quality every night. I'm trying to put that into play by shooting for a 4:3 or better ratio of vegetable based meals (not necessarily vegetarian, but meals where they're like 99% vegetables) to meat centric meals. I'm still allowing myself to use animal fats and cured meats for seasonings but as long as they are not the main focus of the meal.

Matthew_77468

I almost never eat a vegetarian dinner unless it's rushed. Even then, it's usually pasta with no protein, not a leafy green packed meal.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

Not very often since I've had to severely restrict sugars and starches, but I do occasionally....maybe twice a month, have a hearty meatless salad for dinner.

ttpoker

The true measure of a chef's menu, is the strength of his or her vegetarian options. Anyone can cook a killer protein, but I am truly impressed by innovative vegetarian dishes. For example, say you are invited to eat at the French Laundry. Say your presented with two menu options, the standard tasting menu or the Vegetarian tasting menu. Which one would you choose??? If you don't choose the vegetarian option, you're doing your taste buds a grave disservice. In the hands of a skilled chef vegetables can contain the widest available palate of colors and experiences.

With that said, I typically say no to any produce added at a fast food joint. In the hands of an unskilled cook, vegetarian options can also be rather bland, uninventive, and miserable. When in doubt I choose meat over veg, when I trust the kitchen I will almost always choose the vegetarian option (caveat - when there is excellent seafood available that will tend to balance out the vegetarian rule above - its hard to say no, I tend to want it all when that case exists)

PS: Roughly 3-4x a week for me. I'm fairly balanced.

douglas_bd

On purpose? Probably a couple times a month - primarily when dining with or cooking for friends who are vegetarian.

As an unintended side effect of making whatever is available on hand and sounds good for dinner? Probably 1 -2 times a week.

douglas_bd

Turns out, tonight is one of those accidentally vegetarian nights.

robert.c.brown15

My local butcher was closed on Mondays (old school meatless mondays thing) so my fiancee and I did it too. For almost a month.

In high school after eating a quad stacker from Burger King (4 patties with cheese inbetween and bacon on top) I went vegetarian for 2 weeks on a $50 bet with a vegetarian friend. That wasn't too bad, but I didn't exactly eat healthy. Hot sauce on a lot of stuff I remember.

robert.c.brown15

I'd love to do the vegetarian menu at Per Se as there is no doubt in my mind it would be amazing. But chances are I'll only eat there once in my life so I don't see myself not getting the chef's tasting for that one time.

robert.c.brown15

Let me know what you do, etc. as money is somewhat tight right now and I also have the book. This is a good idea.

robert.c.brown15

I had a feeling your answer would be along these lines. Lambs eat grass right? So in a way a lamb is a vegetable?

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

and pigs and free range chickens and fish eat kelp and and and all veggies

Brendan_Lee_56950

I made paella tonight (asparagus, green beans, peas, bell pepper, onion, canned tomatoes). I have green curry on the menu for tomorrow night (sweet potato, yukon golds, cauliflower, carrot, green beans). Wednesday is going to be mushroom and ricotta ravioli with an enriched vegetable broth. Thursday I have planned lentils with braised leeks, pan roasted cauliflower, and a mayer lemon vinaigrette, Friday is probably going to be the day of leftovers from the week. Saturday is going to be meat centric as my business partner and I are hosting a tasting for our food truck. Then Sunday is going to be either a nice organic chicken cooked peking duck style or some nice heritage pork.

I have to stop at the store and pick up some leeks but other than that I think I spent a total of about $45 on the components for Mon-Thursday dinners.

robert.c.brown15

daaaammmmnn. I need to get my vegetable game going. All sounds really good. I just got The Vegetarian Flavor Bible for xmas so I'll definitely be looking at that for some inspiration too.